Thu.Aug 29, 2024

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Eight states now have more unsold inventory than in 2019. Here’s why.

Housing Wire

Unsold inventory of homes on the market has been climbing in the U.S. for two years, right along with rising mortgage rates. In general, inventory rises with rates because more expensive money slows demand. When demand slows, inventory grows. According to Altos Research , there are 40% more homes on the market at the end of August 2024 than there were last year at this time.

Inventory 482
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Office Delinquency Rates Reach Nine-Year High

Appraisal Buzz

Americans’ evolving work environments and other factors have led to a “difficult commercial real estate landscape in 2024,” according to an analysis of the U.S. office space market by researchers at Flatworld Solutions , national provider of data science and analytics. Their study revealed the highest commercial real estate delinquency rates since 2015 and vacancy rates topping 20% in job hubs such as San Francisco.

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Report: New England leads the country in older workers

Housing Wire

As the U.S. workforce continues to age commensurately with the population at large, a new report by U.S. Money Reserve illustrates that the highest concentration of older workers — those at or over the age of 65 — are concentrated in the New England region of the country. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau ’s 2022 American Community Survey released last year, Vermont was found to have the highest share of its over-65 population active in the workforce. 24.8% of the retirement-age populati

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Starter Home Affordability on the Rise

Appraisal Buzz

A new report from Redfin has found that the monthly housing payment for the typical U.S. starter home sold in July was $1,981, up 4.4% year-over-year. That means homebuyers must earn $79,252 annually in order to afford a typical U.S. starter home, also up 4.4% year-over-year, and just a few hundred dollars shy of last October 2023’s all-time high. The average mortgage rate was 6.85% in July, down slightly from its springtime peak, but still more than double pandemic-era lows.

Buyers 413
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Pending home sales tank in July, but the slump is likely short lived

Housing Wire

Mortgage rates are finally dropping, but pending home sales fell even further into the toilet in July. That’s according to the July pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors. On an annual basis, the index fell by 8.5% to the second lowest seasonally adjusted rate in the data’s history, topping only April of 2020 when the market was frozen by the pandemic.

Buyers 459
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Q2 Nationwide Home Mortgage Lending Rebounds

Appraisal Buzz

In Q2, 1.62 million mortgages secured by residential property (units one to four) were issued in the U.S., according to ATTOM’s Q2 2024 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report. This represents a 23.2% increase over the previous three-month period. Despite the surge, overall home credit activity was still down 6.1.2% from a peak reached in 2021 and down 1.6% from Q2 of 2023.

Lending 341

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Nick Bailey returns to real estate leadership in new capacity

Real Estate News

The former CEO of RE/MAX and Century 21 says he will apply his experience helping franchise owners to his new role in real estate consulting.

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Report finds buyer agency agreements are “incomprehensible,” look to avoid NAR settlement terms

Housing Wire

Many state Realtor associations’ new forms —such as buyer representation agreements—are largely incomprehensible to the average homebuyer or seller and have language that seeks to avoid the terms of the National Association of Realtors ‘ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement , according to a report released earlier this month.

Buyers 448
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Mortgage rates plunge to lowest level in 15 months

Real Estate News

Rates are edging closer to 6%, but the downward trend still hasn’t translated into sales as potential homebuyers play the waiting game.

Mortgage 312
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Bringing reverse mortgages to a symposium celebrating women in finance

Housing Wire

Richelle Hopkins of Mutual of Omaha Mortgage has been a reverse mortgage professional for 20 years, moving to Arizona in 2006. In 2020, a colleague approached her about establishing a Phoenix-based chapter of Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS), an association of financial services professionals who aim to “attract, develop and advance women in an underrepresented profession,” according to the WIFS National website.

Finance 443
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NAR to appeal DOJ case to the Supreme Court

Real Estate News

The association will ask the highest court to weigh in on the case after a lower court ruled that the DOJ could continue its investigation into NAR policies.

