Sat.Oct 03, 2020 - Fri.Oct 09, 2020

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Don’t call it a comeback

Housing Wire

Don’t call it a comeback, Good demographics and low mortgage rates have been here for years, Rockin’ the bubble boys Puttin’ the bears in fear. That’s a reference to the song “Mama Said Knock You Out” from L.L Cool J. I have used this in other articles and interviews, which runs in line with my big macro take that what drives the housing market are mortgage rates and demographics.

Mortgage 544
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4 Must-Have Tech Tools Every Agent Should Have

McKissock

Technology is an essential part of any successfully run business, which remains valid for the real estate industry. Staying on top of industry trends is especially important for agents as every intricate part of a transaction can improve using technology and software. In this article, we will cover some of the most useful and innovative solutions out there to help any agent run their business ethically and efficiently as possible. #1: Client Relationship Management System.

Agents 103
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Appraisals for Immigration

Anthem Valuation

The Department of Homeland Security has made changes in 2020 with required income, credit history, civil liabilities and assets/resources in immigration applications. In such, requiring a recent appraisal of real estate by a licensed appraiser to indicate equity value. [link]. The post Appraisals for Immigration appeared first on Anthem Valuation Blog.

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Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Created a Housing Shortage?

REX Real Estate

When the COVID-19 pandemic first started, experts predicted the housing market would suffer compared…

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As home prices increase, sellers have the upper hand

Housing Wire

For the second consecutive month, Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index, a composite index designed to track consumers’ desire to sell or buy a home, gained 3.5 points in September to 81. Compared to this time last year, the HPSI is down 10.5 points, but has recovered more than half of its early pandemic-period decline when April’s HPSI hit its lowest reading since November 2011.

Sellers 534
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The One Business Skill Every Appraiser Needs to Master

McKissock

We recently asked our appraisal community, “What ONE business skill does every appraiser need to master?” By far, the most popular answer selection was “delegation and time management.” According to real-life appraisers, several business skills are important. But time management, in particular, is essential for building a successful career in real estate appraisal.

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In today’s hot housing market, how are real estate agents staying competitive?

Housing Wire

Are you running your real estate practice like a business? Or is being a real estate agent just a side hustle for you – something you do in your spare time? According to the U.S. Small Business Administration , only half of small businesses survive five years or longer. So, if you’re planning to be a real estate agent long-term, it’s probably a good idea to run your business like, well, a business, especially in today’s highly competitive housing market.

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400,000 mortgage borrowers are “needlessly delinquent”

Housing Wire

There are about 400,000 mortgage borrowers “needlessly delinquent” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic who did not use available forbearance options, according to a report from the Urban Institute. These are borrowers with mortgages backed by the federal government who could have gotten help by getting a forbearance agreement, a right given to them by the CARES Act passed by Congress at the end of March, according to the report by Laurie Goodman and Michael Neal.

Mortgage 507
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Is the housing market on a sugar high?

Housing Wire

V#&WUA. – no, I’m not beeping something out. These days, it seems those symbols are all the economic recovery scenarios that are possible as the U.S. looks to recover from the pandemic that has gripped our nation in 2020. For the housing market, that recovery could look different from the larger economy. In the Spring of of 2020, as stay-at-home orders spread across the U.S. and many businesses began to close, the housing market proved to be incredibly resilient, thriving amid record l

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What renovations should you make before selling your home?

Housing Wire

With ever-waning levels of inventory, surging homebuyer demand and bidding wars on the rise, it’s clear that sellers have the upper hand this season. And while that certainly bodes well for homeowners (hello, more profits!) that doesn’t mean every property will sell in record time or for top dollar. Are you considering putting your home on the market?

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Opendoor discloses that it’s under federal investigation

Housing Wire

Opendoor has officially filed its announcement to go public after announcing its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. II in September. But the filing also revealed that Opendoor is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over its advertising practices. According to the filing, Opendoor in 2019 received a civil investigative demand.

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Mortgage delinquencies expected to remain above pre-pandemic levels until 2022

Housing Wire

Following previous natural disaster recovery patterns, mortgage delinquencies are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until March 2022, according to a report from Black Knight. If trends persist, the data service provider estimates once the first wave of forbearances hit their 12-month expiration in March 2021, there may be more than 1 million excess delinquencies.

Mortgage 438
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Gary Keller steps back from Keller Williams amid major corporate restructuring

Housing Wire

Keller Williams co-founder Gary Keller has stepped down as CEO amid a broader corporate restructuring that will see the creation of a new holding company, KWx , and a new CEO. In an email to Keller Williams’ leaders and agents Wednesday morning, Keller said the announcement is “one I have been working toward for many months and am confident will mark the next chapter in the history of Keller Williams.”.

