Wed.Jan 22, 2025

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Single-family rentals are more expensive than apartments — and the gap is growing

Housing Wire

Single-family rental ( SFR ) homes are now priced 20% higher than the typical apartment, according to Zillow s rental market report for December 2024. This is the largest difference ever recorded by the real estate portal as the pricing gap has grown considerably from pre-pandemic levels. Zillow analyzed the 50 largest U.S. metro areas and found that the typical asking rent for a single-family home reached $2,174 per month in December.

Inventory 448
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Forbearance Levels Drop to Close Out 2024

Appraisal Buzz

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its monthly Loan Monitoring Survey , the final report for 2024, revealing that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by three basis points from 0.50% of servicers portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.47% as of December 31, 2024. According to MBAs estimate, 235,000 homeowners are currently in forbearance plans, and mortgage servicers have provided forbearance to approximately 8.5 million borrowers since March 2020.

Mortgage 412
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Housing Rights Initiative files massive discrimination case in Illinois

Housing Wire

The Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) is taking aim at 165 real estate agents, brokerage firms and landlords in its latest series of lawsuits filed in Chicago. The group claims that this is the largest housing discrimination case in Illinois history. The lawsuits, filed on Monday, are the result of an undercover investigation conducted by HRI. In total, the housing watchdog group filed 176 complaints against 165 defendants with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Landlords 418
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California Wildfires Cripple LA New Housing Supply  

Appraisal Buzz

The most damaging wildfires in California history are expected to occur in the recent Los Angeles fires. Since the emergency is still ongoing, it is too soon to determine the entire extent of the damage. However, it is evident that one outcome is a shock to the housing supply, or a sharp decline in housing production. It is challenging to estimate the magnitude of the housing supply stock at this time.

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Leverage Trellis Court Data To Identify More Investment Opportunities

Finance teams find Trellis to be particularly effective in conducting comprehensive due diligence on both individuals and businesses. With our court data solution, financial experts can access critical litigation insights, making it an invaluable resource for informed decision-making in the financial sector.

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Appraiser at center of Rocket Mortgage lawsuit has license revoked

Housing Wire

The Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers executed a Stipulation and Final Agency Order for public censure, fines, and revocation of the license for Maksym Mykhailyna, according to an announcement in early January. Mykhailyna, who is based in Denver, had previously held both a Colorado certified residential appraiser license and a controlling appraiser license.

Appraisal 418

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Struggling homeowners often don’t understand escrow

Housing Wire

Mortgage escrow accounts are an important, yet widely misunderstood asset in the housing market. Although 80% of mortgage holders have escrow accounts, only 60% fully understand them, up from 52% in early 2024. And those who don’t understand are paying dearly. That finding comes from a survey released Tuesday by tax and flood services provider LERETA.

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Manufactured Homes and the Affordable Housing Shortage

Appraisal Buzz

Theres a shortage of affordable housing in the U.S. What can we do about it? The answer seems obvious: Build more houses, fast. Easier said than done. We fell behind on home-building after 2008 and never quite caught up. Theres a shortage of labor. Restrictive zoning and archaic codes make it slow, expensive, or even impossible in some places, to come out of the ground with new homes.

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Evernest acquires Poplar Homes and $15M in tech-focused funding

Housing Wire

Property management company Evernest announced on Wednesday its largest acquisition to date. The company will acquire tech-enabled property management platform Poplar Homes alongside $15 million in growth-centered funding. The acquisition follows more than 30 made by Evernest since the company arrived on-scene in 2008. Adding Poplar Homes establishes Evernest as the second-largest tech-enabled property management platform for rental property owners.

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Single-Family Rents Climb to Record High

Appraisal Buzz

According to Zillow s most recent market report, rented single-family homes are currently the most notable item on the real estate market, with prices 20% higher than those of a typical multifamily apartment. That is the biggest difference Zillow has ever seen. While builders response has kept multifamily rent growth steady for several months and stubbornly high mortgage rates are limiting buyer demand and home value increases, detached single-family home rentals are still rising at an accelerat

Inventory 370
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The Constructor's Digital Transformation Playbook: Reducing Risk With Technology

Speaker: Dylan Secrest

Construction projects are high-stakes operations where even minor inefficiencies can lead to costly delays, safety concerns, and budget overruns. Managing risk in construction has always been a challenge, but as projects grow in complexity, traditional methods no longer cut it. Enter Digital Transformation - a game changer approach that replaces inefficiency with AI-powered analytics, real-time monitoring, and automated workflows to proactively manage risk.

