Home values showed the sharpest quarterly declines since 2008, falling 3% in the first quarter this year, according to Zillow’s real estate market report.

Zillow said national prices were down 8.2% year-over-year to $169,000. Since peaking in June 2006, home values have fallen 29.5%.

Out of the 132 markets covered by Zillow, 97% saw home value decreases during the first quarter. Gainesville, Fla., had the largest quarterly price deficits, down 10.4%, followed by Ann Arbor, Mich., at 8.2%.

Of the top 25 MSAs covered by Zillow, the biggest difference in quarterly prices was seen in Detroit, down 5.2% to $70,600. Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago were both down 4.8%, with home prices averaging at $159,000 and $167,900, respectively.

Only Fort Myers, Fla., Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and Honolulu experienced price increases, with home values rising 2.4%, 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively. Home values in Sarasota, Fla., remained flat during the same time period.

“Home value declines are currently equal to those we experienced during the darkest days of the housing recession,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. “With accelerating declines in the first quarter, it is unreasonable to expect home values to return to stability by the end of 2011.”

Zillow also reported that negative equity reached a record high in which 28.4% of single-family homeowners with mortgages are underwater. This is a 1.4% increase from the 4Q 2010.

As banks unfroze moratoriums and allowed foreclosures to resume, there were more foreclosures throughout the country in the first quarter. In March, one out of every 1,000 homes was foreclosed.

“We did expect substantial payback from the homebuyer tax credits, which buoyed the housing market last year, but underlying demand post-tax credit, as well as rising foreclosures and high negative equity rates, make it almost certain that we won’t see a bottom in home values until 2012 or later,” Humphries said.

As analysts expected, the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 8.8%.  While the employment numbers still have a long road to travel before getting to lower ground, the economy is slowly showing signs of life.  Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of interest rates.  The lower this number goes, the higher the rates will climb.  This is assuming there is no QE3 (Quantitative Easing) from the Feds.

While I don’t see rates moving up quickly, I don’t see them dropping to the 4th Quarter levels we saw last year either.  Housing remains very sluggish which should also help keep rates in check for now.

Contrary to previous forecasts last year, appreciation is expected to hit 1-3% next year and 3-4% in 2013.  We’re still feeling the weight of the foreclosures and bank-owned properties.  Until this slows, it creates a drag on prices.

Another “silent killer” weighing in on all of this is the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage these days.  Credit standards have been ratcheted so tightly that it too has choked the purchase market, although most don’t realize this is going on behind the scenes.

Ever wonder why there is such a disparity from lender to lender when it comes to rates and fees?  It really comes down to two things, marketing and their compensation.  You see, most lenders are compensated by the companies they sell the loans to and therefore the higher the rate, the more compensation they receive.  That is why it is in the lender’s best interest (no pun intended) to get you into a higher rate loan.  What may only amount to a $20-30 higher monthly payment for you can mean hundreds or even thousands more in compensation to the lender.

This is where the marketing aspect comes in.  Some lenders will use this compensation to subsidize the fees they normally charge.  That is why you can find lenders with lower rates and higher fees or higher rates and lower fees.  One way or another, you end up paying for it.  Essentially you’re just financing it into the rate, with less due out of pocket at closing.  If you shop long and hard enough, you can find the best of both worlds: a lender with low fees and low rates.

All of this is assuming a loan with no points as points should only be paid to buy the rate down.  However, this is usually not a wise investment.

Ever wonder why you can get a better deal going through a mortgage broker than you can if you go directly to a lender?  After all, the mortgage broker just turns around and sells it to a major national lender anyway?  So logic dictates that cutting out the “middle man” should yield you a better deal, right?  Not in the case of mortgages.

Believe it or not, 65% of all mortgages in America are originated by mortgage brokers.  Because many of those brokerages are small businesses, they can keep their overhead low and effectively lower their margins.  This means lower rates and closing costs for consumers.  Although lenders quietly solicit mortgage business, it costs them much more to originate a loan as they have to maintain a larger staff to do so.  Therefore, they rely on thousands of mortgage brokers who in turn have “mortgage sales people” to find the business.  The lender pays the broker a commission for finding, processing, and delivering the loan to them.

But not all mortgage brokers were created equal.  You still want to shop for the best deal as some charge unnecessary origination fees for their services.  But don’t be fooled, the lender is paying them for their services so you shouldn’t have to.

It used to be that a 720 was considered an excellent credit score, however that’s no longer the case.  The new benchmark for excellent credit when it comes to mortgage rates is now a 740 or better.  When we obtain a credit report, we go off the middle score (not average) when there’s only one borrower, or the lower of the two middle scores when there’s a borrower and co-borrower.

We then look at the equity position.  Depending on the type of loan (rate/term refi, cash-out refi, or purchase), the rate can be higher or lower depending on the credit score and equity position.

Although the President’s “Housing and Affordability Plan” was announced on February 17th, it wasn’t until yesterday that we got the details of what it actually means to homeowners.  We are finally seeing some changes in guidelines, starting today with a major announcement by Fannie Mae.  It was announced that over the next two months, significant changes are being implemented that will loosen credit guidelines and start lending to responsible people again.  The pendulum that swung too wide and then back again, is now a little closer to the middle, where we knew it would end up but we just weren’t sure how soon.

The tightening has been taking place since last year, with the focus being on equity and credit scores, completely ignoring those who may have less than 20% equity or a credit score below 680.  But new guidelines are focusing on who has been responsible enough to keep up with payments, rather than just sticking to a “set” formula.  The focus has been on those who couldn’t keep up, so it’s good to finally see relief for those of us who have making payments on time and doing whatever we have to to keep our heads above water.

So far, only Fannie Mae has released their new guidelines so your loan must be a Fannie Mae serviced loan (contact your current lender or visit http://www.fanniemae.com/homeaffordable to find out if your loan is a Fannie loan) Some of the most important changes include:

• No PMI required on a refinance if you previously didn’t have PMI.  In other words, if your home’s value has dropped (most likely the case) and you go to refi and you now have less than 20% equity, then you won’t be required to have PMI.
• Ability to refinance a loan with an existing second mortgage where the total LTV (loan to value) is up to 105% of the value.  (Previously this was 95%)
• Relaxed credit score requirements for scores below 680.

As you can see, they are really working hard to help everyone, not just those on the brink of foreclosure.  And I believe many more changes are coming for responsible homeowners, including lower rates.  Stay tuned…