Sat.Sep 05, 2020 - Fri.Sep 11, 2020

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Mortgage forbearances drop 22% from May peak

Housing Wire

There are 3.7 million U.S. homeowners with mortgages in forbearance this week, down 22% from May’s peak of 4.7 million , Black Knight said in a report on Friday. The total weekly drop was 66,000 loans, a slower pace than the decline of 150,000 in the prior week, the report said. Measured as a share of all mortgages, 7% of home loans are in forbearance, down from 7.1% in the prior week, Black Knight said.

Mortgages 545
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Homebuyer Traffic Is on the Rise

Keeping Current Matters

One of the biggest surprises of 2020 is the resilience of the residential real estate market. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is now forecasting that more homes will sell this year than last year. He’s also predicting home sales to increase by 8-12% next year. There’s strong evidence that he will be right.

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Largest Four-Month Lumber Price Increase in 70 Years Outweighs Other Price Declines in August

Eye on Housing

Prices paid for goods used in residential construction continued their upward trend in August, increasing 0.9% (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is the fourth consecutive monthly increase since the index declined three months straight and brings the index back to its pre-pandemic level.

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Is It Time to Revamp Your Networking Strategy?

RIS Media

Is networking as we know it gone? With the impact of social distancing, the days of wine and cheese gatherings have come to a screeching halt, but that’s no reason to put your networking activities on hold. In the bestselling book, “Build Your Dream Network,” author J. Kelly Hoey sheds light on networking in a hyper-connected world with a brilliant twist.

Branding 142
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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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It hasn’t been this hard to get a mortgage in six years

Housing Wire

Mortgage credit in August was the tightest in more than six years as a weak economy prompted lenders to tighten standards, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report on Thursday. The group’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index fell 4.7% to 120.9 last month, the lowest since March 2014, indicating stricter requirements to get loans. The index plunged from record highs seen in late 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression.

Mortgages 545
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Have You Ever Seen a Housing Market Like This?

Keeping Current Matters

The year 2020 will certainly be one to remember, with new realities and norms that changed the way we live. This year’s real estate market is certainly no exception to that shift, with historic highlights continuing to break records and challenge what many thought possible in the housing market. Here’s a look at four key areas that are fundamentally defining the market this year.

Marketing 320

More Trending

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Passive Income Ideas: 25 Ways To Earn More Money In 2020

Marco Santarelli

Passive income is money that is usually (but not always) received regularly without any or only little effort. You either have to do much, in the beginning, to set up your passive income stream or/and you regularly have to invest at least a bit time, effort or money to maintain that income. There are thousands of best passive income ideas you can come across on the internet for earning monthly residual income.

Lending 135
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NAR: 31% of Realtors say they feel unsafe at open houses

Housing Wire

Real estate agent safety has been a concern for years, as the job requires showing empty homes or homes occupied by others, and meeting new people, often alone. As September is Realtor Safety Month, the National Association of Realtors has released its 2020 Member Safety Report. According to the report, 31% of Realtors said they feel unsafe during an open house or showings, and 27% said they feel unsafe when meeting a new client for the first time at a scheduled location or property.

Agents 545
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Virtual School Is Changing Homebuyer Needs [INFOGRAPHIC]

Keeping Current Matters

Some Highlights. With remote learning sweeping the nation this academic year, organized spaces with enough room for kids to learn effectively are high on buyer wish lists. If you’re trying to make room for your family’s growing needs, multi-purpose rooms and dedicated workspaces may be features to consider in your next home. Reach out to a local real estate professional today so you can find a home where your kids feel confident and comfortable too.

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7 low credit score home loans (starting at 500 FICO)

The Mortgage Report

Certain mortgage programs are designed to get lower credit applicants into homes. Find out which programs you should target as a home buyer with a low score.

Loans 134
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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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Phoenix Real Estate Market & Investment Overview 2020

Marco Santarelli

Even after suffering from the pandemic, the Phoenix housing market 2020 still comes out on top. As we saw Arizona real estate market thriving & becoming sizzling hot in the past couple of years, even the rise in mortgage rates was believed not to affect it. We've been seeing real estate appreciation rates increasing year-over-year in the entire metro area.

Marketing 135
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Zillow: Nearly 2 million renters can become homeowners, thanks to telecommuting

Housing Wire

Telecommuting is growing in popularity as more companies establish work-from-home protocols. With this new flexibility, nearly 2 million renter households could become homeowners , according to Zillow. Renters who are employed with a job that could be done remotely and might be priced out of their current market could afford to buy the typical starter home elsewhere in the U.S. “If remote work becomes a bona fide long-term option especially with the pandemic, that could reshape the U.S. ho

Marketing 545
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Thank You, Essential Workers

Keeping Current Matters

To all essential workers on this Labor Day, thank you. The post Thank You, Essential Workers appeared first on Keeping Current Matters.

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7 Things Professional Organizers Really Wish You Wouldn’t Do

Realtor.com

lisegagne / Getty Images Think it’s high time to organize your closet, declutter your junk drawer, or tame the chaos in your kids’ rooms—or maybe your entire house? Home organization is a worthwhile pursuit—but according to home organization experts, even the best intentions can be easily derailed. Yup, there’s a right way to sort and arrange your stuff, and a very wrong way!

Design 134
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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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Freddie Mac: Mortgages Hit Another All-Time Low

RIS Media

Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey ®, which showed that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is averaging 2.86 percent—the lowest in survey history, which goes back to 1971. Here’s the breakdown: 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage. Averaged 2.86 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending Sept. 10—down from last week’s 2.93 percent.

