Tue.Dec 12, 2023

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Inflation data is good news for real estate in 2024

Housing Wire

Today’s inflation reports show that Federal Reserve rate cuts are in play in 2024 — not because of the labor market breaking, but because real rates are too high. If the labor market gets weaker, meaning jobless claims break over 323,000 on the four-week moving average, we can get even more rate cuts. The labor market is not there yet so for now we can focus on the fact that the Fed overhiked, and because of that, they have room to cut.

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Home sales will bounce back in 2024, says NAR panel

Real Estate News

Economists were optimistic about the year ahead, but noted that inflation and mortgage rates will be key factors.

Mortgage 331
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Copycat commission lawsuits hit the West Coast

Housing Wire

The copycat commission lawsuits have made it to the West Coast. A home seller plaintiff in California filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern California, accusing the real estate industry of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. The lawsuit was filed by Christina Grace, who sold a house listed on Bay Area Real Estate Information Services MLS (BAREIS MLS) in April 2020 and paid a commission to the buyer’s agent.

Realtors 476
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Looking back on a year of mortgage rate madness

Real Estate News

While high borrowing costs brought the market to a halt in 2023, there are signs that mortgage rate relief is coming in 2024.

Mortgage 317
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loanDepot launches fully automated underwriting engine

Housing Wire

California-based mortgage lender loanDepot on Tuesday announced the launch of its fully automated underwriting engine called melloNow. The new system, which has been in beta-testing for the last several quarters, delivers a fully conditional loan approval “in minutes rather than hours or days,” the company said in a statement. Jeff Walsh, loanDepot’s mortgage president, said in a statement that the new underwriting engine allows the company to bypass “the delays and

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EasyKnock accused of deceptive practices, hit with fine

Real Estate News

The Massachusetts attorney general claimed the "buy-before-you-sell" company targeted financially strained homeowners through its sale-leaseback program.

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Tech Bytes: News from Follow Up Boss, CoreLogic, Cloze

Real Estate News

Zillow completes acquisition of Follow Up Boss; CoreLogic introduces mortgage insights tool for lenders; Cloze integrates with design platform Canva.

Design 290
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PrimeLending recruits several more top-producing LOs in Texas

Housing Wire

PrimeLending , a Texas-based retail mortgage bank, added 12 new loan originators as it attempts to grow market share within its existing Texas footprint. Among the newly added LOs in the fall included two LOs — John Muhammad ($25.72 million) and Hugo Ortiz-Pulido ($21.21 million) with a production volume of more than $20 million year-to-date, according to mortgage tech platform Modex.

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Redfin expands (and renames) its new agent-pay program

Real Estate News

San Diego and Orange County join San Francisco and LA as Redfin Next launch cities on Jan. 1. The program is designed to “remove the ceiling” from compensation.

Agents 278
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Homeowners are getting worried about flood insurance costs

Housing Wire

Homeowners are increasingly concerned with flood insurance premium hikes impacting affordability, Fannie Mae ‘s latest national flood survey showed. Despite people’s personal flooding experience, consumers have a poor understanding of the flood risk of their residence, particularly for those in high-risk zones, according to survey results. Fannie Mae conducted an online survey in late 2022 among a national panel sample whose addresses were in or near a Federal Emergency Management Agency

Insurance 447
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Inman expands awards program to honor future leaders, AI trailblazers

Inman

Public nominations are now open in four awards categories for 2024, including a slate of new honors designed to spotlight achievements in artificial intelligence and recognize real estate's emerging leaders.

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Builders rediscover a tool from the 1980s that keeps new home prices from falling

Housing Wire

While sellers of existing homes have struggled with rising rates and softening demand, homebuilders have not only survived, but thrived in this market thanks to the use of mortgage rate buydowns , a tool more widely used by builders since their business is selling homes and clearing inventory. Research from the AEI Housing Center found that these buydowns are not only an effective tool to qualify income-constrained buyers and alleviate excess inventory, but they have also allowed builders to for

Tools 445
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Cloze teams with design platform Canva for seamless listing magic

Inman

Cloze is the first application in its category to integrate with the web-based graphic design platform Canva, the customer relationship management platform revealed exclusively to Inman.

Design 188
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Council of MLSs welcomes new board members

Housing Wire

The Council of Multiple Listing Services announced its new board of director members for 2024 on Tuesday. The MLS trade group said the new directors will assume their roles starting Jan. 1, 2024. The two new directors elected to the board are Justin Haag, the general counsel and incoming president and CEO from Northwest MLS , and Chris Haran, the managing director and chief technology officer from MRED in Illinois.

