Equity by political party
With the election on the horizon RealtyTrac examined equity by political party and found that Democratic U.S. Congressional districts have a higher percentage of both extremes: negative equity and equity rich. The Republican districts tend to be in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to home equity.
Local broker perspective
“One in five Ohio homeowners with a mortgage are seriously underwater and many of these homeowners might not know that there are programs out there that can help,” said Michael Mahon, executive vice president/broker of record at HER Realtors, covering the Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio markets. “Right now we are working with a company called Trinity Homes who offers a ‘Home Trade-In’ program where they will actually purchase your current home when you buy one of their existing or new-build homes throughout Central Ohio. They pay you fair market value for your home and will purchase the property “as is” regardless of the condition of the home or if the homeowner is underwater. This program can help homeowners get back on the right foot. You even continue to live in your current home until your new home is completed. Then, they set up back-to-back closings for your new and existing homes. It’s the perfect program for those that are considering selling but are afraid they don’t have enough equity or won’t get a fair price.”
Report methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Home Equity & Underwater report provides counts of residential properties based on several categories of equity—or loan to value (LTV)—at the state, metro and county level, along with the percentage of total residential properties with a mortgage that each equity category represents. The equity/LTV calculation is derived from a combination of record-level open loan data and record-level estimated property value data, and is also matched against record-level foreclosure data to determine foreclosure status for each equity/LTV category.
Definitions
Seriously underwater: Loan to value ratio of 125 percent or above, meaning the homeowner owed at least 25 percent more than the estimated market value of the property.
Equity rich: Loan to value ratio of 50 percent or lower, meaning the homeowner had at least 50 percent equity.
Foreclosures w/equity: Properties in some stage of the foreclosure process (default or scheduled for auction, not including bank-owned) where the loan to value ratio was 100 percent or lower.
To see the full report with additional statistics and by-state breakdowns, visit: http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/q3-2014-us-home-equity-and-underwater-report-8166.