Mortgages 132
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Forbearance housing market crash bros have a problem

Housing Wire

Back in April, when the COVID-19 data and unemployment numbers were at their worst, the housing bubble boys had a halfway legitimate 2020 housing market crash thesis. If unemployment rates had stayed between 20%-30%, the economic damage down to homeowners would have been epic. This could have led to a rapid increase in inventory on the market, which would have crashed home prices as demand collapsed.

Marketing 545
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The Latest Unemployment Rate Fell to 8.4%

Keeping Current Matters

Last Friday, the Bureau for Labor Statistics released their Employment Report for August 2020. The big surprise was that the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, a full percent lower than what many analysts had forecasted earlier in the week. Though it is tough to look at this as great news when millions of Americans are still without work, the number of unemployed is currently much lower than most experts had projected it would be just a few months ago.

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Mortgage rate and housing market predictions for late-2020

The Mortgage Report

We asked 10 housing and finance experts for their mortgage rate predictions and housing forecasts for late-2020. Here's what they said.

Mortgages 132
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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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Kobe Bryant’s Childhood Home Hits the Market for $900K—Basketball Hoop Included!

Realtor.com

Kevin Winter/Getty Images/Powelton Digital for Compass The hoop that helped make the late Kobe Bryant a basketball legend can be yours—if you buy the home it’s attached to, where the star-to-be spent his teenage years. The cost of the home is $899,900. Kobe Bryant’s childhood home and hoop in Wynnewood, PA Powelton Digital for Compass. The Colonial-style house is on Remington Road in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood, PA.

Marketing 132
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Mortgage forbearance rate falls to a nearly 5-month low

Housing Wire

The U.S. forbearance rate in the last week of August fell to the lowest level since mid-April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The rate dropped to 7.16% from 7.2% in the prior week, MBA said in a report on Tuesday. The forbearance rate for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans dropped eight basis points to 4.8%, while the rate for Ginnie Mae loans that include loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration increased four basis points to 9.62%.

Mortgages 545
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5 ‘lies’ HGTV tells viewers that impact the housing market

The American Genius for Real Estate

(OPINION EDITORIAL) HGTV has long been a fan favorite for renovations and home searches, but is the information they portray accurate? What influence does this really have on consumers? The post 5 ‘lies’ HGTV tells viewers that impact the housing market appeared first on The American Genius Real Estate.

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Construction Job Openings Rise in July as Recovery Advances

Eye on Housing

After an accelerated pace of layoffs in March and April, construction hiring roared back in May, increasing the count of open jobs in July per data from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The rebound for construction is concentrated in the residential building sector. The pace of construction rehiring increased the open jobs rate to 4.4% in.

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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.

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The Next Room To Boom: How To Promote Your Home Office Space and Draw in Buyers

Realtor.com

Pekic/Getty Images It’s been six months since many of us were last in the office, tapping away on our ergonomic keyboards and drawing on whiteboards in conference rooms during (gasp!) in-person meetings. Since then, we’ve been forced to find a new path forward in our homes, to create feasible workspaces where there really are none. And frankly, the kitchen table just isn’t cutting it anymore.

Staging 131
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The refinancing boom is just getting started

Housing Wire

Even with refinancings driving a record $1.1 trillion in originations in the second quarter and testing the limits of lenders’ capacity, LOs, mortgage executives and economists say all the conditions are right for a string of even bigger quarters. According to a report this week by data and analytics firm Black Knight , there are over 19 million high-quality refinance candidates in America, representing 43% of all 30-year mortgage holders.

Equity 544
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Orlando Real Estate Market & Investment Overview 2020

Marco Santarelli

We’ll be discussing the latest Orlando real estate market trends & statistics to find out how they can affect the investors and homebuyers in the next six to twelve months. After a big slump in real estate sales and activity during April, May, and June, home sales have bounced back in the Metro Orlando housing market. As per the current trends, Orlando is all set to remain a seller's market in the next 12 months.

Marketing 126
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Refinance Poised for Further Rate Declines

Eye on Housing

The latest results from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Application Survey for the week ending September 4 show an increase of 2.9% in the Market Composite Index from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Purchasing and refinancing activity increased from the previous week by 2.6% and 3%, respectively. MBA’s tracked contract rate of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

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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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Instagram’s Hottest Bedroom Looks Are the Decor Change-Up We All Need Right Now

Realtor.com

Homes of Distinction, Inc./Houzz A change in seasons usually feels like the right time to make other changes, too—like updating your space to fit your needs, and creating the perfect interiors you actually want to spend time in. So as we approach the official start of autumn, we thought we’d help you get started with those changes by providing some design inspiration.

Design 126
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U.S. mortgage rates fall to all-time lows this week

Housing Wire

Average mortgage rates for 30-year and 15-year mortgages fell to all-time lows this week, Freddie Mac said in a report on Thursday. The 30-year average is 2.86%, breaking the prior low of 2.88% set in the first week of August, and the 15-year average is 2.37%, beating last week’s record low of 2.42%, the mortgage financier said. The rates are driving demand in the housing market, helping to counter-balance an economic slowdown that showed signs of worsening after the COVID-19 pandemic flared in

Mortgages 541
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Full Speed Ahead

RIS Media

The CENTURY 21® Brand’s Forward-Thinking Approach. Editor’s Note: This is the cover story in the August 2020 issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine. Subscribe today. Two years ago, Century 21 Real Estate made a series of bold decisions to differentiate themselves from the “sea of sameness” in the market. First, they completely overhauled one of the world’s most recognizable icons.

Branding 126
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How mortgage rates are determined and why you should care

The Mortgage Report

Learn how mortgage rates are determined, what causes lenders to offer you a higher or lower rate, and why mortgage rates rise and fall daily.

Mortgages 124
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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.