Housing Wire

APRIL 24, 2024

Two former New Jersey -based mortgage loan originators have been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger. Christopher Gallo has been noted as a top-producing loan originator, at one point being Scotsman Guide ‘s fourth-ranked LO in the country.

Mortgage 543

Mortgage Retail Finance Investing 543

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 24, 2024

Today, host Hal Humphreys chats with Jason Ferris, MAI, SRA and owner of Bell Ferris, Inc. Ferris discusses his background in the industry and his experience with Short Term Rentals. It seems like bringing up Short Term Rental valuation is the quickest way to start a fight on social media. Why is there such wild variance of opinions on how to handle these?

Valuation 368

Valuation Appraisal Housing Market Marketing 368

Sacramento Appraisal Blog

APRIL 24, 2024

Insurance has been a glaring mess in California, and it’s really starting to affect the housing market. Today, I want to share some things I’m hearing from the real estate community after asking for feedback on my social channels about home and fire insurance. The goal is to give some perspective and advice to sellers […] The post The insurance crisis is affecting the housing market first appeared on Sacramento Appraisal Blog.

Insurance 343

Insurance Housing Market Marketing Sellers 343

Real Estate News

APRIL 20, 2024

The Supreme Court passes on a chance to weigh in, objections pile up, and Fannie and Freddie say it’s all right to exclude commissions from seller concessions.

Sellers 321

Sellers 321

Housing Wire

APRIL 22, 2024

After a couple weeks of big jumps for mortgage rates , we’re still seeing relatively surprising strength in the housing market. In fact, some measures of home prices are now at their all-time highs, having surpassed the previous peak of two years ago. We’re watching a few key factors to see if homebuyers are backing off in the face of increased mortgage rates.

Inventory 531

Inventory New Listings Sellers Contracts 531

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 24, 2024

Mortgage application volume decreased 2.7% during the week ended April 19, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 7.24%, up from 7.13% the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey. Applications for refinances decreased 6% compared with the previous week but were up 3% compared with the same week one year ago.

Mortgage 367

Mortgage Buyers Appraisal 367

Real Estate News

APRIL 26, 2024

The last defendant standing in the Sitzer/Burnett case reaches a whopping settlement that will protect its 70,000 agents plus brands and franchises.

Agents 317

Agents 317

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

New home sales have been one of the brighter housing stories since the home sales crash in 2022 — as we can see in the chart below, new home sales have been able to grow since then. This is one reason why the homebuilder stocks have done so well since November of 2022. The mistake some people made here was that in 2021 and 2022, some people believed housing was overbuilt and lacked the demographic demand to get sales to rise from such low levels in 2022.

Inventory 514

Inventory Construction Mortgage Buyers 514

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 22, 2024

Let’s get real for a moment. When that email from an AMC hits your inbox, asking for your best fee and quickest turnaround, do you feel that twinge of annoyance? You’re not alone. A lot of folks in our field are downright peeved (and quite vocal) about the whole bidding process. They see it as a race to the bottom, a game where the only winning move is not to play.

Appraisal 358

Appraisal Real Estate Agent Business Real Estate 358

Inman

APRIL 23, 2024

Judge Stephen R. Bough ruled that the sweeping changes NAR agreed to were "fair, reasonable and adequate" and set a final approval hearing for November.

Realtors 205

Realtors Brokerage Agents 205

Real Estate News

APRIL 25, 2024

In a conversation with Real Estate News, Dr. Courtney Johnson Rose of NAREB discussed the pros and cons of the recent settlement and upcoming rule changes.

Buyers 306

Buyers Agents Real Estate 306

Housing Wire

APRIL 20, 2024

Housing inventory finally hit my target level of growth last week with mortgage rates now over 7.25% , something I couldn’t get all last year. Of course, what is different this year versus last year is that new listing data is growing yearly instead of trending at the lowest levels recorded in history. This is something I talked about last week on Yahoo Finance.

Inventory 514

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Finance 514

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 26, 2024

Homebuyer affordability worsened in March, as the average mortgage payment applied for by purchase borrowers increased to $2,201, an increase of $17 compared with February and up $108 compared with March 2023, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI). The index measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary across time – relative to income – using data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey (WAS).

Sellers 195

Sellers Housing Market Mortgage Buyers 195

Inman

APRIL 26, 2024

HomeServices was potentially on the hook for the remaining $4.7 billion in damages from an Oct. 31 jury verdict in Sitzer | Burnett, which awarded plaintiffs $5.3 billion.

Brokerage 197

Brokerage Agents 197

Real Estate News

APRIL 25, 2024

Even as interest rates and prices keep rising, new and pending home sales have ticked up.

Marketing 299

Marketing Mortgage 299

Housing Wire

APRIL 26, 2024

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have settled on new energy-efficiency standards for the construction of new single-family and multifamily homes. This fulfills a requirement laid out in a 2007 law that directs the departments to adopt the most recently published energy-efficiency standards following reviews by the U.S.

Construction 501

Construction Law Development Finance 501

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 25, 2024

Pending home sales increased 3.4% in March compared with February and were up 0.1% compared with March 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Regionally, the Northeast, South and West posted monthly gains in transactions while the Midwest recorded a loss. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, says pending home sales in March marked “the best performance in a year, but it still remains in a fairly narrow range over the last 12 months without a measurable breakout.

