By TYRONE TOWNSEND Leaders at Rocket Mortgage have launched a new program that will cover a sizable portion of closing costs for a refinance transaction if interest rates drop and their customer refinances within three years of purchasing a home. Applicants with credit scores as low as 580 will be considered, in contrast to other mortgage lenders who need a minimum of 620. Leaders at the company say this offers a choice for potential homebuyers with bad credit. John Perich, Director of Public Relations of Rocket Central, spoke with the Mortgage Note about the Rate Drop Advantage. “People might want to buy a house, and if you want to buy a house now, go ahead and get it,” Perich said.…
By ISAIAS PACHECO Leaders at Bank of America announced this week that they have partnered with Liberty Science Center’s SciTech Scity to launch a pilot program that promises to improve the future of high school education. Two New Jersey high schools, James J. Ferris High School in Jersey City and Memorial High School in West New York, have been chosen for the program. It is focused on providing students with the skills and training needed to prepare them for what has been termed the “new collar” jobs in emerging technology fields. In the past two years, a series of massive cyberattacks has exposed the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans. It has cost the federal government, Fortune 500 corporations,…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Bank of America has granted the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Health Equity $1 million to launch a program that promises to improve children’s overall health in West Philadelphia. Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, Chief Health Equity Officer of the Center for Health Equity and Medical Director of the Community Asthma Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talked in an interview with The Mortgage Note about how residential segregation and economic inequality have left some neighborhoods so run down they are unhealthy for children to grow up in. In West and Southwest Philadelphia, more than one-third of children live below the poverty line, according to a press release. “Because of systematic practices there have been homes that…
By CHUCK GREEN Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Is it the place to be? Why not? Portsmouth’s a medium size coastal city with 22,277 residents as of July 1, 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city’s rife with attractions including a new jazz club, theaters, restaurants, overall safety, outdoor living, and the school district has 6 schools with 2,531 students. Here’s the scene from Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club on New Year’s Eve: Happy New Year’s Eve from Portsmouth, NH! pic.twitter.com/5wwd4JU4sJ— Kimberley Haas (@KimberleyHaas) January 1, 2022 The Seacoast region has and will continue to benefit from market demand that is generated by people looking for a higher quality of life within an urban setting, Jim Goldenberg, principal of Cathartes,…
By ISAIAS PACHECO Information about the AEI Housing Market Indicator for the month of July was recapped during a recent meeting. Leaders at the organization went over their new Month-over-Month constant quality home price appreciation graphic, which shows that many of the largest Metros, especially western Metros, have begun experiencing negative M-O-M HPA. The overall goal is to monitor market stability through accurate real-time tracking to help avoid destructive housing booms and busts, they say. Key takeaways from the briefing on August 2: Purchase rate lock volume and home price appreciation both continue to decelerate and confirm a strong trend reversal.April 2022 volume was down 13% from the same month in 2021 but up 8% from 2020.Based on Optimal Blue…
By SCOTT KIMBLER Potential buyers are starting to wonder if moving out of urban areas continues to remain a good idea. In 2020, as housing costs were already skyrocketing, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The combination of the two made migrating further out of large cities appealing to a lot of people, especially young people who were looking to buy a home and start a family. Fast forward to now and many of those factors have changed. As a result, some popular hotspots are starting to see a decline in frenzied buyers putting in multiple bids. Roy Black, an Economics Professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, says although some areas are seeing a shift people will always be attracted to…
By ISAIAS PACHECO A Boys and Girls Club in New Hampshire has received $15,000 from BankProv to support their transportation services. The club in Manchester has transportation provided throughout the year for after-school pickup, educational field trips, and their newly remodeled summer camp located in Bedford, NH. Senior Vice President and Director of SME Lending John Phelan said in a statement that they are proud to support the club’s efforts to make a difference in the lives of so many children. Email story ideas to Editor Kimberley Haas: [email protected]…
By ISAIAS PACHECO The home purchase settlement index decreased by two points in July, according to Fannie Mae. This is the lowest level since 2011, and the HSPI has been declining steadily which is making consumers concerned. They are not buying or selling, experts say. Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, said in a statement that unfavorable rates have been increasingly cited by consumers as the top reason behind the growing perception that it is a bad time to buy and sell. It is expected that the market will cool and there will be moderate home sales over the coming year. Thousands of people in the industry may be let go as a result. Email story ideas to…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND In the upcoming months, mortgage lenders, refinancing businesses, and real estate agencies may fire thousands of people as the housing market cools. Many millennials had started looking for new houses because of low-interest rates, stimulus payments, and the ability to work from home during the coronavirus epidemic, which fueled a booming U.S. housing market. But now the pandemic is no longer driving workers out of metro markets. Peak prices hit in June and potential buyers are pulling out of the market. According to experts, mortgage origination is expected to fall 35 to 50 percent this year. The drop in refinancing is also playing a key role in changes to the mortgage industry. The Mortgage Bankers Association attributes…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are cracking down on a mortgage company that allegedly discriminated against minority families and a bank that is accused of pressuring employees into unlawfully accessing the credit reports of customers. With the aid of the U.S. Department of Justice, CFPB officials took action to end Trident Mortgage Company’s alleged discrimination against families in minority neighborhoods in the greater Philadelphia area. It is alleged that Trident violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act. DOJ officials also claim Trident violated the Fair Housing Act. In Philadelphia neighborhoods that were more than 80% minority, more than half of the applications Trident generated were from white applicants, according to…
