By KIMBERLEY HAAS It’s Super Bowl weekend and The Mortgage Note is taking a look at which city would win if Los Angeles and Cincinnati’s housing markets were pitted against each other. With sports commentators picking the Rams over the Bengals and the notoriously high-priced homes in the Los Angeles market, such as “The One” on sale now for $295 million, people might assume the California city would be the automatic winner. But that depends on how the two markets are lined up. As Tyler Sullivan says in his recent predictions for CBS Sports, both teams are worthy champions in their respective conferences and the Bengals have been a fantastic Cinderella story with their line-up of young faces. Is the same true for Cincinnati? Let’s look…
Despite an uptick in job numbers and an increase in personal incomes, there is still uncertainty about how the latest Labor Statistics Report will impact the housing market. The latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows payroll employment growth as 467,000 in January and an increase of job growth at 1.8 million in the last three months of 2021. The report also shows an income increase of 5.7% since this time last year. In short, more people have jobs and nearly everyone is at least making a little more money. Elizabeth Rose is a Financial Planner and Lender with Mortgage 300 based in Dallas, Texas. She says the numbers show a lot of positive growth, but maybe not…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS With the big football game coming up this weekend, leaders at Rocket are inviting people to take a peek at the homes they could buy if they win the world’s largest official game of Super Bowl Squares and have revealed which stars will appear in their ad. Rocket Mortgage will give two grand prize winners $500,000 each for a home purchase during the game. $50,000 will be awarded every time the score changes. Rocket Homes, their sister company, has published an article highlighting what type of home a potential winner could select in various parts of the country. According to the article, the median sale price of a house in America is $335,212. The average house has…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The National Fair Housing Alliance and 20 fair housing organizations throughout the country have reached a landmark $53 million agreement to resolve claims that Fannie Mae treated homes it owned in majority-Black and Latino communities unfavorably. Lisa Rice, President and CEO of NFHA in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that Monday’s settlement brings hope to underserved neighborhoods in 39 metropolitan areas. “Black and Latino consumers were actively targeted by predatory subprime mortgage lenders in the run-up to the 2008 Financial Crisis and, as a result, homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods were respectively 2 and 2.5 times more likely to be foreclosed than homes in White communities. Millions of homeowners in Black and Latino communities lost their homes,…
In a public statement on LinkedIn, Jason Vondrak of Prospect Home Finance announced he has laid off 50 employees from his California-based company, and he laid the blame at the feet of United Wholesale Mortgage and its CEO, Mat Ishbia. “This was one of the hardest decisions of my life, and my heart goes out to all of our team members and their families that this affected,” Vondrak wrote. At issue is UWM’s decision last year to force brokers to sign an agreement that they will not work with Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage – or else be banned from working with UWM, the largest wholesale mortgage lender. At the time, David Stevens, the former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The CEO of loanDepot says they will continue to focus on their long-term strategy to become the most trusted homeowner fulfillment company in the world after the company released their results for 2021, which show a decline in net income but an increase in market share. Anthony Hsieh, Founder and CEO of the California-based company, said they have the tools to pivot and adjust to market trends and their business was purpose-built with periods of pressure in mind. “The results of 2021 are only a preview of what’s to come as we leverage our brand, develop and apply innovative technology solutions, drive down costs and add more products and services to help our customers successfully navigate one…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The executive director of Community Home Lenders Association is working to educate policymakers in Washington, D.C., while articulating the perspective of members in a growing portion of the market: Independent Mortgage Bankers. Scott Olson has over 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill. For 15 years, he served on the House Financial Services Committee, according to his biography. On Thursday, Olson told The Mortgage Note they focus on articulating the perspective of IMBs, which don’t have a huge loan volume. “But collectively, we are pretty mighty because there’s a lot of us,” Olson said. Olson said banks can shift gears to make money on different types of loans as they look to make the most profit out…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Race car driver Tyler Reddick will debut the new Guaranteed Rate No. 8 Chevrolet at the first-ever Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum this Sunday. Reddick said Sunday’s event is an exhibition race, so points do not matter and all the drivers will be going all-out to try and win. “It’s going to be a wild race for drivers and fans alike, so I couldn’t think of a better place to officially debut Guaranteed Rate’s amazing new look,” Reddick said in an article for Guaranteed Rate. Guaranteed Rate Vice President of Marketing and Sports Partnerships Steve McNelley says they are thrilled about the partnership. The company specializes in mortgage lending and digital financial services. “Our focus on…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Low-income and minority buyers will continue to be crowded out of the housing market in 2022, according to the director of research at the AEI Housing Center. The American Enterprise Institute is located in Washington, D.C., and during a webinar on Monday, Director of Research Tobias Peter said entry-level homebuyers are being replaced by borrowers with higher incomes in many markets. “When we tally up the entry-level share of all home sales, we’re finding that the entry-level, as of December of 2021, accounted for 52.7%, which is, of course, much down from before the pandemic. In December of 2019, it was at 59.9%, and when we started tracking this back in 2012, it was at 71%,” Peter…
Interest rates are always an issue when purchasing a home. This year, they may be an even bigger issue. “Mortgage brokers are telling buyers that rates are rising, and if they are planning on buying, they need to be doing it as soon as possible before rates go up,” says Linda McCoy, board president of National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB). If you finance the purchase of a property, as opposed to paying for all of it with cash, a mortgage interest rate is what it costs you per month to finance your home/property. “Your interest rate is effectively the lender’s compensation for letting you use its money to purchase your property,” says Aly J. Yale in an article for…
