Rocket Mortgage Volunteers Win TMN’s ‘Santa’s Helper’ Charity Contest

Across the country, mortgage professionals step up to help those in need every holiday season so we at The Mortgage Note decided to celebrate organizations and their employees who recognize the importance of giving back to their communities. On November 30, we started a contest asking members of the mortgage industry to submit photos and a brief description of the charity work they’re doing this year. The winner would earn a $1,000 donation from TMN to their highlighted charity. Valerie Pesonen, a senior manager in public relations at Rock Central, sent in a submission for Rocket Mortgage in Detroit, Michigan that warmed our hearts. Pesonen highlighted three community outreach programs the company participates in, including the Rocket Mortgage Cause Campaign…

A New Home For The Holidays? Buyers Are There Even With Some Sellers Waiting Until 2022

By KIMBERLEY HAAS It may be the week before Christmas, but that doesn’t mean potential homebuyers aren’t out searching for their perfect piece of real estate. Lewis Esposito, a licensed real estate professional at RE/MAX Preferred in West Chester, Pennsylvania, says buyers don’t want to wait until the new year and when asked if realtors are showing houses this week, he said if clients see a home they like then showings are being offered. “If you have a buyer, they’ll tend not to want to wait until after the new year. If they see something, they’ll jump on it,” Esposito said. Esposito, who works in the suburbs of Philadelphia, said he has a few clients who are holding off until…

Wishing For A White Christmas? Home Sales Will Likely Stay Warm This Winter, As Will The Weather

By KIMBERLEY HAAS As people throughout the country wish for a white Christmas this upcoming weekend, it is expected that home sales will stay warm in many parts of the nation throughout the winter. Continued bidding wars, the Great Resignation, and Millennials on the market will all likely contribute to keeping home prices high during a season where sales typically cool off until spring. And above-average temperatures expected in many parts of the United States may also keep buyers on the market at a time when they would typically try to avoid moving due to snow and ice. Bidding Wars Redfin reported on Friday that in November, 59.5% of home offers written by their agents faced competition, which is the…

Latest Trend? Millennials Are Buying Homes With Friends

By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increases, it is being reported that Millennials are choosing to buy single-family houses with their friends. In an article written by Zinhle Essamuah for NBC News, three women talked about their decision to buy a house together. Amanda Scheider, 30, told Essamuah that it’s like having a permanent sleepover. Scheider lives with Kathy Keel, 30, and Stephanie Vandergrift, 28, in Gallatin, Tennessee. They signed for a 30-year, $315,000 mortgage in May of 2020 after renting a house together. Essamuah used analytics from Attom Data Solutions which shows the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increased by nearly 772% between 2010 and…

Hot Market, Inflation Causes Rental Rates To Skyrocket In America

By KIMBERLEY HAAS More than a quarter of the states in the country have experienced a rental price increase of 20% or more in 2021 and a senior research analyst says people moving out of cities and into more rural communities are partially to blame. Nick VinZant works for QuoteWizard by LendingTree. He co-authored an article that was published this month which shows that Florida had the highest percentage increase in the nation at 29%. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Florida is about $1,425. Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington all saw rents increase by more than 20% for one-bedroom apartments in 2021, according…

Reality Check: COVID Deaths Will Lead To Increase In Housing Inventory

By KIMBERLEY HAAS It may be a harsh reality to face, but the data is clear: There will be more houses on the market in 2022 because of the number of people who have died due to COVID-19 and its variants. This sobering fact was highlighted during the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Miami, Fla., last week. As of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 793,937 COVID deaths of Americans. More of those deaths have occurred since the first vaccines became available than before. Approximately 77% of people over the age of five have had at least one vaccination, according to their website. Community transmission is high in many parts of the country…

Millennials, Racial Bias, Automated Valuations Hot Topics During Webinar

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Millennials keeping the market hot, racial bias affecting home appraisals, and automated valuation technology were discussed on Tuesday during a webinar designed to address what mortgage professionals should expect in 2022 and beyond. Jeremy Sicklick, CEO and Co-Founder of HouseCanary, Inc., predicted millennials would generate demand in the housing market over the next ten years. “Effectively, demand will continue to exceed supply,” Sicklick said. “As we look forward, really over the decade, I mean, we are very bullish on housing, and that comes back to just the sheer number of Millennials and household formation that’s going to occur. There’s just a massive amount of demand out there.” Founded in 2013, HouseCanary in San Francisco, Calif., is a…

CT Town Will Pay $350,000 To Settle Discrimination Lawsuit as Biden Admin Promotes Housing for Disabled

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a settlement in a lawsuit against a Connecticut town that refused to allow the operation of a group home for people with mental health disabilities. The DOJ lawsuit alleges officials in Wolcott, Conn. violated the Fair Housing Act when they denied a special use permit to L&R Realty and SELF, Inc. to open a residence for 13 geriatric adults with mental health disabilities. Lawyers at the Justice Department filed suit last December. “Local governments do not have the right to use zoning laws and restrictions as a vehicle to discriminate against people with disabilities,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in…

Are Million-Dollar Conforming Loan Limits A Market-Crash Flashback?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have raised their limits on government-backed loans to $647,200 in most of the country and nearly $1 million in some high-cost American communities.  Does that mean lenders are repeating the same mistakes which led to the 2008 crash? This 18% hike in the size of conforming loans is the highest single jump since at least 1970, outpacing the 15.9% increase seen in 2006. Two years later, on Dec. 30, 2008, the Case-Shiller home price index reported its largest drop in history. The credit crisis and housing bubble burst that followed led in part to the Great Recession in the United States. Now some observers fear U.S. markets are moving back to…

A New Gold Rush For Lenders? Benefitting From The Great Resignation

By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and workers reevaluate their commitment to metropolitan life, lenders in smaller cities stand to benefit from what is being termed the “Great Resignation.” It is estimated that about 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September after months of dramatic departure numbers, which means those employees are looking for and taking new jobs, often choosing to live in a different location if they have the option of working remotely. Since 87% of employees say they would like to work remotely at least one day a week, and one in three workers would not want to work for an employer that required them to be onsite full time, potential homebuyers are taking these…