Housing Wire

DECEMBER 25, 2020

Real estate agents across the U.S. have been busy as a result of the pent-up demand from homebuyers due to COVID-19. From facing uncertainty in March from COVID-19-related shutdowns, to seeing home sales skyrocket through the summer into fall, it looks like homebuyers won’t be slowing down anytime soon, despite the holiday season approaching. Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said he expects existing home sales to ultimately “be up a percent or more in 2021.

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The Robert Weiler Company

DECEMBER 21, 2020

When you spend your whole life on the football field, it is hard to imagine yourself in an entirely different career. For Mike Doss, after he retired from the NFL, his future path was unclear. What role would be the best fit for his skill set? Mike decided that a job in sales was his best option; then Bob and Skip Weiler came along. Mike met Bob and Skip in the Fall of 2019, and there was an immediate mutual interest.

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Advanced Appraisal

DECEMBER 24, 2020

Chicago and South Suburban Appraisal Blog 12/24/2020

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DW Slater Company

DECEMBER 23, 2020

A Christmas Wreath in Texas. We at the DW Slater Company want to send you our warmest wishes during this season. We know that this will look different for all of us as we try to stay safe. We have a large family of seven kids and this is always a special time, however, this year will be different for us. May you enjoy special time with family and friends, in whatever way it will be for you this year.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

In recent articles, I have written that although current sales data for the U.S. housing market has outperformed expectations, I expected these upward trends to moderate. Growth in home sales in recent months, I proposed, was primarily due to the catch-up demand from the stalled sales during the worst weeks of COVID-19. Today, the National Association of Realtors reported a 2.5% decline in existing home sales compared to last month, which I guess could be considered moderation.

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McKissock

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Real estate is one of those careers where flexible jobs mean the possibility to fast-track your earnings and make millions in the early stages. Real estate professionals don’t earn a salary — which can sometimes work out to their advantage because if you know how to earn money in real estate you can earn a lot of it. Of course, it doesn’t always work out like that.

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Listing Spark

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Across the major markets in Texas, our December real estate market update shows clear data points that we are ending the year in one of the strongest seller’s markets we have seen in modern history. . Here is the breakdown across Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth. Austin. Median Sales Price: $365,000 (up 19%) Closed Sales: 3,397 (up 23%) Average Days on Market: 33 (Down 29 days from this time last year) 2,842 Active Listings (Down 55%) 3,629 Pending Sales (Up 23%) 0.9 Mon

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Borrowers looking to refinance their VA and FHA loans contributed to another uptick in mortgage applications for the week ending Dec. 18, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage applications jumped 0.8% a week after the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped five basis points to 2.85%, the trade group noted. The 30-year rate is up to 2.86% in the most recent MBA survey, according to Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting

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McKissock

DECEMBER 20, 2020

In the competitive world of real estate, a strategy that is vital to your success is making your client’s property stand out among the other properties on the market. In order to do this, homeowners may have to make renovations to the interior or exterior of their property. However, they are often working with limited budgets, which means that they need to focus on the most cost-effective renovations that will produce the greatest return on their investment.

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PennyMac

DECEMBER 23, 2020

On December 16, 2020, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that its benchmark interest rate would continue to stay at the historically low range of 0.00% to 0.25%, where it has been held since the board’s initial groundbreaking decision on March 15, 2020, in reaction to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic and its grip on economies worldwide. *.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

The next time you apply for a mortgage, or your lender services that loan or sells it on the secondary market, you might be helping to disrupt an industry. That’s because the entire transaction, or at least parts of it, may be powered by blockchain in the not-too-distant future. Robyn A. Friedman HW+ Columnist. Blockchain – most simply defined as a decentralized, immutable digital ledger – is perhaps best known as the technology underlying digital currency.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Reports on housing data are headline-driven, and headlines are designed to cause folks to overreact in both positive and negative ways. We’ve seen our share of hyperbolic headlines in the housing reports this year, and for that reason, I have been compelled to reiterate my belief that the “too-hot” data will moderate to a more normalized trend. But, we hadn’t seen that moderation in any meaningful way until today’s new home sales data.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Comparing single-family houses vs. townhouses can be difficult. What is the right fit for your home purchase? That depends on a whole host of factors — things like your budget , your need for space and privacy, and your penchant for home maintenance. Are you trying to decide whether a townhome or a detached, single-family house is the best use of your money?

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Daryl Fairweather Redfin Chief Economist. This is the second installment of our economist Q&A series of the top housing market forecasts for 2021 that focus on everything from home sales to mortgage rates. To help provide as much guidance as possible on what to expect in 2021, HousingWire interviewed a top economist every Tuesday in December in the HW+ Slack channel.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Despite the pandemic, incredibly, the housing market has surpassed all expectations in 2020. Applications to purchase a home hit a low point in the spring due to stay-at-home orders and mandated business closures, but have rebounded swiftly. As of the week ending December 4, purchase loan applications have exceeded year-ago levels for 29-straight weeks, and cumulative purchase applications have surpassed 2019 levels.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Existing home sales decreased 2.5% in November, ending the five-month streak of month-over-month gains, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.85 million, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday. Compared to last November, home sales are still up 25.8%. “Home sales in November took a marginal step back, but sales for all of 2020 are already on pace to surpass last year’s levels,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 24, 2020

