Good morning! Today is Wednesday, March 10. A third round of stimulus payments is expected to be on the way to more than 90 percent of households later this month. President Biden’s German Shepherd was sent home to Delaware after an aggressive behavior in the White House. A blast of rain and snow is coming to Southern California ahead of spring break.
And in mortgage and housing news …
UWM/ROCKET FIGHT: Declaring “a true partner doesn’t tell you how to run your business,” Rocket Mortgage is firing back at United Wholesale Mortgage in the Great Broker War of 2021.
POLICY ALARM BELLS: The booming housing market helped stave off economic collapse in 2020. But soaring prices are starting to worry policymakers, who fear the market could lock a generation of would-be buyers out of homeownership.
FRAUD ALERT: The National Association of Realtors is warning that cybercriminals posing as SentriLock are sending out fake invoices to realtor associations and MLSs. SentriLock has alerted its customers of the attempted scam.
HOME-PURCHASE SENTIMENT: Consumer sentiment on U.S. housing conditions edged down last month despite more Americans growing less concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months.
LENDING’S FUTURE: How savvy lenders are already preparing for the next valley in the housing market.
WFH BUYERS: These six cities could appeal to remote workers as home prices have fallen after revenue losses.
CLIMATE CHANGE: How climate change is speeding gentrification in some of America’s most flooding-vulnerable cities.
SPRING PREDICTIONS: About 17 percent of Americans who have not purchased a home since March 2020 plan to do so prior to the end of 2022, according to a MyWalletJoy survey.
GSE LIQUIDITY: Credit Unions expressed strong support the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s (FHFA) efforts to build a strong GSE liquidity framework with four liquidity and funding requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
BABY BUST: Americans are having fewer children than ever, which could stoke new and different homebuying preferences.