May, 2023

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How to answer buyers’ top 10 most-asked mortgage questions

Inman

Agents should be prepared to answer their buyer's mortgage questions, including types of mortgages, lender guidelines, preapproval vs. prequalification and the closing process in the area.

Mortgages 197
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What to Know About Building Permits When Buying or Selling

RIS Media

Owning a home brings many opportunities to improve and add your personal touches. However, before making significant improvements, you need to get permission from the local authorities. To do so, you need a building permit. Understanding what a building permit is and how it works is essential. Local government agencies issue building permits as approval… The post What to Know About Building Permits When Buying or Selling appeared first on RISMedia.

As-is 144
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Housing Market Tracker: Mortgage rates over 7%

Housing Wire

Debt-ceiling drama pushed bond yields up last week, taking mortgage rates to a new 2023 high in the middle of the spring home-selling season. Active housing inventory , thankfully, saw some decent growth last week. Purchase application data had a second straight week of declines. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Active inventory grew 8,914 week to week, even though new listing data is still trending at all-time lows in 2023.

Mortgages 521
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Keys to Success for First-Time Homebuyers

Keeping Current Matters

Buying your first home is an exciting decision and a major milestone that has the power to change your life for the better.

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The 2025 Real Estate Roadmap to Success

Don’t just react to changes, plan for them, so you can approach the new year with confidence, direction, and a competitive edge for your business. Having a well-defined business plan helps you chart a clear course, navigate challenges, and set a foundation for growth. This workbook gives you the key steps to outline what matters and will ensure you’re moving ahead.

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New Single-Family Home Size Trending Lower

Eye on Housing

An expected impact of the virus crisis is a need for more residential space, as people use homes for more purposes including work. Home size correspondingly increased in 2021 as interest rates reached historic lows. However, as interest rates increased in 2022, and housing affordability worsened, the demand for home size has trended lower. According to first quarter 2023 data.

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A U.S. Default Could Be Catastrophic For Real Estate Investors—Here’s What You Need To Know

Bigger Pockets

The looming debt ceiling is worrisome, as the economic implications that follow a possible default are unprecedented and could be catastrophic for all sectors, including real estate. Here's what you need to know.

Investor 137

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Watch out — the industry’s mind-boggling transformation isn’t over

Real Estate News

Don’t let this transformative moment intimidate you. Industry experts Stefan Swanepoel and Jack Miller of T3 Sixty say it’s an opportunity built on history.

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Turnkey vs. Fixer-Upper: Pros and Cons

Windemere Buying

The beauty of real estate is that different properties satisfy different needs. Although single-family homes are great for putting down roots, that may not be your motivation for purchasing your next home. If you’re looking to buy a property with the intent of renting it, both turnkey and fixer-upper listings will cross your path during your home search.

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Mortgage demand slips with homebuyers wary of rate volatility

Inman

Rise in mortgage rates defies expectations as unusually wide "spread" between 10-year Treasury yields and mortgages reflects investor fears of another refi wave.

Mortgages 162
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Rocket sells roughly $20B in MSRs to JPMorgan Chase

Housing Wire

Add Rocket Mortgage to the list of companies selling mortgage servicing rights (MSR) in a difficult operating environment. The Detroit, Michigan-based lender sold about $20 billion in MSRs to JPMorgan Chase in April, following a decline in its servicing book in the first quarter of 2023. The company’s unpaid principal balance reached $524.8 billion as of March 31, compared to $535 billion at the end of December, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. “In Apr

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Avoiding Lease Accounting Pitfalls in 2025: Lessons Learned from Spreadsheet Errors

Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

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The Best Time To Sell Your House Is When Others Aren’t Selling

Keeping Current Matters

If you’re thinking about selling your house, you should know the number of homes for sale right now is low.

Sales 273
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For lower mortgage rates, finish more apartments

Housing Wire

The best way to fight inflation and get lower mortgage rates is to get more apartment units finished, and so far, this has been slower than my tortoise Grundy. One of the most frustrating data lines since COVID-19 has been housing completion data. Of course, we all understood the delays during the pandemic, but those days are over. We need to ramp things up and so far, it hasn’t been spectacular.

Mortgages 544
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Is the savagely unhealthy housing market back?

Housing Wire

Just when I thought days on market were returning to normal, that number for existing homes fell back down to 22 days. Why is this so important to me? If the days on the market are at a teenager level or even lower, it’s never a good sign for the housing market. I would say it’s savagely unhealthy to have that level and even though we’re not there yet, we are dangerously close.