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FHLBanks to Treasury: Pumping more money into affordable housing will not address crisis

Housing Wire

Presidents and board chairs of the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks), under pressure to pump more money into affordable housing, sent letters to the U.S. Department of Treasury on Thursday saying that simply raising their contribution threshold will not address the complexities of the current housing crisis. Instead, the FHLBanks—11 U.S. government-sponsored banks that provide liquidity to financial institutions to support housing finance and community investment—brought recommendations on h

Finance 434
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Key player in Sitzer/Burnett launches real estate startup

Real Estate News

“Our hard-won settlement paved the way for a new era,” said Josh Sitzer, whose company offers flat-fee home tour and offer preparation services for buyers.

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AI Demo Day: Rocktop’s Intelligent Data Integration Suite (IDIS)

Housing Wire

Intelligent Data Integration Suite (IDIS) VIU by HUB is a digitally-enabled personal lines brokerage platform that seamlessly integrates into the home-buying experience. Clients can quickly shop, purchase, and manage their insurance in a complex market, thus a timely value-add for customers. For partners, VIU provides new ancillary revenue to off-set rising interest rates and inflation.

Brokerage 434
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Pending Home Sales Fell to Lowest Level on Record in July

Appraisal Buzz

Pending home sales decreased 5.5% in July compared with June and were down 8.5% compared with July 2023, as mortgage rates and home prices remained stubbornly high, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Regionally, and month over month, contract signings decreased 1.4% in the Northeast, 7.8% in the Midwest, 6.5% in the South and 3.8% in the West.

Contracts 221
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AI Demo Day: Optimal Blue’s CompassEdgeAI Demo Day:

Housing Wire

CompassEdge Optimal Blue’s CompassEdge hedging and loan trading platform helps lenders maximize profitability with unmatched pipeline risk management tools, and dynamic loan sale and MSR valuation functionality. Attendees will experience new AI-powered assistants in CompassEdge that help lenders reduce manual processes associated with profitability attribution, projecting future pipeline changes, and optimizing trade selection.

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A&D Mortgage Completes Fourth Non-QM Securitization This Year

Appraisal Buzz

A&D Mortgage has executed its fourth non-QM securitization of the year, valued at $331.5 million. The centerpiece of the transaction is a $209.6 million two-year senior note, which secured a Triple A rating and was priced at 145 basis points over Treasuries. Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to nine classes of mortgage pass-through certificates from the ADMT 2024-NQM4 Trust, associated with this transaction.

Mortgage 195
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AI Demo Day: Lofty

Housing Wire

Lofty Lofty provides an AI-powered platform that helps real estate professionals increase their productivity and accelerate business growth. Featuring award-winning technology, the Lofty platform is designed to optimize every step of the real estate journey, from search to settlement. By leveraging one unified hub, customers can automate marketing programs, streamline the sales process, and maximize collaboration between agents empowering them to spend more time building relationships and their

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MBA: Homebuyer Affordability Improved in July

Appraisal Buzz

The national median payment applied for by purchase applicants decreased to $2,140, down from from $2,167 in June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI). “Homebuyer affordability conditions improved for the third consecutive month as rates below 7 percent and rising housing inventory continue to bode well for prospective homebuyers,” says Edward Seiler, associate vice president, housing economics, and executive director, Research Institu

Inventory 195
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AI Demo Day: ChatUWM

Housing Wire

ChatUWM ChatUWM is an AI-powered smart search designed to support independent mortgage brokers by providing instant responses on a range of topics including guidelines, matrices, summaries of UWM’s tools and technology and more.

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Accelerate results with 8 one-on-one secrets (and a bonus secret)

Inman

Take a new, unconventional approach to one-on-ones that emphasizes the needs, preferences and goals of your agents, luxury consultant Chris Pollinger writes.

Agents 190
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CFPB orders NewDay USA to pay $2.25M for providing misleading costs on 3,000 V.A. cash-out refis

Housing Wire

Florida-based V.A.-focused mortgage lender NewDay USA has reached an agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over allegations that it provided misleading and incomplete cost comparisons to borrowers seeking cash-out refinance loans , the parties announced on Thursday. The deal, which includes a $2.25 million civil penalty, was reached without the company admitting or denying any of the findings, according to the consent order.