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California homeseller who paid $50K in commissions files lawsuit

Inman

Christina Grace, a California resident who sold her home in Marin County, filed suit Friday against NAR, Compass and Keller Williams, among others, claiming she was stuck with hefty commissions.

Realtors 187
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Cenlar FSB, BaseCap partner on new servicing compliance program

Housing Wire

Cenlar FSB , the second-largest mortgage servicer and largest subservicer in the U.S., has partnered with financial services-focused data and analytics company BaseCap Analytics to pilot a new program designed to enhance regulatory and operational processes and compliance. The technology is designed to help businesses with “their data management and regulatory reporting by rapidly identifying data inconsistencies,” according to an announcement of the partnership.

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Inflation posted a modest 0.1% increase in November

Inman

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent between October and November and was 3.1 percent higher than a year earlier, suggesting interest rates will hold steady at this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Marketing 184
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Consumer prices rose moderately in November, but housing prices remain sticky

Housing Wire

Inflation continued to edge down in November on a monthly basis, reinforcing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady at its final meeting of the year on Wednesday. Consumer prices were up 3.1% in November from a year earlier, down from 3.2% in October, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday.

Tools 405
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Redfin expands commission-based model in Southern California

Inman

Redfin's new commission-based model, Redfin Next, is now available to agents in San Diego and Orange County. Agents will keep their W-2 status and benefits while getting commission splits of up to 75 percent.

Agents 181
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Inflation Slows While Housing Costs Remain Sticky

Eyes on Housing

Consumer prices rose slightly in November, with a decline in the gasoline index being offset by an increase in the shelter index. The ongoing slowdown in inflation increases the probability that the Fed is done increasing rates. However, even after peaking in March this year, shelter costs continued to put upward pressure on inflation, accounting for nearly 70% of the.

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3 simple, must-know truths about lead generation

Inman

What differentiates effective, successful agents from those who aren't seeing results? According to broker and new Inman contributor Joseph Santini, it's the willingness to lead-gen consistently.

Agents 181
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Geography of Personal Income and Home building

Eyes on Housing

Using the Bureau of Economic Analysis most recent release of county level personal income per capita data and Census Bureau’s county level permit data, new NAHB analysis finds that single-family and multifamily construction takes place more often in areas where incomes are higher. Counties were grouped into five quintiles by the personal incomes per capita for each county.

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Simply Homes funded $22M to apply AI to home affordability crisis

Inman

Simply Homes applies a more proptech-oriented approach by using an artificial intelligence-generated performance model to determine what each property will require to reach livability and in time, profitability.

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Are You the Assistant?

The Appraiser Coach

During my mastermind meetings we have what we call “couch time.” This is the time when people have an hour to “lay down on the couch” and tell us about their problems so that we can help them find solutions. During one of these sessions with my online mastermind class, one of the guys in attendance said something that really stuck with me. “If you don’t hire an assistant, you ARE the assistant.

Appraisal 150
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Compass COO Greg Hart to leave company at year end

Inman

Hart joined Compass in 2020. After his departure, the fast-growing brokerage will eliminate the role of chief operating officer.

Brokerage 176
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The Millionaire Fast-Track: How to Hit Financial Freedom Before 30

BiggerPockets

This eighteen and twenty-two year old are on track to reach financial freedom by the age of thirty.

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Adam Neumann’s secretive new apartment scheme is now live

Inman

The WeWork founder quietly scooped up $1 billion worth of apartment buildings near the peak of the multifamily housing market. His first building is now in lease-up. Here’s what we know.

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College Dropout to $110K/Year in Cash Flow by Buying “Sheriff Sale” Properties

BiggerPockets

How do you make six figures in passive income with no college degree, very little money, and zero experience in real estate?

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How Andy Kurtz is leveraging tech to transform real estate

Inman

In the latest in his Snapshot series, team leader Brandon Doyle talks to Kopis CEO Andy Kurtz about how the real estate industry is harnessing custom, integrated tech solutions.

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Canadian banks' shares surge due to soft-landing bets

Mortgagebroker News

Major index of bank stocks saw an uptick by 11%

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Want to do more business? 5 tips for leading with kindness

Inman

Research shows that kindness can positively impact your business. According to luxury agent Nikki Beauchamp, incorporating kindness in your professional toolkit can pay dividends, both for others and for your own satisfaction.

Business 172
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Government must focus on investments says former central bank governor

Mortgagebroker News

A refocus on the country's spending may address its slow productivity growth

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Automating verifications lets loanDepot OK loans in minutes

Inman

After months of beta testing, the melloNow underwriting engine can analyze credit reports, detect fraud, and validate income and employment data without human assistance.

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End-of-year Q&A with Strive's CCO

Mortgagebroker News

How many new products did Strive unveil in 2023?

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