Marketing 539
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FHFA rescinds controversial DTI LLPA

Housing Wire

Did you hear that sound? That’s the entire mortgage industry shouting, “hip, hip hooray!” The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Wednesday announced that it would rescind a controversial loan-level pricing adjustment (LLPA) for conventional borrowers with debt-to-income (DTI) levels at or above 40%. The FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , had previously delayed implementation of the DTI LLPA from May 1, 2023 to August 1, 2023 following a chorus of upset fro

FHA loan 539
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Tech-Forward Strategies for Scaling Agent Efficiency & Accelerating Growth

As the real estate market evolves, technology has become essential for success. According to NAR, only 26% of agents feel their brokerage provides the necessary tech tools and, as a result, agents seek teams and brokerages who prioritize technology investments! Whether you manage an established team or are forming a new one, this guide outlines key considerations and necessary applications to thrive.

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CPI report is good news for mortgage rates

Housing Wire

The massive inflation and double-digit mortgage rates of the 1970s and early 1980s seem to haunt the Federal Reserve , which wants to cool the economy and even provoke a job-loss recession to avoid that scenario. But the latest Consumer Price Index inflation report shows how the fear of 1970s-style inflation is wildly overblown. Today’s numbers don’t look like the 1970s at all, when rent, wages, and oil shocks sent inflation running hotter than anything we have seen in recent modern-day hi

Mortgages 536
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Only 70,000 new homes available for sale

Housing Wire

In a country with more than 330 million people, there are only 70,000 new homes available for sale today in the U.S. housing market. And with total active house listings in America near all-time lows, that is all we have for completed units for sale. The number of new homes doesn’t ever get into the millions, but we are still working our way back to the pre-COVID levels of 80,000 to 100,000.

Sales 525
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Housing Market Tracker: A wild week for rates

Housing Wire

It was a wild ride for the housing market last week! The 10-year yield rose noticeably, sending mortgage rates near 7% right in the heart of the spring selling season. New listings data fell, however, active inventory grew. And purchase apps had a weekly negative print, continuing the 2023 theme of higher rates impacting the data. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Total active listings grew by 3,809 weekly, but new listings are still trending at all-time lows.

Marketing 511
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Housing Market Tracker: Spring inventory falls

Housing Wire

Just when I thought it was safe to say we were getting more traditional spring housing inventory , we hit a snag last week, as active inventory and new listings declined. Hopefully, this is just a blip, which can occur from time to time with weekly data. We had a lot of drama over the week between Federal Reserve meetings and banking stress, and mortgage rates and purchase applications both fell.

Marketing 505
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Accelerating Real Estate Sales Pipelines to Streamline Buyer Journeys

Navigated 360° tours, like YourVRTours, advance pipelines by engaging clients further along the sales funnel. These immersive experiences provide comprehensive property insights, increasing buyer intent and readiness. By embracing navigated tours, agents can optimize property exposure, better qualify leads, and streamline the sales process. Stay ahead in the ever-evolving real estate landscape with innovative technology that elevates buyer journeys and progresses pipelines more effectively.

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Jobs data shows the labor market is normalizing

Housing Wire

Is the labor market finally normalizing? Jobs Friday data came in as a beat of estimates, but the labor market is clearly starting to come back to earth, killing the fear of 1970s wage spiral inflation. We’ve had a good week’s worth of data to show that the Federal Reserve is starting to get what it wants if you know where to look. The headline jobs data beat estimates, but we did have 149,000 negative revisions to the previous month’s data.

Marketing 501
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Fannie and Freddie address loan-repurchase complaints

Housing Wire

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives recognize that the wave of loan-repurchase requests represents an added challenge for lenders who already have a stretched balance sheet. However, Fannie Mae’s position is that the loan-repurchase increases are an economic problem, not an underwriting process issue. Meanwhile, Freddie Mac said it’s in talks with lenders to address the problem through a more customer-focused approach.

Loans 497
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Housing Market Tracker: Active listings barely budge

Housing Wire

The rise of active listings in this spring housing market reminds me of a zombie slowly rising from its grave. Yes, we found the seasonal bottom for housing inventory on April 14, but this year’s rise in active listings has been tepid at best. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Total active listings grew 662 weekly, and new listing data is still trending at all-time lows.

Marketing 488
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House bill would incentivize home selling in effort to boost supply

Housing Wire

A duo of bipartisan U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year that is designed to increase the supply of available homes on the market. And in order to bring more attention to the issue, the lawmakers recently made a public push about what the bill would do if passed. The “More Homes on the Market Act,” unveiled in March by Reps.

