November, 2023

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What will lower mortgage rates do to spring housing inventory?

Housing Wire

Lower mortgage rates tend to take housing supply off the market and demand has been picking up lately as rates have fallen. However, the recent drop in housing inventory has more to do with seasonality factors than lower mortgage rates. Higher mortgage rates did push inventory higher during the seasonal period when it would normally be declining. However, seasonality tends to rule the day eventually.

Mortgage 533
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3 essential tips for estate planning with real estate

Inman

Estate planning is of prime importance for homeowners and their heirs. Properties are among the largest and most complex assets to be distributed — particularly when they’re luxury homes worth millions of dollars.

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10 Costs of Buying a Home You Need To Know About

Realtor

iStock The costs of buying a home go well beyond the actual purchase price. If you’re a first-time home buyer , you might get a little queasy when the last line of your good-faith estimate comes in at several thousand dollars. And after the color returns to your face, you might also be a little more than perplexed by some of those fees. Knowing what you’re paying for when you’re buying a home—like these 10 costs of buying a home—can ease that check-writing pain.

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Square Foot Prices More than Double Inflation in 2022

Eyes on Housing

Median square foot prices (excluding record-high improved lot values) for new for-sale single-family detached (SFD) homes started in 2022 increased 18%, according to NAHB’s analysis of the latest Survey of Construction data. Increases for square foot prices in new custom SFD homes were similarly high, averaging 19%, more than double the US inflation of 8% registered by the CPI the.

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How to Build Wealth With Real Estate

BiggerPockets

Real estate investing is a pathway for building wealth, distinct from other asset classes due to its tangible nature. This form of investment usually appreciates over time, providing long-term value growth. Real estate also offers the potential for rental income, transforming properties into sources of continuous revenue.

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Builder calls on lower rates to spur homebuilding investment

Mortgagebroker News

While the federal government can work on removing the roadblocks to building more supply, builder says assistance from housing investors would be a welcome development

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Signs of a buyer’s market emerge as homeseller concessions return

Inman

More than a third of all home sales featured a concession in the past 3 months, according to new data and agents who told Inman that they're beginning to see signs of a buyer's market unfold.

Marketing 160
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Here’s why home sales will climb in 2024

Housing Wire

If you follow real estate data closely, you’ll know that inventory rose late into November. You also know that new listings are up over last year, too. However, what you might not know is that home sales are climbing, which is a good sign. Watch the video above to get the latest housing market update from Altos Research. Short on time? Check out some key data takeaways below for the week ending Nov. 27.

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Department of Veterans Affairs pauses VA loan foreclosures for 6 months

Housing Wire

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is pausing foreclosures on homes financed with VA loans for six months to help military borrowers in danger of losing their homes, a department spokesperson said in a statement to HousingWire on Monday. The Veterans Assistance Partial Claim Payment program — which began July 2021 — allowed military borrowers to skip six or 12 mortgage payments during the COVID-19 pandemic if they had a financial hardship.

Mortgage 511
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Gary Keller accused of embezzlement in updated racketeering lawsuit complaint

Housing Wire

Nearly three months after filing an initial complaint accusing Gary Keller and Keller Williams of inflating key profitability metrics including company sales and profits to convince individuals to purchase Keller Williams Regions and Market Centers, John Davis has made tweaks to his lawsuit. In his initial filing, in addition to Keller and Keller Williams, Davis also names former KW president Josh Team, Business MAPS Ltd. and Business MAPS Management LLC as defendants.

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Property taxes have been rising. Here’s what it means for housing

Housing Wire

In many communities, homeowners and homebuyers have been hit with eye-popping property tax increases. It is costing more for schools and governments to pay for services. And homes in many communities have shot up in value in recent years, leading to tax increases through reassessments. But opinions differ on how much impact higher taxes are having on local housing and mortgage markets.

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13 video marketing best practices for your real estate business

Housing Wire

When it comes to marketing your real estate business, video is king. Global statistics from 2023 show that people watch videos an average of 100 minutes a day, with millennials — the largest share of homebuyers in the U.S. — spending 10 to 20 hours a week watching videos. From short Instagram reels to longer videos on YouTube , video is here to stay.

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The homebuilders’ war for market share fueling the economy

Housing Wire

When market players say housing leads us into a recession, it traditionally means the Federal Reserve raised rates too much, housing slowed down as a result and a job-loss recession isn’t too far off. But a funny thing happened this year for the U.S. economy: single-family permits kept rising as new home sales were showing year-over-year growth. How did this happen when mortgage rates rose from the lows earlier in the year?

