Sat.Jan 28, 2023 - Fri.Feb 03, 2023

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The housing market went from an ice bath to a hot shower

Sacramento Appraisal Blog

The housing market is getting hot again for the spring. It went from an ice bath in the fall to a hot shower so far in January. It’s not scalding like 2021, but it’s been a striking change. Let’s talk about this. UPCOMING (PUBLIC) SPEAKING GIGS: 2/8/23 SAFE Credit Union “Snacks & Facts” (for RE) […] The post The housing market went from an ice bath to a hot shower first appeared on Sacramento Appraisal Blog | Real Estate Appraiser.

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Housing Market Tracker: Housing inventory falls once more

Housing Wire

We are off and going now, as seasonality has kicked into full gear with the purchase application data. And, so far, it’s been a good start to the year. Here’s the housing market rundown for the last week: Purchase application data showed positive weekly growth again — and the bounce from the bottom is more noticeable now. Housing inventory decreased by 6,468 units, a more pronounced decline from the previous week.

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Market Target?

George Dell

Market, the word, is used over 2500 times in The Appraisal of Real Estate. And over 650 times in the current (2021-2024) version of USPAP. “Market” must matter! But what is it? “Market” has two main meanings which correspond to the definitions in The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal. One is a system to bring […] The post Market Target? appeared first on George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE.

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A New Year Starts with Strong Gains

Eyes on Housing

Job growth rebounded in January. After declines for five consecutive months, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 517,000 in the first month of 2023 and the unemployment rate hit a 53-year low at 3.4% as more people entered the labor market. Construction industry employment (both residential and non-residential) totaled 7.9 million and exceeds its February 2020 level.

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Supporting Your International VA’s

The Appraiser Coach

Do you have a virtual assistant hired? Many appraisers have found this to be a great way to get needed tasks accomplished without having to do them yourself. You may.

Appraisal 150
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AmeriSave accused of defamation, failure to pay wages in lawsuit

Housing Wire

A group of 11 former employees are accusing AmeriSave Mortgage Corp. in a new lawsuit of failing to pay the wages, bonuses and commissions that were agreed to when they were hired by the company. The group also alleges that the company conducted a defamatory campaign against them after their layoffs in July 2022. According to the class-action-seeking lawsuit, filed in California, AmeriSave hired 200 loan officers to focus on the West Coast region in early 2022.

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Fewer Prospective Buyers Are Fully Engaged in Purchase Process

Eyes on Housing

Dwindling housing affordability in the fourth quarter of 2022 caused the share of prospective home buyers who are actively engaged in the purchase process (i.e. who have moved beyond just the planning phase) to drop to 46%, down from 59% a quarter earlier. The share of prospective buyers fully engaged in the buying process declined in every region between the.

Buyers 190
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Master the art of cold calling with these 8 can’t-miss strategies

Inman

Cold calling can be an intimidating prospect for many real estate agents, but it doesn’t have to be, writes renowned trainer Darryl Davis. Real estate agents can turn cold calls into warm leads with practice and preparation, and as it becomes second nature, they will ultimately drive more sales for their business.

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Rate buydowns are the cat’s meow in today’s market

Housing Wire

High interest rates, coupled with a still-low supply of housing, have created price hurtles that are keeping many first-time homebuyers and lower-income borrowers locked out of the housing market. Interest rates, though down slightly in recent weeks, are still double what they were at the end of 2021, and the Federal Reserve continues its monetary tightening policies to fight inflation.

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Fastapp AMC Alleged Violations of AIR

Appraiserblogs

The following court documents in the case Naftali Horowitz v. Nicole Andrews, Fastapp AMC founder v. Fastapp AMC president, confirm what appraisers have been saying all along, that if you want high-volume AMC work, you have to lower your fees to 1980’s level, have 24 hour turn times, and, above all, be a number hitter. Horowitz, Fastapp founder, filed a lawsuit in New York court on January 31, 2022 against defendant Andrews to, among other things, remove Andrews as an officer and director of the

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Housing Affordability Goes South

Eyes on Housing

Buyers’ outlook for housing affordability took a sharp negative turn in the final quarter of 2022, when a record high of 87% reported being able to afford fewer than 50% of the homes for-sale in their markets. The remaining 13% can afford the majority of homes available, less than half the 31% who could in the third quarter. Affordability expectations.

