Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, January 24. A gunman killed at least seven people in Half Moon Bay, the second mass shooting in California in three days. Spotify is laying off about 600 employees, joining a wave of firings in the tech world. The F.D.A. proposed to offer Americans Covid boosters each fall, like flu shots.
The Mortgage Note Reports
The Used To Be A Pizza Hut: Writer Patrick Lavery takes a look at how commercial spaces, particularly restaurants, are being repurposed to meet new customer demands and what that means for investors.
“Unprecedented”: More Americans than ever are searching for homes outside their current metro, driven to more affordable areas by high rates and economic uncertainty.
Forbearances Flat: Forbearance improvement may have finally hit a floor at 0.70% of total loans, staying flat in December for a third straight month.
BofA Steps Up: Leaders at Bank of America Community Development Banking have announced an up to $150 million investment to preserve more than 3,000 affordable homes for middle-income households. Editor Kimberley Haas has the story.
Listen To Our Podcast: This podcast highlights the successes and innovations taking place in the mortgage industry.
TMN Presents: The Mortgage Meltdown Meter, a collection of articles from the market correction, updated daily. Click here to stay on top of the changing landscape.
In other mortgage and housing news…
Rocket Layoff: Rocket Mortgage laid off about 50 employees last week.
Overvalued Homes: Fitch Ratings says home prices were overvalued by 10.5% in Q3 2022, but expects overvaluation will moderate as home prices trend downward.
“Bad Decisions”: Some housing investors are making risky moves, like piling on high-interest debt, hoping that interest rates will fall and home prices will rebound.
Better Lawsuit: Better.com is trying to dismiss a lawsuit from a former exec who claims she was blamed for its financial problems when she voiced concerns about its leaders.
MBS Exit Plan: Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George says the Fed needs an exit strategy from the MBS market “earlier than later.”
Piece Of The Pie: Wells Fargo customers could be eligible for part of a $3.7 billion CFPB settlement agreed to last month for customer abuses spanning years.
Company News: Fintech Milo launched a new crypto loan product, and Knock opened its buy-before-you-sell product to any lender.