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7 procedural components to make eminent domain seizures more fair

Inman

Procedural fairness pertains to the just treatment of the processes and methods used to make eminent domain decisions and resolve disputes, real estate educator Lee Davenport writes.

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AI Demo Day: Dark Matter Technologies AIVA Assist Processing

Housing Wire

AIVA Assist Processing Providing loan officers, processors and underwriters with a better way to calculate income, review assets and look for discrepancies when borrowers provide documents for verification. At Dark Matter Technologies, we’re leading the tech-driven revolution in loan origination. Our commitment to cutting-edge origination and AI technology solutions is reshaping the industry landscape, and illuminating the pathway to seamless experiences.

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Industry vet Nick Bailey joins T3 Sixty as chief real estate officer

Inman

The announcement comes about six months after Bailey was replaced as RE/MAX president by Amy Lessinger. At T3 Sixty, he will focus on business development, consulting and representing the firm at industry events.

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Opinion: Many mission-based landlords are at a breaking point

Housing Wire

By every metric, the nation’s affordable housing crisis has reached unprecedented heights. A record-high 22.4 million renter households are cost burdened , meaning they spend at least 30% of household income on housing and utilities, and we are short 7.3 million rental homes that are affordable and available to renters with extremely low incomes. Meanwhile, the number of households who qualify for rental assistance continues to rise, even as funding for the crucial subsidy remains relatively fix

Landlords 430
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Broker Spotlight: Meghan Pachas, MAP Property Solutions

Inman

Find out how this third-generation broker's passion for all things real estate-related informs her work with clients and colleagues.

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Mortgage originations rebounded by 23% in Q2

Housing Wire

The country saw 1.62 million residential mortgage originations in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 23.2% from the previous quarter, and the first quarterly gain in a year. The increase in overall lending in Q2 came amid the Spring homebuying season and lower mortgage interest rates that dipped downward after months of increases, according to Attom ’s Q2 residential property mortgage origination report. “The mortgage industry got one of its biggest boosts in years during the secon

Mortgage 427
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First window-washing robot debuts in Manhattan, with more on the way

Inman

The Skyline Robotics robot will be tasked with maintaining the windows of a Durst Organization-owned 45-story Class A office tower on Sixth Avenue in New York City, it was announced this week.

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Employee at the center of the Move v. CoStar suit allegedly accessed 40 stolen documents

Housing Wire

The employee at the center of the Move v. CoStar lawsuit granted his personal email access to roughly 40 documents prior to his departure for Move subsidiary Realtor.com, according to the latest filing in the legal battle between the two listing platform giants. On Tuesday, Move filed an amended motion for preliminary injunction against CoStar and James Kaminsky, the former Realtor.com employee who now works at CoStar’s Homes.com.

Legal 426
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Reputation manager Real Grader lands Anywhere enterprise deal

Inman

Real Grader, a 2023 member of NAR REACH, offers a solution that measures the social reach of agents, as well as their impact on business research sites like Google My Business and LinkedIn.

Business 180
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AI Demo Day: Polly/™ AI: AI-powered copilot for loan officers

Housing Wire

Polly/ AI: AI-powered copilot for loan officers Fueled by Polly’s proprietary technology and data, Polly/ AI leverages powerful, state-of-the-art AI/ML and natural language processing (NLP) to transform the way loan officers conduct business and provide consumers with superior mortgage products and prices. Product Fast Facts #1 Polly/ AI can comprehend and articulate ineligibility, transforming complex and time-consuming tasks into actionable advice.

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Real estate safety abroad: Lessons from the tragic deaths of 2 agents

Inman

On the eve of Realtor Safety Month, safety expert Tracey Hawkins shares strong reminders to keep safety top of mind.

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Weathering change in the housing market: How originators can handle the mortgage industry forecast

Housing Wire

In the months ahead, with the presidential election approaching and the Federal Reserve eyeing interest rate cuts, originators will scrutinize how shifting fiscal policy could influence the mortgage industry and the economy at large. A new administration could have ramifications for markets and the overall economy, with potential policy changes and market fluctuations that affect U.S. citizens and their buying power.