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Maximizing Your Online Presence: Tips for Real Estate Agents on Social Media

Speaker: Sarah Santa Ana, Real Estate Coach, Move4Free Realty

Networking is one of the crucial elements in every real estate organization's success. Both agents and real estate companies need to maintain robust networking links. This is why social media is essential for any real estate professional! Social media enables you to stay in touch with your present clients, maintain connections with your past clients, and engage potential customers and investors.

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Is the spring housing market about to rebound?

Housing Wire

In my last market outlook for HousingWire, published in January , I offered two predictions for the early 2023 retail housing market based on forward-looking Auction.com bidding behavior from the fourth quarter of 2022: A home price correction nationwide and in the majority of major markets Home sales volume bottoming out While both predictions have played out in large part (more on that below), bidder behavior on Auction.com in the first quarter turned a sharp corner, indicating a robust reboun

Marketing 459
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Homebuilders are feeling pretty good right now

Housing Wire

Homebuilder confidence is continuing to trend upward this spring, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report, released Tuesday. In May, home builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes rose to an index value of 50, an increase of five points from the April reading.

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The 2023 housing market is at odds with itself

Housing Wire

A paradoxical picture is emerging as the spring market is underway. On the one hand, elevated mortgage rates continue to erode buyers’ purchasing power, and in some markets, home prices are falling. On the other hand, inventory is still low, and homes are still selling fast, often with multiple offers. All major housing market metrics point to a restrained housing market.

Marketing 448
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Market conditions no longer favor large SFR players

Housing Wire

The institutional single-family rental (SFR) market has expanded rapidly over the past decade as an alternative to homeownership, but it is now facing major headwinds in the form of a rapid jump in interest rates and still-high inflation compounded by decelerating home prices and rental rates. That’s the takeaway from a recent analysis of the sector by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), an analysis that also is echoed, in part, by a recent report from ATTOM , a leading curator of real estate data.

Marketing 448
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Rise of The Apps: Building Your Dream Tech Stack For Real Estate Success

Speaker: Trey Willard, Realtor/Team Leader at Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

In order to create continued success in today’s real estate market, realtors need to utilize an arsenal of technology that will increase their efficiency and presence on social media. Using technology to manage your prospects and tap into their needs through websites, social media, and other channels is critical for real estate success in 2022 and beyond.

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Incoming data will dictate future mortgage rate shifts, experts say

Housing Wire

The Federal Reserve affirmed on Wednesday that its next key federal funds rate hikes will depend on incoming data. In turn, economists and housing industry experts have now turned their attention toward the June meeting, as that decision will dictate the future movement of mortgage rates. The Fed’s move on Wednesday was well anticipated and should not cause a major shift in mortgage and other interest rates, experts noted.

Mortgages 448
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Home prices accelerated in March even as mortgage rates climbed

Housing Wire

Low housing inventory and still-strong demand kept prices high in March, according to the latest according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index , released Tuesday. The annual growth rate in March 2023 was up 0.7%. On a month-over-month basis, the index was up 1.3% before seasonal adjustment. This was the second month-over-month increase following seven consecutive month-over-month decreases.

Mortgages 435
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Rocket rolls out conventional 1% down home loan program

Housing Wire

Rocket Mortgage introduced a new 1% down home loan program aiming to target more than 90 million borrowers. Rocket’s new product comes on the heels of rival United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) rolling out a similar program. Dubbed ONE+, a buyer using this program who’s purchasing a single-family home, and whose income is equal to or less than 80% of their area median income (AMI), is only required to make a down payment of 1% of the purchase price.

Loans 435
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The average IMB lost $1,972 per loan in Q1 

Housing Wire

Despite a marked improvement from the fourth quarter of 2022, independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks still lost a mountain of money in the first quarter. On average, IMBs reported a net loss of $1,972 on each loan originated from January to March, a 35% improvement from the reported loss of $2,812 per loan in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Loans 435
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Driving Profit: 4 Pillars for Growing Your Real Estate Brokerage

In the rapidly changing real estate landscape, achieving profitability requires a strategic approach beyond traditional methods. Our guide, "The 4 Pillars to Brokerage Profitability," outlines four essential pillars for scaling your real estate business: a seamless lead-to-close technology ecosystem, tailored integrated solutions for teams and agents, value-added success services and community support, and consumer-centric operations throughout the full homeownership lifecycle.