Buyers 170
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Social media tactics top agents rely on in their marketing plan

Inman

The social media ecosystem is complex, and established platforms are facing challenges. In this fraught landscape, which social media channels can luxury agents rely on? Two leading agents weigh in.

Agents 152
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UWM rolls out construction-to-permanent loans

Housing Wire

Michigan-based lender United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has introduced a construction-to-permanent loan that covers the cost of building a home and then converts to a permanent mortgage once construction is complete. Starting February 1, UWM’s one-time close construction loans will be available on eligible 15- and 30-year fixed conventional loans and 7- and 10-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), the firm said Wednesday.

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Housing Market Down But Not Out- January Newsletter

DW Slater Company

Winter is here! Last week we had one evening of beautiful snow that quickly melted away. As I type, we are receiving winter weather watch notifications as we are getting ready for a more dangerous icing event here in North Texas this week. As we prepare for the coming cold, I am reminded that, although dramatic, most of the weather events here never last long.

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Unaffordable Prices Are Back on Top as Most Common Reason Buyers Can’t Make Purchase

Eyes on Housing

An earlier post revealed that 65% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the fourth quarter of 2022 have spent 3+ months searching for a home without success. The inability to find an affordable home (45%) is the most common reason buyers looking for 3+ months can’t make a purchase. In second place.

Buyers 166
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Rogers Healy pulls from Compass to hire first director of operations

Inman

The independent brokerage has hired Diyanna Ahuja to lead its team of more than 500 agents, who brings 2 decades of experience in luxury retail operations and real estate to the role.

Retail 152
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FHA announces new changes to loss mitigation waterfall 

Housing Wire

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced on Monday changes to its loss mitigation options for borrowers struggling to pay their mortgages. The announcement follows the Biden administration’s decision to set an end date for the COVID-19 pandemic national emergency declaration. Meanwhile, the FHA-Home Affordable Modification (FHA-HAMP) options were temporarily suspended to simplify loss mitigation options, according to the FHA.

Mortgage 433
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FAQ #5: What is an Appraisal Waiver?

Riverfront Appraisals

Appraisal waivers have been around for quite some time now, but have really gained serious traction just in the past few years. I realize that some may not be familiar with the term, or its dangers, so in this short post, I’ll cover both. An appraisal waiver is simply an agreement between a lender […] The post FAQ #5: What is an Appraisal Waiver?

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Further Downshift for the Fed

Eyes on Housing

Further downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.75%. This marked a smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes and a decelerated 50 basis point increase last December. While not the end of.

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Meet your mentor: A step-by-step for finding a real estate role model

Inman

Whether you’re looking to start strong or take your existing business to the next level, a mentor can be key. Learn how to find the expertise and experience you need in a real estate mentor.

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The mortgage servicing experts at Sagent are building the future of fintech

Housing Wire

Building the future of mortgage servicing technology is about granular, nuanced innovation — knowing what changes must happen and when, and executing with no mistakes across scale operations where every tiny detail is highly regulated. And doing all of this within aging infrastructure — it’s about building pathways within the aging infrastructure and incrementally replacing it with the new.

Mortgage 462
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Fannie Seeks Upstanding Invisibles for Long-Term Commitment

Appraiserblogs

Fannie’s big news about embracing the “invisibles,” under the pretext of helping the underserved, Fannie announced it had tweaked the knobs and dials on its impenetrable underwriting algorithm in order to fit “credit invisibles” for mortgages. In the final scene of the 1990 mob masterpiece “Goodfellas,” wise guy Henry Hill recalls his life as he enters federal witness protection.

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Fourth Quarter of 2022 Homeownership Rate at 65.9%

Eyes on Housing

The Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) reported the U.S. homeownership rate at 65.9% in the last quarter of 2022, which is statistically unchanged from the fourth quarter reading (66%). It is 0.4 percentage points higher than the rate in the fourth quarter of 2021. The national rental vacancy rate dipped slightly to 5.8%, and the homeowner vacancy rate inched.

