By KIMBERLEY HAAS Analysts say that being located near certain grocery stores can have an impact on a home’s value. Average houses near Trader Joe’s are $987,923, compared to $891,416 near Whole Foods and $321,116 near ALDI, according to an analysis released last week by ATTOM, a curator of real estate data. Rick Sharga, Executive Vice President of Market Intelligence at ATTOM, said homebuyers consider where they will do their grocery shopping when looking at houses. “It turns out that being located near grocery stores isn’t only a matter of convenience for homeowners but can have a significant impact on equity and home values as well. And that impact can vary pretty widely depending on which grocery store is in…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Industry leaders are sharing their thoughts as 2022 winds down and they are expressing gratitude despite challenges in the current market. Bill Banfield, EVP of Capital Markets at Rocket Mortgage in Detroit, Michigan, said he appreciates the mental stimulation of navigating a tough market because people are forced to get creative in finding solutions for customers. “Your company, your teams, you get to try to figure out how you can help people or how you can improve your company. It’s actually a much more fascinating time than when you’re in a super boom and all you can do is talk about rates and payments,” Banfield said. Banfield had just sat down with The Mortgage Note to talk…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have ordered leaders at Carrington Mortgage Services to pay a $5.25 million penalty for deceptive acts or practices. CFPB officials say that Carrington, a non-bank mortgage servicer that operates in all 50 states and is headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act in connection with mortgage forbearances. They allegedly found that Carrington failed to implement protections provided to borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were experiencing financial hardship during the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to a press release. A key provision of the CARES Act, passed by U.S. Congress in 2020, was that mortgage servicers were required to provide forbearances of up to 180 days…
Leaders at Rocket Mortgage announced a conventional loan option this month for people who are interested in purchasing or refinancing a manufactured home. Manufactured homes are built at indoor homebuilding facilities in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Manufactured Home Standards. They are then delivered to the land where the owner will live. A recent report from the Manufactured Housing Institute shows manufactured homes are about a third of the cost, on average, of site-built homes. The Institute also stated that 22 million Americans currently live in manufactured homes and this building type accounts for 9 percent of new home construction. Bill Banfield, EVP of Capital Markets at Rocket Mortgage, sat down for an interview with The Mortgage Note…
By CHUCK GREEN Despite a plethora of obstacles, there are prospective buyers chomping at the bit to purchase a home, according to experts. On Wednesday, Zillow Home Loans Senior Economist Matthew Speakman released a statement on mortgage rates dropping after a report on inflation showed that price pressures may finally be easing. “The arrival of weaker-than-expected October Consumer Price Index data was just the sign investors had been waiting for, and markets viewed it as a signal that the Federal Reserve may finally take its foot off the brakes as it determines the path forward for monetary policy,” Speakman said. “Bond yields tumbled as a result and mortgage rates – which had spent the last few weeks oscillating at or…
By SCOTT KIMBLER The director of the AEI Housing Center at the American Enterprise Institute painted a bleak picture for the rest of this year and all of 2023 earlier this month during a presentation and forecasting of home prices in the United States. AEI Senior Fellow and Director of the AEI Housing Center Edward Pinto pointed to some major factors colliding at once that will be harming market prices, appreciation of owned homes, and the consumer ability to buy or upgrade a home at all. Those factors are inflation, which is at a 40-year-high, the Fed Fund rate continuously being raised to cool inflation, a housing shortage, and employment repercussions of the pandemic. First, the volume of homes being…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Attention lenders and real estate professionals: Did you know there are more than 2,000 homeownership programs available in the United States and over 38% of them are for repeat homebuyers? That’s according to leaders at Down Payment Resource. They connect homebuyers with down payment help while providing tools for housing professionals. Founder and CEO Rob Chrane recently sat down for an interview with The Mortgage Note. He said they are working hard to spread the word about these programs. Chrane said across the MLS markets they have information for, about 70% of for-sale listings are eligible for one or more down payment assistance programs. “The majority of homebuyers, or especially first-time homebuyers, just don’t know that this…
Origination activity continues to sink as the market corrects, with refinances seeing major drops. Black Knight’s October 2022 Originations Market Monitor report found that rate lock dollar volume dropped 14.3% month-over-month to its lowest level since February 2019. Refinances have been hit especially hard, making up just 14% of all origination activity in October. Cash-out refis, which had previously seemed resilient due to widespread equity gains, fell 25.1% from September and are down 83.6% YOY. Rate/term refis sank an additional 15.7% and are now down 92.6% YOY. “With interest rates now at their highest level in 20 years, the refi market is rapidly approaching a bottom,” said Scott Happ, president of Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight. “Indeed, our…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at Guild Mortgage have partnered with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals as part of their commitment to diversity and inclusion. The association is dedicated to advancing sustainable homeownership for the Hispanic community in America with a network of over 40,000 professional members and 100 local chapters nationwide. Jorge Montoya, a branch manager at Guild in Reno, Nevada, recently sat down with The Mortgage Note. He said the key to improving Hispanic home ownership is education. “We’ve really focused on educating the Latino clientele about it’s not just getting a mortgage, but it’s getting a mortgage with a plan, and what is that plan? Is this going to be a forever plan? Is this…