Realty 429
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Mortgage applications rise 4.6%

Housing Wire

After faltering 4.8% the week prior , mortgage applications almost completely rebounded last week, gaining 4.6%, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The refinance index also jumped 8% — hitting its highest level since mid-August. Refinances continued to hover around two-thirds the share of mortgage activity as they increased to 65.4% of total applications from 63.3% the week prior.

Mortgage 446
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COVID-19 has forever changed how consumers shop for a home, and the value of leads

Housing Wire

The pandemic has changed everything. We no longer shop for groceries, clothes or TVs as we did in March. The same is true of home shopping. And we may never go back to the old ways. “Consumer shopping behavior has permanently changed; the customer expectation has changed,” Jornaya Head of Consumer Finance Mike Eshelman said at HousingWire Annual on Thursday.

Mortgage 429
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In most places you can get a RON, now it’s time for AI

Housing Wire

In many states across the U.S. ( with some exceptions ), remote online notarizations are becoming widely accepted. Now, experts say it’s time to move on to the next step: artificial intelligence. At the onset of COVID-19, the housing industry was forced to figure out how it would continue to help Americans fulfill their dream of homeownership amid stay-at-home orders.

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Anthony Casa officially steps down as head of AIME

Housing Wire

Months after taking a back seat at the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts , former Chairman Anthony Casa announced he is officially stepping down following the backlash from his lewd and sexist videos. Over the July 4 holiday this year, Casa sent a video to Quicken Loans Vice President Austin Niemic, where he made comments of a sexual nature about Niemiec’s wife.

Lending 411
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People movers: Home Point Financial, Kukun, Kairoi Residential

Housing Wire

Home Point Financial named Kristin Supancich to the new role of chief people officer where she will be charged with growing and scaling the company. Supancich brings more than 25 years of experience in the workforce and talent industry to the new position, harnessing her experience to help Home Point become one of the nation’s Top-10 overall mortgage lenders by continuing to enhance its people-focused initiatives.

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Mortgage credit tightened in September, MBA says

Housing Wire

Mortgage credit in September was the tightest since February 2014 as a weak economy prompted lenders to raise standards, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report on Thursday. The group’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index fell 1.9% to 118.6 last month, indicating stricter requirements to get loans. The index plunged from record highs seen in late 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the sharpest economic contraction since the Great Depression.

Mortgage 411
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The key to avoiding costly errors amid record-breaking origination volume

Housing Wire

HousingWire recently spoke with ACES Quality Management CEO Trevor Gauthier about the importance of quality control among record-breaking volumes and how QC technology can help lenders avoid costly errors. HousingWire: How have recent conditions impacted loan quality management? Trevor Gauthier : Right out of the gate with COVID-19, we saw everyone making the transition to a remote work environment, which was incredibly burdensome on organizations that are used to being in their brick-and-mortar

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Home prices rose by record numbers last week

Housing Wire

Home sales are up, and so are the prices. Median home sale prices have made the largest increase on record, jumping 15% year over year for the week ending Oct. 4. The previous largest increase was 14.5% seen in September 2005, according to Redfin analysis of the Case-Shiller national home price index and analysis of MLS data. As of last week, the median home sale price in America was $320,625, compared to $279,090 a year ago.

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Feeding the capital markets beast and figuring out pricing in a time of extraordinary uncertainty

Housing Wire

Changes to capital markets have been fast and furious over the last year in housing. By some accounts, the growth timeline has been compressed five years. It makes for exciting – and uneasy – times for lenders, investors and policy makers, panelists said at HousingWire Annual on Thursday. During the half-hour discussion, the panelists offered their takes on capital market appetite by channel, touching on the rise of the nonbank, regulatory challenges, IPOs, adaptation and technology, the upcomin

Marketing 370
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Compass enters title and escrow with Modus acquisition

Housing Wire

Real estate technology company Compass announced on Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire title and escrow software startup, Modus. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Modus , based in Seattle, will merge its 60-plus person team with Compass’s end-to-end real estate transaction platform. Founded in 2018 by Alex Day, Jai Sim and Abbas Guvenilir, Modus’ goal is to digitize the home-closing process by providing a transparent platform for agents and their

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ALTA launches Good Deeds Foundation to strengthen communities

Housing Wire

The American Land Title Association announced at its ALTA ONE conference Tuesday that it is launching its Good Deeds Foundation to provide grants and sustain efforts to strengthen communities in crisis. The foundation will help the charitable efforts of its members in their communities and help those affected by national emergencies like COVID-19 or with housing needs.

