Sat.Dec 14, 2024 - Fri.Dec 20, 2024

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The 2025 housing market for first-time homebuyers

Housing Wire

The American dream is synonymous with two ideas. One is the idea that anyone in this country can find a path to economic success regardless of their circumstances at birth. The second idea is the symbolic encapsulation of the first idea: homeownership. Owning a home is the signifier of economic success, but over the last few years, that milestone has gotten farther out of reach for first-time homebuyers.

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Existing-Home Sales Experience Seasonal Climb

Appraisal Buzz

The National Association of Realtors reports that existing-home sales increased in November. Three major U.S. regions saw growth in sales, but the West saw no change. All four regions saw an increase in sales year over year. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing-home sales, which includes completed transactions of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and cooperatives, increased 4.8% from October to 4.15 million in November.

Inventory 391
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NAR hits Phoenix Realtors with cease-and-desist over MLS Choice

Real Estate News

The option lets brokers access the MLS outside the traditional three-tier membership system. NAR says it is maintaining standards for the Realtor brand.

Realtors 318
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Three things to expect in the housing market in January

Sacramento Appraisal Blog

What’s January going to be like in 2025? What can we expect ahead for the housing market? Today, I have three quick points, and while these visuals are specific to my area, some of the language use can be used in many different markets. This is my last blog post of 2024. Thanks for being […] The post Three things to expect in the housing market in January first appeared on Sacramento Appraisal Blog.

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Unlock The Blueprint: How To Construct A Better Payment Workflow

Speaker: Timothy Allsopp

Payment challenges often lead to delayed projects, financial bottlenecks, and strained relationships. With construction projects becoming more complex, outdated processes are no longer sustainable. By refining financial workflow, companies can improve cash flow, reduce error, and foster trust between stakeholders. Discover practical strategies for redesigning payment systems to overcome workflow challenges while creating a smoother, more reliable process for contractors and subcontractors alike.

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All those 2025 mortgage rates forecasts are now wrong

Housing Wire

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.

Mortgage 487

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The Ten: Real’s dynamic president, and the firm’s stellar year

Real Estate News

As other brokerages stumbled in 2024, Real saw enviable growth in agent count, transactions and share price with President Sharran Srivatsaa setting the tone.

Brokerage 274
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Existing-home sales surge to highest level in more than 3 years

Inman

Existing-home sales rose 6.1 percent annually in November while three out of four U.S. regions saw increases from 2023, according to new data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

Realtors 169
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The Federal Reserve’s housing recession dilemma

Housing Wire

They say housing leads the economy in and out of a recession. Currently, housing starts are back at the levels seen during the COVID-19 recession in 2020. Interestingly, employment for residential construction workers typically one of the first areas to experience declines before a recession has not yet seen its usual downturn. Several factors have been keeping labor steady, such as working through a backlog of orders and long turnaround times to complete projects.

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Senate Passes Trigger Leads Measure

Appraisal Buzz

The U.S. Senate has announced the passage of the bipartisan Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (S. 3502) , a measure that will ban trigger leads except in limited circumstances. When a consumer applies for a mortgage, credit bureaus are notified that the consumer is interested in financing, which is referred to as a trigger lead. That information is then sold by the credit bureaus to data brokers (including other lenders) without the consumers knowledge or approval.

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Need Curated Pre-foreclosure Lists to Generate New Real Estate Leads? Trellis Has the Data!

Trellis is a state trial court research and analytics platform that provides Real Estate Professionals (Buyers, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, etc.) with LEADS on Pre-Foreclosures, Lis Pendes, Distressed Assets and more — to help uncover **new** opportunities and grow their business. The process is quick and easy — and all in real time. Trellis will supply you with a link to the relevant dockets, a Leads sheet and access to its UI where applicable.

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Housing Market Decoded: The top 5 market trends in 2025

Real Estate News

After several atypical years, the real estate market is expected to settle into a new normal, with lower rates, more sales and improving affordability.

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NAR threatens Phoenix Realtors over MLS Choice membership

Inman

NAR sent the cease-and-desist letter to Phoenix Realtors over its MLS Choice option, which gives brokers access to state-compliant forms and legal aid but may also violate its three-way agreement.

Realtors 167
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Housing inventory is down everywhere except in pandemic hotspots. Here’s why.

Housing Wire

The COVID-19 pandemic turned previously sleepy cities into boomtowns.Expanded or permanent work-from-home policies gave people more flexibility in where to live, and those in uber-expensive markets like San Francisco and Manhattan took advantage by moving to areas where they could get more space for less money. This created incredibly competitive housing markets in smaller cities that pushed sales and prices sky high.

Inventory 466
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Taking Foreclosures Beyond Judicial and Non-Judicial Actions

Appraisal Buzz

The Five Star Institutes Legal League has announced the launch of its latest White Paper, Non-Uniform Foreclosures. Legal League is a professional association of financial services law firms spread out across the U.S. The Legal League is uniquely positioned to drive progress in the mortgage servicing industry. Legal League members provide a clear view of the legal landscape and the expertise to navigate it, committed to supporting its membership through education, communication, relationship dev

Legal 435
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ADUs are gaining momentum — can they help fix the housing shortage?

Real Estate News

Cities and states across the U.S. are making it easier to build ADUs. Leaders hope those reforms will lead to more supply and improve affordability.