Marketing 501
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14 real estate trends Gen Z buyers are looking for

Housing Wire

Baby boomers and millennials have dominated the home-buying conversation in recent decades, but a new generation of homeowners is browsing online listings, heading to open houses and planning their home-buying budget. Gen Z — born between 1997 and 2012 — is making waves in the market with their approach to homebuying. Here are 14 real estate trends Gen Z buyers won’t pass up. 1.

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Have lower mortgage rates already boosted housing demand?

Housing Wire

Did the recent move lower in mortgage rates turn the housing market positive? With mortgage rates moving almost 75 basis points lower from the highs, does the data show that demand has improved? Let’s take a dive in the weekly tracker to see. Purchase application data Last year, when mortgage rates fell from 7.37% to 5.99% , we got three good months of positive purchase application data until the first week of February before mortgage rates started to run higher from 6%-8%.

Mortgage 490
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Is this the beginning of the end of the housing market recession?

Housing Wire

While home prices in the U.S. held up in 2023, sales volume in the housing market cratered. Consumers care about home prices and mortgage rates; the industry cares about transaction volume. The industry is in a deep housing recession this year. If we get lucky with mortgage rates, though, we might just be at the bottom of the housing market recession right now.

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Home prices will fall in 2024: Morgan Stanley

Housing Wire

Let’s not sugarcoat it: 2023 was a bad year for the housing market. Mortgage rates eclipsed 8% at one point, inventory hit all-time lows, and home prices continued to climb. Next year, however, is shaping up to be better, according to Morgan Stanley. Analysts at the firm say that in 2024 the U.S. will avoid a recession, mortgage rates will fall, incomes will continue to rise and an uptick in listings will spur more housing activity.

Mortgage 466
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Have we finally hit the bottom in existing home sales?

Housing Wire

Has the epic crash in existing home sales finally found a workable bottom to rise from? The 10-year yield will be our guide, as I discussed on CNBC very early in 2023. Where the 10-year yield goes, so goes housing! I say this because of the slow dance between the 10-year yield and 30-year mortgage rates since 1971. Last year, the 10-year yield fell from 4.25% to 3.37%, pushing mortgage rates lower from 7.37% to 5.99%.

Mortgage 440
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Housing inventory growth slows to a halt

Housing Wire

Total housing inventory growth has been slow in 2023, but with rising mortgage rates over the last few months, inventory has grown a bit faster than average. The question now is: Have we hit the seasonal peak in inventory for 2023? The housing inventory growth rate has decelerated for three weeks, and we were barely positive last week, with an increase of only 59 homes.

Inventory 490
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Mortgage applications surge to highest level in six weeks: MBA

Housing Wire

Mortgage applications rose to their highest level in six weeks after the 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 7.44% last week. Total home loan applications increased 3% for the week ending Nov. 17 compared to the previous week , according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Mortgage rates for the 30-year fixed loan averaged 7.44%, falling 6 basis points in one week, according to Freddie Mac ‘s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Mortgage 458
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Have mortgage rates peaked for this cycle?

Housing Wire

After mortgage rates spiked to 8% in October, causing a riot in the real estate industry, we had an epic move lower in mortgage rates last week. Does this mean we’ve hit the peak in mortgage rates for this economic cycle? The history of economic cycles and mortgage rates would say yes, but only if the market believes the Federal Reserve is done hiking rates and being hawkish and the labor data gets softer from here.

Mortgage 499
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6 ways real estate agents can use AI to become the ultimate authority

Housing Wire

You might have heard about AI in sci-fi movies or tech conferences, but do you know that it’s a game-changer for real estate agents too? That’s right! Artificial Intelligence (AI) is your secret sauce to becoming the ultimate authority in the real estate world. In this article, we’re going to dive into the incredible ways AI can skyrocket your authority and set you apart from the competition.

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Opinion: Sitzer/Burnett decision presents an uncertain future for buyer agents

Housing Wire

Real estate agents are facing a contracting issue that could seriously upend the traditional housing landscape. The Sitzer/Burnett trial out of Kansas City found the National Association of Realtors (NAR) guilty of conspiring to inflate agent commissions — sparking a debate over agent commission fees and the longstanding role of buyer agents in real estate transactions.