Inventory 195

Inventory Construction Realtors Appraisal 195

Inman

APRIL 25, 2024

The Gibson and Umpa cases allege Berkshire Hathaway Energy, eXp, Redfin, Weichert, United Real Estate, Douglas Elliman, HomeSmart and others conspired against homesellers nationwide.

Real Estate 195

Real Estate Brokerage Agents 195

Real Estate News

APRIL 25, 2024

During the T3 Leadership Summit, the eXp founder discussed some of his early challenges, the need for internal disruption, and his international ambitions.

299

299

Housing Wire

APRIL 26, 2024

In February 2024, the national delinquency rate for residential mortgages stood at 2.8%, marking an 0.2 percentage-point decrease from February 2023. The rate remained unchanged from January 2024, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights report. The data provider examined all stages of delinquencies to gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health.

Mortgage 500

Mortgage Marketing 500

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 25, 2024

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 7.17% as of April 25, up from 7.10% last week and up from 6.43% the same week one year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. “Mortgage rates continued rising this week,” says Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement. “Despite rates increasing more than half a percent since the first week of the year, purchase demand remains steady.

Mortgage 195

Mortgage Appraisal Marketing 195

Inman

APRIL 24, 2024

Buyers and sellers are confused about the new rules of the road. Trainer Bernice Ross and Jeff Lobb discuss how agents can change up the conversation and add clarity and confidence.

Buyers 195

Buyers Brokerage Sellers Agents 195

Real Estate News

APRIL 24, 2024

At the T3 Leadership Summit, Rich Barton discussed what’s in store for Zillow and the industry — and encouraged the audience to “resist the urge to chaos.

299

299

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

Three of the biggest topics in housing right now are mortgage rate movements tied to Federal Reserve policymaking, the day-to-day moves in key housing data and forward-looking trends for the housing market. This week at The Gathering by HousingWire in Scottsdale, Arizona, these topics were tackled in separate sessions by HousingWire analyst Logan Mohtashami , Altos Research founder and president Mike Simonsen, and Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather, respectively.

Inventory 500

Inventory Housing Market Sellers Marketing 500

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 25, 2024

In a move that marks a significant leap forward in the trading landscape of off-screen securities, Agile , which brings mortgage lenders and broker-dealers onto a single electronic platform, has launched electronic bidding for the fourth month in the To-Be-Announced mortgage-backed securities (TBA) market. The addition of electronic bidding for fourth month securities ushers in a new era of efficiency, the company says in a release.

Marketing 195

Marketing Contracts Development Mortgage 195

Inman

APRIL 26, 2024

Matterport's sale to CoStar will ignite interest in the value of digital twins and tour marketing, and the options for creating them are many.

Marketing 194

Marketing Technology Agents 194

Real Estate News

APRIL 26, 2024

“We fought as hard as we could,” said Kevin Sears this week when speaking about the settlement, its impact, and the need to change the media narrative.

290

290

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) can breathe a small sigh of relief. The trade group’s nationwide settlement of the commission lawsuits has passed its first hurdle as Judge Stephen R. Bough, who oversaw the Sitzer/Burnett lawsuit , granted preliminary approval to NAR’s settlement on Tuesday. While the agreement still must receive final approval from the court, the industry is now one step closer to operating under the new rules outlined in the settlement agreement.

Realtors 497

Realtors Agents Buyers Legal 497

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 24, 2024

Truv , a provider of income, employment and asset verification solutions, is now integrated with BeSmartee , a provider of point-of-sale (POS) software for mortgage lenders. The integration will automate manual verification processes and transform the mortgage experience for lenders and borrowers with easier mortgage approvals, heightened data transparency and faster closings.

Loan Officers 195

Loan Officers Mortgage Appraisal Marketing 195

George Dell

APRIL 24, 2024

Biased thinking, biased analysis — a part of the appraisal process? The Appraisal Institute is starting to address some bias-related critical issues — head on. Cindy Chance, the CEO of the AI, in her recent posts noted the role of human bias as a natural phenomena of the survival of the species. She cited the […] The post Biased Unbiasedness?

Appraisal Process 195

Appraisal Process Appraisal 195

Real Estate News

APRIL 23, 2024

A hearing for final approval is scheduled for Nov. 26. The court filing also included information about who is covered in the nationwide class action.

290

290

Housing Wire

APRIL 21, 2024

California Association of Realtors CEO John Sebree has departed the trade organization. In an announcement on Saturday, CAR said that Sebree was resigning to “pursue other opportunities. “On behalf of CAR’s leadership team and the Board of Directors, I’d like to thank John for his contributions and service as CEO and State Secretary for our organization.

Realtors 497

Realtors Real Estate Business Agents 497

Inman

APRIL 22, 2024

Matterport's board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which will be finalized later this year. CoStar purchased its outstanding stock for $5.50 per share, reflecting a value of $1.6 billion.

Brokerage 195

Brokerage Agents 195

Appraisal Buzz

APRIL 23, 2024

Mortgage delinquencies were at a rate of 3.2% as of the end of March, a decrease of 4.15% compared with February but up 9.4% compared with March 2023, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s First Look report. As of the end of the month there were about 1.7 million residential properties 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure, according to the report.

Inventory 195

Inventory Mortgage Appraisal 195