Insurance 330
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Princeton Mortgage’s Rich Weidel on how small shops can still compete with Rocket and UWM

Housing Wire

Rich Weidel, the CEO of family-owned and operated lender Princeton Mortgage , was scared. He saw the big competitors only getting bigger. He wondered how a smaller retail-and-wholesale shop could possibly compete with the likes of Rocket Companies , with massive budgets for technology and an ability to scale and expand margins. But he ran the numbers, and says he was surprised at what he found.

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Federal Reserve fines Citigroup $400M for “longstanding” internal problems

Housing Wire

The Federal Reserve Board announced on Wednesday an enforcement action against Citigroup after an assessment found the bank had multiple “longstanding” deficiencies in risk management and internal controls. Inadequate implementation was found in data quality management and regulatory reporting, compliance risk management, capital planning and liquidity risk management, the Fed announced on Wednesday.

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RedfinNow expands iBuying to Sacramento, California

Housing Wire

Redfin’ s iBuying service RedfinNow has expanded into another new market since it resumed after pausing because of COVID-19. As of Friday October 9th, Sacramento, California homeowners can sell their homes and get a cash offer via RedfinNow. “Despite the pandemic, people still need to sell, whether they are relocating for a job, making room for a growing family or downsizing for retirement in a new place,” said Jason Aleem, vice president of RedfinNow. “We’re excite

Brokerage 358
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Experts share insights on business strategies during social upheaval

Housing Wire

Alongside the discussions around how the pandemic is changing consumer behavior, how to solve the current inventory shortage and how the economic forecast for 2021 is shaping up, was a conversation much bigger than mortgage and these boom times. It was a conversation focused on how lenders and companies can – and should – create a business strategy during social upheaval.

Business 347
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Here’s how to get an instant offer on your home

Housing Wire

Gone are the days when you had to prep your home, market it and pay a costly commission to a real estate agent just to sell. Though that’s certainly still an option (and will probably net you more in profits), it’s no longer the end-all-be-all of home selling. Now, thanks to a trend called iBuying, all it takes is an internet connection and a little info about your home, and you can get an instant offer on your property in days — maybe even minutes. .

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Rock Venture’s Trina Scott on adjusting business strategy during social upheaval

Housing Wire

Trina Scott, chief diversity officer at Rock Ventures and 2020 HousingWire Woman of Influence , will speak at our HousingWire Annual event on Oct. 8. HousingWire sat down with Scott ahead of that event to get a glimpse of what she’ll be talking about during her panel entitled: Business Strategy During Social Upheaval. During the interview, Scott shares why this session is important, her advice to mortgage executives when it comes to starting the conversation on how to create a business strategy

Business 273
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Workplace strategist Jeff Butler to deliver keynote address at HousingWire Annual

Housing Wire

As mortgage lenders continue to register record volume in 2020, top talent is in peak demand and companies are having to shift the way they view human capital in order to stay competitive. That’s why we’ve invited workplace strategist Jeff Butler to kick off our long-awaited HousingWire Annual event, tomorrow, with a keynote speech titled: Winning the Talent War.

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Green housing expert Bob Simpson to speak at HousingWire Annual Oct. 8

Housing Wire

A consequential change in decarbonizing housing stock hasn’t been a priority in this pandemic year, but post-pandemic, it is sure to rise in importance. With nearly 40% of total U.S. energy consumption used in the residential and commercial sector, the housing industry is front and center in creating solutions to this problem. That’s why we’ve invited Bob Simpson, founder of Simpson Impact Strategies , to moderate a panel at our HousingWire Annual event on Oct. 8, discussing how 2021 may see som

Finance 221
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Finalize the closing disclosure earlier in the process using this collaborative platform

Housing Wire

The CoreLogic Title & Closing Solution offers an enhanced workflow designed to support lenders and vendors in the title and closing process. The Title & Closing Solution syncs order management, secures vendor communication and document transfer, encourages full compliance, and ultimately enhances consumer experience in home ownership. The solution allows lenders to securely and consistently interact with vendors.

Design 288
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Orchard launches platform that digitizes home-buying process

Housing Wire

Home buying and selling marketplace Orchard announced the launch of a digital platform, Orchard Dashboard, that enables homeowners to manage the entire real estate transaction in one place. “The traditional way of buying and selling a home has barely evolved over the last 50 years,” Court Cunningham, CEO and cofounder of Orchard, said in a release. “The experience is almost entirely offline, requires the customer to coordinate between five different parties, and causes unnecessary confusion and