The average U.S. mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan fell one basis point this week to 2.66% – the lowest rate in the Freddie Mac ’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey’s near 50-year history. This week’s mortgage rate broke the previous record set on Dec. 17. With this week’s record drop, there have now been 20 consecutive weeks when average mortgage rates have been below 3%, and the 16th time this year rates have broken their own record.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo will acquire proptech company RealPage in a transaction valued at approximately $10.2 billion, including net debt, according to a release. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the RealPage board of directors, is expected to close during the second quarter of 2021 and will make RealPage a privately held company.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Adoption of remote online notarization soared 547% in 2020, according to a new survey from the American Land Title Association of major vendors working in the RON space. The increase in adoption is largely due to protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that 29 states have passed permanent RON legislation. “Today, RON is being utilized most extensively in Florida, Texas and Virginia,” ALTA told its members.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

The impact of COVID on the real estate market is significant and has forever changed the way our industry operates. This change, while disruptive and uncomfortable for some, has provoked the rapid adoption of real estate technology, the likes of which we haven’t seen before. Agents, teams and brokerages are now seriously reconsidering the technology platform, tools and services needed to effectively do business today.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Digital closings firm Qualia announced Monday that it had reached unicorn status with a fresh infusion of venture capital. And for good measure, it also announced that it had acquired a rival in the title and escrow software space. Qualia said on Monday that it was now valued at more than $1 billion following a $65 million Series D funding round, according to reports.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

The U.S. forbearance rate measuring the share of mortgages with suspended payments increased for the second time in nearly six months from 5.48% to 5.49%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. According to Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, more borrowers are seeking relief as restrictions on businesses and rising COVID-19 cases are triggering layoffs and slowing economic activity.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Mortgage title insurance premiums surged by 17.6% year-over-year in the third quarter this year to $5.1 billion, according to the latest market share analysis from the American Land Title Association. This surge was up substantially even from the 8% increase to $4.18 billion in title insurance premiums seen in the second quarter this year. But with home sales and mortgage origination volumes rising, it comes as no surprise that mortgage title insurance is also seeing an uptick.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

After nearly 40 million people became unemployed by May because of COVID-19, the housing industry, borrowers and the Federal Reserve quickly realized that without ample aid, things could quickly turn sour. However, servicers leveraged the lessons learned from the last recession to help avoid a catastrophe, synergistic technology and a blanket of forbearance large enough to cover the nation kept mortgage servicers busy, but prepared.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues around affordable housing and access to it. In particular, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted housing opportunities for individuals and communities of color. Millions of jobs have been lost, and a lot of those jobs will not be coming back. Freddie Mac’s forbearance results have shown that many who have been delinquent or have fallen behind in their payments for more than 60 days have taken advantage of forbearance options provided by the

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

New York-based mortgage lender InterContinental Capital Group plans to make a big investment in Charlotte, North Carolina. The lender will add 500 jobs in Charlotte over the next five years as a part of a $5.8 million capital investment, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news release on Tuesday. Overall, $8.45 million in incentives has been offered by the state, including $7.7 million through the Job Development Investment Grant program, $650,000 from the community college system and $109

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Multifamily property owners who are struggling to make mortgage payments due to the coronavirus pandemic now have a reprieve through the end of March for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on Wednesday. Forbearance options for multifamily mortgages backed by the GSEs were set to expire on Dec. 31, but the FHFA has extended that till March 31, 2021, provided landlords are also extending benefits to their renters.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

The mortgage application process can be a confusing one — especially if you’ve never gone through it before. There’s a lot of red tape, a ton of moving parts and, worse yet, dozens of terms and phrases you’ve probably never even heard of. Are you planning to buy a home in 2021? Here are the top five mortgage-related terms you’ll want in your arsenal: 1.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 24, 2020

Home services tech startup Porch.com made its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange Thursday morning at a valuation of $523 million. The software firm, which merged with special purpose acquisition company Proptech Acquisition Corp. , opened trading on Thursday at $15 a share trading under the ticker symbol “PRCH.” In a statement on Wednesday , Porch said it will receive $322 million in gross proceeds from the IPO, including $150 million in a PIPE investment from Wellington Management.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Sales of newly built homes occurred at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 841,000 in November – 11% below October’s 945,000 revised rate , the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday. Despite a double-digit decline, November’s numbers are still nearly 21% higher than this same period last year. Every region experienced a dip in new-home sales, with the Midwest providing the starkest decline, down a whopping 43% month-over-month.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Retail lender Movement Mortgage has invested $200 million to expand its nonprofit Movement Foundation , and to accelerate the development of its growing charter school network. The investment will also aide in the development of adjacent affordable housing and health clinics in Central America, the company said in a statement this week. Movement Foundation uses dividends from the mortgage company for affordable housing and related projects to support community stability through homeownership.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2020

The post Creating a more secure closing process for everyone involved appeared first on HousingWire.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Headed into 2021, the American Land Title Association announced the promotion of six of its staff members to new leadership positions. “I am incredibly proud of this team and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such a talented group,” ALTA CEO Diane Tomb said. “Each of them has demonstrated their value while at ALTA, especially during the pandemic when we needed their strengths the most.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 23, 2020

LoanDepot and Brookfield Residential announced on Wednesday the creation of a joint venture, BRP Home Mortgage. BRP will deliver a streamlined mortgage experience for Brookfield Residential homebuyers, said Dan Peña, executive vice president of national joint ventures for loanDepot. Homebuyers in new home communities located in California, Colorado, Delaware, Texas, Virginia and Washington D.C. will now have access to loanDepot’s proprietary mortgage originations platform. “Brookfiel

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