Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 15, 2024
Jerome Powell , the chair of the Federal Reserve , said on Thursday that the U.S. economy is “not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates.” The statement was enough to raise mortgage rates to an even higher level, a sharp departure from the optimism lenders experienced during the September rally, which now seems like a distant memory.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 23, 2024
It has been almost two months since mortgage rates spiked again, and my initial thought was this would tank housing demand. We had a positive 18-week period with purchase applications before mortgage rates started rising in September. I figured those increases would produce the same weakness in purchase apps that we saw earlier in the year. However, surprisingly, demand has held up better than I anticipated.
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Housing Wire
OCTOBER 28, 2024
After previously taking issue with some of the forms generated as a result of the terms of the National Association of Realtors ’ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement , University of Buffalo law professor Tanya Monestier is now objecting to NAR’s settlement. In a document filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City — less than a month before the NAR settlement is slated for its final approval hearing — Monestier took issue with the business practice changes, sayi
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 19, 2024
We heard a lot about the need for millions of new homes during the run-up to the election, so I can imagine how shocked some people are to see today’s report on housing starts and permits at recession levels. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari recently stated that housing demand is high so the clearance rate (mortgage rates) should be higher.
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Housing Wire
OCTOBER 31, 2024
Over the last decade, real estate transactions have increasingly become a prime target for cybercrime. Far from slowing down, the scams are becoming more prevalent, sophisticated, and difficult to recognize as fraudulent. With October being Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is important that the real estate industry and consumers speak up and spread the word about how to prevent these real estate cybercrimes.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 21, 2024
Since 2019, the state of Florida has built more than 77,000 new properties in areas with a high risk of flooding. This is the most among all states, according to an analysis by climate-modeling firm First Street Foundation on behalf of the The Wall Street Journal. The construction activity is likely to place the housing industry and its financing partners on a “collision course” with insurers, the outlet said.
Residential Realty Today brings together the best content for real estate professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 29, 2024
In the latest episode of the RealTrending podcast , Amy Stockberger — broker-owner of Amy Stockberger Real Estate — joins Tracey Velt for a tantalizing conversation that covers her teamerage’s unique “Lifetime Home Support” model and other ways that agents can provide value to home buyers and sellers. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 15, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — the regulatory body that oversees communications across a wide variety of media including radio, telephone and the internet — announced that new rules related to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) will go into effect in April 2025. The new guidelines are designed to make it easier for consumers to revoke consent for unwanted robocalls and texts.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 18, 2024
What will the housing market look like in 2025? We already see many signals for what to expect, including last week’s data on inventory , new listings and price reductions, which I analyze below. For a more comprehensive look, read our 2025 Housing Market Forecast covering home prices, home sales volumes and more. Last week, there were 9% more newly pending home sales than the same week a year ago and home sales are ticking down for the season.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 15, 2024
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. has agreed to settle with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) over the regulators’ allegations of mortgage lending discrimination in majority-Black neighborhoods of the Birmingham, Alabama , metro area. The agreement, which was submitted for court approval, requires the Madison, Wisconsin-based mortgage lender to pay a $1.9 million civil penalty.
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.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 29, 2024
Is home-price growth finally cooling? That’s a question raised by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index for August, which showed deceleration on a year-over-year basis and a slight dip relative to July. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the national home price index posted a 4.2% gain year over year, less than the 4.8% gain from July. The monthly index fell by 0.1%.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 18, 2024
California-based Provident Funding Associates LLC is getting out of the Florida condo lending business , it told broker partners on Friday. In an email sent Friday morning, Provident said that it would “no longer be accepting new applications for condominiums ” effective that day. Provident told broker partners that all loans in the pipeline must be locked by 11:59 p.m.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 21, 2024
Another regulator has sued Rocket Mortgage for allegedly discriminating against a Black homeowner by undervaluing her home during an appraisal in Colorado three years ago. And the Detroit-based lender believes it’s a “massive overreach.” On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice —following a move made by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in July—filed a lawsuit against the lender, appraiser Maksym Mykhailyna and his company, Maverick Appraisal Group ,
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 14, 2024
The latest tumult in real estate feels like our world has been turned upside down yet again. But underneath all the frenzy, I see a genuine opportunity for us to turn this into a positive and come back even stronger than before. I often think of the term “Anti-fragile” from the book of the same name by Nassim Taleb. The principle is that people and organizations can build their success around being able to come back even stronger after a wallop, instead of just withstanding the impact.
