By CHUCK GREEN Now, how about a little, um, pop-up pop quiz? You. Put…the…iPhone….down. Okay, then. What did Marilyn Monroe. Elizabeth Taylor and, oh, say, Tennessee Williams, have in common? Whether compelled by business reasons — or simply because it was how they rolled – the trio lived in hotels. Probably beat the price of real estate. Even back then. Even for them. Seems they were onto something. Today, at least temporarily, a number of individuals – you know, us regular joes – also call hotels or motels la casa. Perhaps they’re working on location for a relatively limited time on a short-term out-of-town job and, given the paucity of housing in many parts of the United States, other accommodations…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Mexico keeps coming up in real estate-related keywords. Point2 analysts have examined the search volumes of more than 2,000 real estate-related keywords for people looking outside of the United States. These were potential buyers planning to stay in the western hemisphere. They found that Mexico is the most popular home buying location, recording a 60% increase in searches year-over-year. According to them, the first six months of the COVID pandemic were marked by confusion, frustrations, and lockdowns. “Confinement was the word of the moment and people had no choice but to witness their once-treasured homes turn into something resembling more of a stifling prison cell,” Andra Hopulele wrote in the report. Hopulele explained that is why in…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The new executive vice president and chief operating officer at LendArch says they can enable lenders to optimize the mortgage experience from start to finish by digitalizing the real estate financing process. Karthik Kumar has 25 years of experience in the industry. He worked for Tata Consultancy Services from 2004 to May of this year. Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank are among his previous employers, according to a press release. Kumar shared his excitement about the new position during a recent interview with The Mortgage Note. “I am in a company that is capital adequate, that has given me all of the empowerment to create, to experiment, in a way, to transform, to disrupt, so I am…
By SCOTT KIMBLER The business of real estate is shifting. Potential homebuyers are pulling out of the market due to current interest rates, once super-high property prices are beginning to lose their luster, and the country is still transitioning as part of the pandemic with companies and employees working together to see what business model will suit them in the future. People in the real estate world have been left wondering: Can I continue to thrive? In the upcoming months, mortgage lenders, refinancing businesses, and real estate agencies may fire thousands of people as the housing market cools. Carmen Arroyo, Steven Church, and Maxwell Adler at Bloomberg reported last week that “the mortgage industry is seeing its first lenders go…
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 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,…
New listings fell 12% during the four-week period ending August 7, the largest YOY decline since June 2020, according to recent Redfin data. Higher mortgage rates are keeping some Americans in their homes longer than they normally would be. Some homeowners are experiencing what Redfin calls “rate lock-in,” a fear of putting their home up for sale due to a low rate they nabbed during the pandemic. Others are realizing they won’t get an offer over listing price on-demand like they could last year. “Buyers are backing off due to rising housing costs and sellers are holding back because they realize they won’t get the bidding war they would have gotten six months ago,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor…
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 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…