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At last: Softer labor data sends mortgage rates lower

Housing Wire

The jobs report today which should move mortgage rates lower, demonstrates why it’s time for the Federal Reserve to land the plane. The labor market doesn’t show wages spiraling out of control as it did in the 1970s because the inflation data doesn’t look like anything in the 1970s. We had a solid job openings print this week and jobless claims are still near historic lows.

Mortgage 496
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Freddie Mac to roll out fee-based repurchase pilot program in 2024

Housing Wire

Freddie Mac will launch a new fee-based repurchase alternative pilot program for performing loans in 2024, designed to improve the quality of performing loans through a potential replacement of its current repurchase policy for defective performing loans. “The pilot will use a fee-based structure that is more efficient, transparent and rewards lenders that deliver high-quality loans,” the GSE said.

Mortgage 462
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Housing inventory is seeing unusual gains in November. Should we be worried? 

Housing Wire

Last week, I asserted that housing inventory growth had finished for the year. Turns out I was wrong! This week, the available inventory of unsold single-family homes crept up minimally. It looks like this is evidence that housing markets are returning to normal rather than a case of sellers panicking, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. After all, more sellers means more sales in 2024.

Inventory 449
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Homebuilders slash prices to clear inventory as confidence sinks again in November

Housing Wire

Elevated mortgage rates sank builder confidence again in November, but recent economic data suggests housing conditions will pick up in the coming months. Builder confidence dropped six points to 34 in November, the fourth consecutive monthly drop, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The data collected for the survey was submitted ahead of Tuesday’s release of the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S.

Inventory 458
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Why aren’t there more new homes for sale?

Housing Wire

In a country of more than 335 million people, with 157 million of those people working, we still only have 76,000 new homes available for sale as we head into December. The crazy part of this story is that this number looks perfectly normal to me. One of the urban myths spouted by people needing more experience tracking housing data was that millions of homes would hit the marketplace in 2023 because the builders had so many homes under construction.

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Bob Goldberg out as NAR CEO

Housing Wire

The National Association of Realtors’ longtime CEO Bob Goldberg is leaving the trade association, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to HousingWire Thursday morning. “We are immensely grateful for Bob’s leadership and decades-long service to NAR,” Tracy Kasper, current NAR president, said in a statement. “It has been a privilege to work with him in expanding and strengthening our organization, and we congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement.

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Rocket Mortgage faces class-action lawsuit for unsolicited telemarketing calls

Housing Wire

Detroit-headquartered lender Rocket Mortgage faces a class-action lawsuit for making repeated, unsolicited telephone calls, violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). According to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on Tuesday, Kellie Deits – a resident of Arizona — received a call from a Rocket Mortgage representative in April who offered her mortgage products and services she had not requested nor inquired about.

Mortgage 466
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Fidelity National Financial is latest victim of a cybersecurity attack

Housing Wire

Fidelity National Financial (FNF) was attacked by a “cybersecurity incident” that led the system to shut down some of its network, the company said. FNF blocked access to certain systems, which resulted in disruptions to title insurance, escrow and other title-related services, as well as mortgage transactions and technology for the real estate and mortgage industries, according to a filing with the U.S.

Mortgage 436
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Banks report tighter lending standards for mortgages, HELOCs in Q3

Housing Wire

Banks have tightened lending standards for most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) over the third quarter of 2023. The tightening came amid elevated interest rates and uncertainty in economic conditions. A survey taken by the Federal Reserve showed that a 20%-plus share of banks reported having tightened standards on non-qualified-mortgage (non-QM) jumbo residential loans (23.9%), QM jumbo loans (26%), non-QM non-jumbo (20.4%) and HELOCs (2

Lending 472
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Commission lawsuits spread to Manhattan

Housing Wire

It appears that no real estate brokerage firm in the U.S. is safe from a commission lawsuit. On Wednesday, Manhattan home seller Monty March filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, alleging that Real Estate Board of New York rules governing the multiple listing service in Manhattan kept commissions high and violated state and federal antitrust laws.

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Mortgage rates trend down for the third straight week

Housing Wire

Mortgage rates fell this week as the October inflation report drove down the yield on the 10-year Treasury. On Thursday, investors priced in a 99.7% chance that the Fed will hold interest rates steady in December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. The 30-year, fixed mortgage averaged at 7.44% as of Nov. 16, according to Freddie Mac ‘s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Mortgage 458