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24 gifts real estate agents actually really want for Christmas this year

Inman

Forget gadgets and swag. According to team leader Carl Medford, what Realtors really want right now are well-behaved children at open houses, punctual contractors and, well, an end to 2024.

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Investor purchases are sinking with the housing market at large

Housing Wire

Home sales in 2024 have been well below historic norms. Higher prices, higher mortgage rates and limited inventory are making for a slow market among buyers and sellers alike. Real estate investors tend to be more insulated from these dynamics, particularly from mortgage rates, as they are more likely to buy properties with cash. But even investors have purchased fewer homes this year.

Investors 413
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Who Is Buying Homes in Disaster-Prone Areas? 

Appraisal Buzz

According to a new study from Redfin , older Americans are more likely than younger Americans to buy homes in places with significant climate risk. More than one-third (36.9%) of home purchases made by people 65 years of age and older last year were in counties with an elevated risk of extreme heat, compared with less than one-third (32.3%) of home purchases made by people under the age of 35.

HOA 390
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Fed cuts rates, but resets expectations for 2025

Real Estate News

Look for just two cuts next year half the number previously forecast as the Federal Reserve predicts inflation will remain high.

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Broker Spotlight: Michelle Valverde, BHGRE Viridis Properties

Inman

Find out how this young, first-generation Filipino-American entrepreneur worked her way up from receptionist to broker-owner.

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Existing-home sales take a sleigh ride to the sky with highest jump since 2021

Housing Wire

The housing industry is getting an early Christmas gift. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing-home sales in November rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.15 million, a 4.8% increase over the revised October number and a 6.1% increase year over year. The annualized rate is the highest seen since the tally of 4.22 million in March 2024 , and its the highest year-over-year increase since a 23% gain in June 2021.

Inventory 412
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The U.S. Real Estate Boom: Top Cities Leading 50 Years of Development

Appraisal Buzz

Over the past five decades, real estate development in the U.S. has surged, with Southern and Southwestern cities seeing the most growth, according to a recent study from StorageCafe. Residential, industrial, and self-storage industries have all expanded significantly, driven by urbanization and population growth. One key finding is that self-storage has seen a 91% increase in inventory since the 1980s.

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Trends 2025: Climate risks, buyer behavior and client conversations

Real Estate News

Floods, fires and other climate events are changing the real estate landscape. Agents should expect more questions about risk factors and be ready to respond.

Clients 241
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Stocking stuffer: Urban Nest Realty takes 400 agents to Real

Inman

Likely catching the collective eye of Real co-founder and CEO Tamir Poleg and president Sharran Srivatsaa was Urban Nest's 2023 numbers, consisting of 2,500 deals valued at $1.5 billion.

Realty 158
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FHA borrowers would get mortgage insurance relief through proposed House bill

Housing Wire

A new bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives proposes to relieve Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers of mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) once they reach a certain level of home equity , aligning FHA policies with those of conventional loans. Introduced by Reps. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas) on Thursday, the bipartisan bill allows borrowers to stop paying mortgage insurance once their loan-to-value (LTV) ratio reaches 78%, rather than paying it f

Insurance 407
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Q3 Commercial Mortgage Delinquency Rates Ramp Up

Appraisal Buzz

The most recent Commercial Delinquency Report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) shows that commercial mortgage delinquencies rose in the third quarter of 2024. The share of the balance of delinquent commercial mortgages increased for every major capital source during the third quarter of 2024, said Jamie Woodwell, MBAs Head of Commercial Real Estate Research.

Mortgage 397
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Housing market looking less attractive to investors

Real Estate News

But there is still competition for homes, especially at lower price points, where first-time buyers cross paths with buyers on the investment side.

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Fed cuts again, but mortgage rates climb on 2025 inflation worries

Inman

Bond market investors are focused on the latest "dot plot," indicating Fed policymakers only expect to bring short-term rates down by half a percentage point in 2025.

Investors 154
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What rising inventory means for the 2025 housing market

Housing Wire

As the year draws to a close, available unsold inventory of homes on the market is nearly 27% greater than a year ago. Almost every market in the country has more homes available now than at the end of 2023. Ten states have more inventory unsold than in 2019, which was the last sort of normal year before the pandemic. A few states have more homes on the market now than any time in the last eight to 10 years.

Inventory 414
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‘Silver Tsunami’ May Not Boost Housing Market as Much as Some May Expect 

Appraisal Buzz

As Baby Boomers age out of their homes, will it help create enough inventory to boost the housing market? As per a recent report from Zillow , it all depends on the specific housing market. The report finds that even though many Baby Boomers will soon be aging out of their homes, the resulting boost to housing inventory will be mostly concentrated in markets where there is less demand.

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The Ten: The portal wars, and how the gloves came off in 2024

Real Estate News

For CoStar and Move, the battle for dominance escalated from civil competition to full-scale attacks. Zillow and other players, meanwhile, stayed out of it.

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Realtor.com’s 2025 Housing Forecast: Key insights for agents

Inman

Realtor.coms annual Housing Forecast offers data-driven predictions and trends for 2025, providing real estate professionals with key insights into the evolving market at both macro and micro levels.

Agents 151
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What real estate leaders need to know about the 2025 housing market

Housing Wire

Despite 2025 housing market predictions changing fast , there are still key themes and trends for real estate leaders to watch to best serve their clients and business. Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors and upcoming speaker at the Housing Economic Summit, sat down with HousingWires Senior Director of Events Brena Nath to answer a few questions on what she thinks is to come for real estate in 2025.