Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank announced a new down payment assistance program for borrowers purchasing affordable homes.
The grant offers up to $2,000 to eligible buyers looking to purchase affordable housing.
Citizens says its goal is to help more Americans reach their homebuying dream, considering that saving for a down payment in a high inflation, high home price environment is a huge hurdle.
“For those who have been held back by the upfront costs associated with homeownership, down payment assistance, especially toward closing costs can help to lower the barrier to entry and make the dream of owning a home a reality,” said Citizens Trust Bank Residential Mortgage Operations Manager, Yulanda Munford.
A majority of first-time buyers are making a down…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
The co-founder and CEO of a platform that provides cash flow based financing to real estate entrepreneurs says there are opportunities arising for commercial property owners and managers.
Derrick Barker said in a recent interview with The Mortgage Note that he predicts there will be a deleveraging throughout the nation in 2024, explaining that there were people who bought assets in 2021 and 2022 at the top of the market with aggressive assumptions in terms of occupancy, price appreciation, and rent growth.
Many of the loans were for three years so with expectations not panning out, that is putting pressure on those commercial and rental real estate owners, Barker said.
“A lot of these people are going…
By SCOTT KIMBLER
As business models in major cities have changed in the post-Covid economy, Atlanta is holding its own as companies and commercial property owners rethink the modern workplace.
Many companies in the metro Atlanta area have altered the workplace to a hybrid model, a work-from-home model, or even a don’t come in at all model, and that is beginning to affect those in the business of commercial real estate ownership.
“There have been some delinquencies in the commercial mortgage industry,” said Sergio Garate, assistant professor in the practice of finance and director of the real estate program and Emory University’s Goizeta Business School. “Especially in the Atlanta area, there have been loan delinquents to levels we haven’t seen…
By SCOTT KIMBLER
As the debate about returning to the office continues nationwide, people in the city of Atlanta and its surrounding communities are adapting to the reality that hybrid and remote work are likely here to stay.
Over six million people live in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has long been a hot market for housing for a variety of reasons, including job opportunities with companies such as Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, and UPS.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, a lot of changes happened as the region was introduced to shelter-in-place, which morphed into a work-from-home model. Now in the post-pandemic period, many companies have adopted a hybrid work schedule, with employees driving into the city about three…
By SCOTT KIMBLER
Metropolitan Atlanta is the largest housing market in the Southeast and the city is leading the country in the trend of neighborhoods being built solely for the purpose of renting out single-family homes.
This trend appears to be new as corporate investing in real estate has grown exponentially in recent years, but it has roots dating back to the 2008 housing crisis, according to Assistant Professor Rohan Ganduri of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
“There were a lot of properties that were foreclosed upon,” Ganduri said. “That is when a large number of institutional investors stepped in and started to buy up a large number of single-family properties at very cheap prices. What they ended up doing…
Powerbuyer Ribbon, now owned by sale-leaseback platform EasyKnock, is reintroducing its all-cash offer product to Atlanta and Charlotte.
RibbonCash offers temporary financing for cash offers, a powerful model during the housing boom that allowed it to expand to multiple states. But last year brought two rounds of serious staff cuts, with the company retaining only 30 employees by November 2022.
It suspended new RibbonCash financing at that time as well.
EasyKnock purchased Ribbon in May 2023, saying it would speed up the development of its buyer-seller marketplace, slated to launch later this year. The marketplace will connect sellers to both institutional and individual buyers, giving EasyKnock access to another sector of the housing market. It currently caters to existing homeowners.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Professional opportunities, affordability, and fun in the country’s cities are being measured as commencement ceremonies wrap up nationally and Atlanta is coming out on top as the best place for college graduates to move to.
Earlier this week, WalletHub named Atlanta, Georgia, the best city to start a career after comparing the relative market strength and overall livability of 182 cities using 26 key metrics ranging from the monthly average starting salary to housing affordability.
Atlanta did well in the WalletHub ranking because of the availability of entry-level jobs and its low unemployment rate. On May 2, CoworkingCafe named Atlanta the best city to start a career with a bachelor’s degree. The underlying analysis took into account…
Rents have been rising nationwide, squeezing Americans hoping to save for a down payment or to reduce debt. But a new analysis from the Bank of America Institute found that renters in the Sun Belt have felt the worst of it.
Median rent payment growth in Sun Belt cities like Phoenix and Tampa outpaced Western and Northeastern cities by more than 20 percentage points in February, leaders at the Institute said.
Overall, Bank of America customers saw their rents increase by 8% YOY in February.
Growth changed dramatically by geography. Phoenix and Tampa both saw rent costs increase by 26% and 23% YoY respectively in February. These are both record highs.
Cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston saw smaller…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders in the industry are committed to giving back during the holiday season and throughout the year. It was announced earlier this month that Down Payment Resource in Atlanta, Ga., will help a family in Memphis, Tenn., attain their homeownership dreams by donating $10,000 to the Homeownership Council of America’s Equity Down Payment Assistance program. They provide down payment and closing cost assistance for low-to-moderate income and minority first-time homebuyers. Leaders at Down Payment Resource say that is “a mission that aligns with our company’s founding goal of expanding affordable homeownership program awareness, understanding, and participation.” Rob Chrane, founder and CEO of Down Payment Resource, said in a statement for The Mortgage Note that they are supporting the program because…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The housing market traditionally cools during the holiday season as people focus on family and friends but industry leaders say it is a good time for potential sellers and buyers to weigh their options. After mortgage rates recently surged above 7%, real estate activity and consumer sentiment took a nosedive. Home delistings hit a record high in November as sellers and buyers pulled out of the market, according to journalists Lily Katz and Ben Walzer at Redfin. Markets where home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic are now cooling the fastest. In Sacramento, Calif., an average of 3.6% of active listings were delisted per week during the 12 weeks ending on November 27, up 1.6 percentage points from one year earlier.…
