Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, November 30. The W.H.O called the Omicron variant a “very high” risk to global health. Jack Dorsey stepped down as Twitter’s chief executive. Barbados swore in its first president, officially becoming a republic and cutting ties with England.
And in mortgage and housing news…
Your Company’s Favorite Charity Could Receive $1,000: Across the country this December, mortgage professionals will be stepping up to help people in need, support community charities, and generally help make the season a little brighter. The Mortgage Note wants to celebrate those efforts by highlighting them in an upcoming edition of this newsletter. One office’s favorite charity will receive a $1,000 donation from The Morgage Note! Details here.
SFRhub Teams Up With Altisource: SFRhub.com is partnering with Altisource to create a “one-stop online marketplace” for SFR and BFR properties and portfolios.
Pending Home Sales Rebound: Pending home sales increased in October, shrugging off a September decline, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Home Prices Hit New Record: Home prices reached a new all-time high of $359,975 up 14% YOY and the largest increase since early September, according to Redfin.
Freddie Drops A Note: Freddie Mac released a note titled Refinance Trends In The First Half of 2021, showing a 33% increase in refinance activity compared to the first half of 2020 and an average interest rate of 2.9%.
MISMO Seeking Participants: MISMO is seeking participants for a new workgroup focused on creating a standard format for the exchange of BWIC data.
Redfin Report: Redfin reported that 29.5% of their site users searched for homes in a different metro in October 2021, down from 31.5% at the beginning of the year but still high.
Zavvie Partners With Landis: Zavvie is teaming up with data science company Landis to deliver real estate agents more affordable and accessible options for homebuyers nationwide.
Self-Help Housing: HUD is awarding $10 million in Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program grants, including grants to Habitat For Humanity and Community Frameworks.
2B Milestone: Guaranteed Rate’s top loan officer, Shant Banosian, funded $2 billion in total loan volume during 2021.