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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.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 25, 2024
Many renters think they’re saving money by renting, but long term, that might not be true. In some of the U.S.’s largest metros, a monthly mortgage payment is less expensive than the average rent. But there are many factors surrounding affordability—how do city dwellers make this decision? A new report from Zillow Home Loans outlines some key trends and factors for renters to consider when evaluating a home purchase.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 22, 2024
Feeling overwhelmed by all the AI talk? It’s understandable. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic across every facet of life, including the real estate and title industries. Many title professionals are asking how AI can be used safely and effectively to improve daily operations. In this article, we’ll explore practical ways title companies can leverage AI to stay competitive in a fast-changing landscape, offering actionable tips to help you integrate these emerging tools respons
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
Home prices firmed up in today’s existing home sales report , but we caught on to this trend two months ago with our Housing Market Tracker. Traditionally, home prices soften in the second half of the year and I had counted on this for my price forecast , which predicted 2.33% home-price growth for 2024. However, that didn’t happen. The difference is mortgage rates: even with inventory growing at a healthy clip this year, mortgage rates just heading down toward 6% for a brief period of tim
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 22, 2024
As the U.S. housing market slowed down in the third quarter due to rising home prices and higher mortgage rates , investor purchases also ramped down, according to a new report by Redfin. The Seattle-based brokerage found that real estate investor purchases dropped by 2.3% year over year in Q3 2024, representing a small change after four years of fluctuations.
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Housing Wire
DECEMBER 19, 2024
Its late December so all the 2025 mortgage rate forecasts have been published. Unfortunately, all of them are already wrong. Most housing market analysts expect mortgage rates to spend the year with a 6 handle. The most optimistic predictions assume 2025 will see mostly low 6s for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. And yet with pesky inflation data not falling as quickly or as far as expected, Fed chair Jerome Powell suddenly changed his language in the Fed meeting on Dec. 19.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 14, 2024
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week published a report assessing the performance of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in reaching their single-family housing goals. The CBO found that the GSEs “met or exceeded” nearly all goals over a four-year period from 2018 to 2022. The CBO analyzed data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) data in its report.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 13, 2024
The U.S. finds itself in a “troubling environment” for bolstering Black homeownership as evidenced by two key — and lagging — metrics. This is according to the 2024 State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report published this month by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). “The two best-performing demographics for African Americans — Black female-headed households and millennials — both declined in home sales in 2023,” the organization explained in an announcement of the rep
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 24, 2024
anely Sandoval’s calling to be a pre-foreclosure peacemaker started when she was in high school. “My mom and stepdad went into pre-foreclosure,” said Sandoval, a real estate agent and investor who specializes in working in low-income, often Latino neighborhoods in Southern California. “I knew things were going down, but I didn’t know how bad it was until people started knocking on our door.
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.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 30, 2024
Despite initial concerns that tariffs would push mortgage rates up to 8% and reduce housing demand, this week has brought some encouraging news. The 10-year yield has remained stable at a crucial technical level and even reversed direction, resulting in improved mortgage rates. Additionally, housing demand has surprisingly held up, even with elevated mortgage rates.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 31, 2024
It’s been one year since the Sitzer/Burnett verdict was rendered in Missouri. What has changed for real estate brokerages since then? (Image generated by AI in Midjourney) Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles that will explore the effects of the landmark Sitzer/Burnett case, which was decided on Oct. 31, 2023, and has since reshaped the business practices for real estate brokerages and agents across the country.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 24, 2024
Online real estate marketplace Auction.com released data this week showing that demand for distressed homes — including bank-owned properties and foreclosures — shrank for a second straight quarter. The company’s Auction Market Dispatch for third-quarter 2024 included a survey conducted in late September of more than 140 active buyers on the platform.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 31, 2024
The real estate industry is racing to find ways that artificial intelligence (AI) can improve business practices. ClearValue Consulting thinks it’s found a way. The firm has partnered with Restb.ai to bring computer vision to its valuation review platform called Certainty. The companies hope Restb.ai’s technology can help ClearValue’s appraisal review clients improve efficiency and quality control while also reducing costs.
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.
Housing Wire
DECEMBER 7, 2024
Last week, we witnessed a Santa Claus rally in mortgage rates alongside improved housing demand. The economy continues to create jobs, with wages growing at an annual rate of 4%. We also see growth in our pending contract data compared to 2022 and 2023. Additionally, the purchase application data delivered another pleasant surprise with positive results.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
Today’s jobs report showed the lowest job-growth data for the year at 12,000. You would think this would cause the 10-year yield and mortgage rates to go lower. At first, this did happen, but after more digestion of the data, not only did the bond market give up all the early morning gains, but it headed higher for the day, which confused many. So, I will give you my best explanation, but I need to show all the data that came out this week.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 20, 2024
Nearly three quarters of recent American home sellers said in a Clever survey that using a traditional real estate agent is the best way to sell. As real estate agents adjust to sweeping changes brought by the commission lawsuit settlement, a new report from discount brokerage Clever Real Estate reveals one thing hasn’t shifted: Americans still overwhelmingly trust full-service agents to sell their homes.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 30, 2024
Lower mortgage rates in September had a measurable impact on home sales. According to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales in September jumped 7.4% compared to August and 2.6% year over year. NAR’s index reading of 75.8 is the highest number since March. An index reading of 100 equates to sales activity in 2001.
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