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M. Ryan Gorman breaks silence on Coldwell Banker ‘termination’

Inman

In a Medium post published on Thursday, Gorman promised to lead by example with a shift into affordable housing projects while revealing new details about his departure from Coldwell.

Brokerage 152
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Hawkish Fed couldn’t curb market optimism — and mortgage rates tumbled 

Housing Wire

The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell maintained a hawkish tone during his speech at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon — but it wasn’t hawkish enough to keep optimism from spreading across the markets as mortgage rates dropped closer to 6%. “Inflation remains well above our longer-run goal of 2% over the 12 months ending in December: total PCE prices rose 5%; excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices rose 4.4%,” Powell told journalists. “While recen

Mortgage 393
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Tenant in Distress… What Would You Do?

Appraiserblogs

These situations apparently caused a severe depression to engulf the tenant. Appraisers, last week I received a call from an appraiser who was very upset about an encounter at the Subject dwelling, within city limits, not long before, and wanted to know ‘what to do.’ The appraiser scheduled an inspection for a dwelling being sold, and uses a ‘MLS Key’ for entry to homes with a lockbox, without having an agent present.

Tenants 96
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How Pandemic Changed Living Arrangements of Young Adults

Eyes on Housing

NAHB’s analysis of headship rates from the latest 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) reveals that the Covid-19 pandemic unlocked some pent-up housing demand, especially among young adults ages 25 to 34. The pandemic-heightened desire for more spacious and independent living, as well as “excess” savings accumulated early in the lockdown stages of the pandemic, propelled headship rates of young adults.

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The new top 3 rules of real estate: Speed. Speed. Speed

Inman

Modern homebuyers don’t want to get a loan during banking hours — they want to be able to access the calculators to help them shop confidently, and then text a loan expert if they have questions. And that’s exactly the kind of support a great digital lender can provide.

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First Internet Bank is shuttering its consumer mortgage business

Housing Wire

First Internet Bank is shutting down its consumer mortgage business due to a steep decline in mortgage volumes and the negative outlook for mortgage lending that is forecasted to continue for the next several years. First Internet Bancorp , parent company of First Internet Bank, announced that the exit will include its nationwide digital direct-to-consumer mortgage platform, which originates residential loans for sale in the secondary market.

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What Is a Reconsideration of Value for an Appraisal Report?

Kairos Appraisal Services

The cooling housing market is forecast to continue in 2023, and buyers and sellers are proceeding with caution. With increased interest rates and declining home sales, there’s plenty to be nervous about—and there’s still the home appraisal, which can derail any mortgage deal if it comes in “low.” The good news is that a reconsideration… The post What Is a Reconsideration of Value for an Appraisal Report?

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Uptick for Construction Job Openings in December

Eyes on Housing

The count of open, unfilled jobs for the overall economy increased in December, rising to 11 million, the highest level since July. This was a surprise rise, as noted by many analysts, particularly given a growing chorus of corporate hiring freezes and job cuts. For now, the December data appears to be more noise than signal, although certainly that conclusion.

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US home prices slip for fifth month as market bottom comes into view

Inman

The Case-Schiller index posted a 7.7 percent annual gain in home prices — down from a 9.2 percent gain in October — while the FHFA index showed a 0.1 percent decline in prices between October and November.

Marketing 156
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Fed delivers the expected 25 bps rate hike. What’s next? 

Housing Wire

As expected, the Federal Reserve slowed the rate hikes in 2023 amid cooling inflation data, sparking hopes of a recovery for the housing market this year. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday afternoon decided to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to the 4.50%-4.75% range. The decision follows four subsequent 75 basis point increases, which occurred in June , July , September and November , and a 50 basis point increase in December.

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How to Level Up as an Appraiser

McKissock

As part of our contributor series, experienced appraiser Conrad Meertins Jr. shares his advice on how to level up as an appraiser. There is a popular saying, “Skills pay the bills.” There is much merit to that in our industry, and it will be even more true as we move into this year with so much uncertainty looming over our heads. Your skills are what make you invaluable.