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Mark Willis steps down as Keller Williams CEO, takes CLO role

Housing Wire

Mark Willis time as the CEO and president of Keller Williams has come to an end. In an internal email obtained by HousingWire, sent by Gary Keller to all Keller Williams Realty International employees and the brands field leaders across the Keller Williams ecosystem on Wednesday, Keller wrote that Willis is transitioning from CEO and president to the new role of chief leadership officer.

Legal 397
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Rocket Unifies its Real Estate Search and Home Financing Platforms

Appraisal Buzz

Rocket Companies has unified its real estate search platform with its mortgage lending platform to create a single resource where home buyers can search and purchase homes, making the process swifter and more efficient. The Detroit-based fintech has bundled these services at Rocket.com , a single portal where consumers can search, purchase and manage their home financing with an intuitive, AI-driven experience.

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Distressed homeowners have a new path to avoid foreclosure

Housing Wire

Online real estate marketplace Auction.com announced Wednesday that it is launching SmartSale, a technology-powered option to foreclosure that lets distressed homeowners list and sell their property. SmartSale allows homeowners to sell their homes through direct offers from buyers or an auction process. For those who are struggling to repay their mortgages, the process aims to help them avoid foreclosure and retain their home equity.

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Fannie Mae: Expect Another Year of Sluggish Existing-Home Sales

Appraisal Buzz

The average rate for a 30-year will remain well above 6% for the near-future and existing-home sales will remain muted due to high home prices and lack of affordability, a report from Fannie Mae forecasts. The recent jump in the 10-year Treasury yield and the resulting rise in mortgage rates are expected to continue to weigh on existing home sales in the near future, likely keeping them at or near their lowest level since 1995, according to the report from Fannie Maes Economic and Strategic Rese

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Need Curated Pre-foreclosure Lists to Generate New Real Estate Leads? Trellis Has the Data!

Trellis is a state trial court research and analytics platform that provides Real Estate Professionals (Buyers, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, etc.) with LEADS on Pre-Foreclosures, Lis Pendes, Distressed Assets and more — to help uncover **new** opportunities and grow their business. The process is quick and easy — and all in real time. Trellis will supply you with a link to the relevant dockets, a Leads sheet and access to its UI where applicable.

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Finding qualified contractors is the biggest obstacle to reno projects

Housing Wire

Home renovation projects could bring a variety of safety and efficiency improvements to older construction, but anxiety is a key element keeping many homeowners from exploring renovation projects. This is according to a report conducted by Renewal by Andersen , a home improvement company. The study surveyed 2,500 homeowners across four generations: Gen Z , millennials , Gen X and baby boomers , all equally represented in the results.

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Realfinity Secures Warehouse Facility From Bank of the Sierra

Appraisal Buzz

Realfinity , which offers a an embedded finance platform designed for dual-licensed real estate agents offering mortgages as an ancillary service, has secured a $5 million warehouse facility from Bank of the Sierra which it will use to scale its new platform. The line of credit will be used to fund mortgage loans, which are subsequently sold to mortgage aggregators, the firm says in a release.

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Rocket launches AI-powered website Rocket.com

Housing Wire

Rocket Companies today announced the launch of Rocket.com, officially putting Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Homes on the same platform. Per a release from the Detroit-based fintech, the Rocket.com website is an AI -driven, “intuitive” experience. The announcement comes shortly after Rocket unveiled the first stage of its rebrand and is a part of the company’s conscious effort to unify Rockets many companies under a single umbrella.

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Dolly Lenz tells agents to ‘stay in your clients’ pants’

Inman

Lenz's point not to be taken literally was to be in constant contact with clients and aware of what they do on a day-to-day basis and what they need, all of which impacts how they buy and sell real estate.

Clients 164
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Constellation Real Estate adds four new executives to lead product growth

Housing Wire

Real estate technology provider Constellation Real Estate Group announced on Wednesday that it is adding four new executives to its senior leadership team. Scott Petronis , Mark Mathis, Greg Beckman and Elisha Elliott will each take vice president roles at the company this year. These hires come after Constellation Real Estate Group unified all of its businesses under one brand Constellation1.

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American Real Estate Association absorbs NYC trade group

Inman

The integration with the New York Residential Agent Continuum paves the way for the organization's first local chapter while turning up the heat on its rivalry with the National Association of Realtors.

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Pennsylvania AG sues mortgage brokers for RESPA violations

Housing Wire

A civil complaint announced by Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry on Jan. 17 asserts that several Lehigh Valley-based mortgage brokers and their manager, Barry Newhart, took part in a kick-back scheme that violates the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ( RESPA ). This complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Deputy Attorney General Pat Gavin, alleged that Newhart and the brokers offered real estate agents discounted

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Property Value = Lesser of Purchase Price or Appraisal; Gift of Equity

JMV Lending

This is a reminder that lenders must always use the lesser of the appraised value or the purchase price on the contract for financing and loan-to-value purposes. So, even if we have a rock solid $500,000 appraisal, if the purchase price on the contract is $250,000 $250,000 will be the value from the lenders perspective no matter what. The post Property Value = Lesser of Purchase Price or Appraisal; Gift of Equity appeared first on JVM Lending.

Appraisal 128
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Redfin: Home prices rose 5.4% in 2024

Housing Wire

Redfin ‘s Home Price Index (HPI) for December 2024 revealed an 0.4% monthly increase in U.S. home prices , down from 0.5% in November. On a year-over-year basis, home prices were up 5.4% from 2023, and the brokerage said that similar growth is expected in 2025. The report measures the prices of homes that sold during a specific period. It also studies individual homes and compares how these prices have changed since the homes were previously sold.

Contracts 397
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Ignore the fluff when using artificial intelligence, technologists advise

Inman

Marc-Antoine Juaneda of CoreLogic and Boris Geheniauof Fundament All Media shared insights on how real estate professionals can best leverage AI during Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.

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Longbridge lowers minimum home value for Platinum products

Housing Wire

Reverse mortgage lender and servicer Longbridge Financial , which offers both Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed Home Equity Conversion Mortgage ( HECM ) loans as well as proprietary reverse mortgage products, announced that it has lowered the minimum home value for its fixed-rate proprietary products. Previously, the proprietary product line which Longbridge calls Platinum had its minimum amount aligned with FHA lending limits, but it has instead shifted to allow for properties with

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KW's Mark Willis trades CEO role for new leadership position

Real Estate News

After 14 months at the helm, Willis is moving into a new C-level role focused on teaching and developing leaders within the company.

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Georgia MLS unites with 12 local boards to enhance data access

Housing Wire

Georgia MLS the Peach State’s largest real estate marketplace announced on Wednesday that it will partner with 12 local MLSs to enhance data access for all parties under one listing platform. This agreement connects more than 55,000 agents to a large inventory of properties under a single system. Georgia MLS said the move will “improve market transparency and provide real estate professionals with the listing information they need to better serve their customers.” Georgia MLS

Realtors 393
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Want to add value? Go deep, tap your network, invest in real estate

Inman

An array of industry experts gathered at Inman Connect New York to discuss ways to build new paths of business and add value to the consumer experience.

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Mortgage applications mostly flat from last week

Housing Wire

Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Jan. 17 show mortgage applications increased 0.1% from a week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, applications increased by 3% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 3% from the previous week and was 42% higher year-over-year.

Mortgage 393
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Tech Bytes: A new look (and board) for Lone Wolf; KW sues Inside RE

Real Estate News

Lone Wolf updates brand, debuts proptech advisory board; meanwhile, KW calls foul on Inside RE's BoldTrail brand, plus news from RealReports, Block Renovation.

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Art Carter, CRMLS ‘stand firmly’ in support of Clear Cooperation

Housing Wire

As the debate surrounding the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) rages on, California Regional MLS (CRMLS) CEO Art Carter chose to voice his stance on the issue in a nine-page op-ed posted on LinkedIn this week. In the op-ed, Carter said that CRMLS is rejecting demands to change its stance on CCP. The MLS is standing firmly behind the intent of the policy, he wrote.

Brokerage 391
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U.S. Metro Areas in 2023: Real GDP, Construction, and Real Estate Insights

Eyes on Housing

Real GDP of metropolitan areas rose 2.7% in 2023, with the “real estate, rental and leasing” sector contributing 0.34 percentage points and construction contracting growth by 0.11 percentage points. While many metro areas followed the national growth trend, each region has its unique economic narrative. This article explores the economic trends driving these outcomes, focusing.