Rapper Sentenced To Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Mortgage Fraud Scheme

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice say that a Bay area rapper was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role in orchestrating a complex loan fraud and identity theft conspiracy. Mark “Kafani” Hicks, aka Amir Rashad, 42, of Oakley, Calif., allegedly admitted to being at the center of a conspiracy in which he directed a team of criminals who stole approximately $2 million from banks and lending institutions. According to a press release, during a two-year period, Hicks impersonated victims in over a dozen phone calls with banks, lending institutions, and gold dealers. Over $480,000 of the illicit gains were recovered from a safe deposit box controlled by Hicks’s relatives, authorities said.…

New Jersey, Illinois, And California Have Most Markets At Risk For Declines

As the housing cooldown continues, New Jersey, Illinois, and inland California have the highest concentration of at-risk markets, according to a new report from ATTOM. The Special Housing Risk Report spotlights county-level housing markets that are more or less vulnerable to declines, based on affordability, unemployment, and other measures from Q2 2022. The largest clusters of at-risk markets are around the NYC and Chicago metros, while Southern and midwestern starts have the least at-risk markets. The top 50 at-risk markets include nine in and around New York City, six in the Chicago metro area, and 13 throughout the entirety of California. The rest are spread throughout the country, with three around Philadelphia. These counties have elevated levels of unaffordable housing,…

Bad Behavior In Lending: Sham Job Interviews, “Rampant” Fraud

By CHUCK GREEN Alleged bad behavior and fraudulent activity in the mortgage industry have made news headlines in recent years and despite attempts to get lending leaders to shape up their ships, at least one person who reports on these issues says problems are common, even “rampant.” One of the most recent examples of these alleged incidents involved sham job interviews for Black and female candidates at Wells Fargo & Company. Wells Fargo in California has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets. They serve one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the United States. According to former executive Joe Bruno, company leaders at Wells Fargo allegedly put minority candidates through the interview process for positions…

Eight Of The Ten Most Expensive Metros For Rent Are In California And Florida

California and Florida metros collectively account for 80% of the top 10 highest average rents across the country, forcing Americans to look to the middle of the country for affordable rentals. That’s according to HouseCanary’s first National Rental Report, which compares listings volumes, new listings, and median listing price information on single-family detached listings from H1 2021 and H1 2022. National rent prices saw a double-digit increase, up 13.4% YOY in the first half of 2022. At the end of H1 2022, the average rent was $2,495. Property demand remained strong, with the number of days on the market staying basically the same from last year. At the end of H1, rentals were on the market for an average of…

A Glimmer Of Hope For Homebuyers?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS There are pockets of the country where more homes are being listed than there were before the housing market exploded in 2020 which is a good sign for buyers in those metro areas. According to an article by Margaret Heidenry for Realtor.com, metros that saw the most new homes hit the market include Riverside, CA (+23.3%), Austin, TX (+16.5%), and Sacramento, CA (+11.8%). Metros include the main city and surrounding suburbs, towns, and smaller urban communities, according to the article. Compass Agent Paul Reddam in Austin told Heidenry it is hard to nail down what is causing inventory to loosen, but this is typically the peak of their real estate cycle. The bad news is that the number of homes for sale…

Building Slowed Down By Shortage Of Electrical Transformers

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Near one of the hottest housing markets in the country, a local builder says a shortage of electrical transformers is slowing down progress on 166 condo units. Joshua Manning, General Manager at Lewis Builders Development in Atkinson, NH, says they are trying to complete a new construction project in Epping, NH, where the median listing home price is $581,500, according to Realtor.com. When Manning ordered the 20 electrical transformers he needs last year, there was no indication there would be an issue. Now he wonders when the order will be completely filled. “It’s never taken this long to get electrical transformers for new houses,” Manning said in a recent interview with The Mortgage Note. Manning said he…

Guild Mortgage Gets Ahead With “A Customer For Life” Strategy

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at a California-based lender that generated $36.8 billion in origination volume last year say they are finding success because they focus on creating customers for life. Guild Mortgage, located in San Diego, has been originating and servicing residential loans since 1960. Their origination volume in 2021 was up about 5% from $35.2 billion in 2020. The company’s in-house servicing portfolio grew 18% year-over-year to $70.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, with Guild retaining servicing rights for 80% of total loans sold. Last month, they earned their fifth consecutive Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards performer recognition from Fannie Mae. According to a press release, the STAR Performer recognition is reserved for top-performing servicers in one or…

Will The Housing Market Boom Or Bust In 2022?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the spring selling season begins, people in the mortgage and real estate industries are speculating on whether 2022 will be a year of growth or the start of the end for a red-hot market that has favored sellers and forced up the price of housing in many parts of the country. Numbers from the start of the year look promising for growth. On Tuesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. A 19.2% annual gain was reported in January, up from 18.9% in December. The 10-City Composite annual increase was 17.5%, up from 17.1% in December. The 20-City Composite posted a 19.1% year-over-year gain, up from 18.6% in the previous…

Home Prices Are Up But Remain Far Below April 2006 Peak

Homes are less affordable than they were a year ago, but they largely remain more affordable than at the peak of the 2006 housing boom, according to First American Financial Corporation’s Real House Price Index. In January, the RHPI rose 27% from the year prior, making it the fastest-growing RHPI – and fastest YOY decline in affordability – since 2004. This was driven by a 21.7% increase in home prices and a 0.7% rise in rates. The RHPI measures price changes for single-family properties adjusted for the impact of income and interest rate changes on consumer house-buying power. As such, it also serves as a measure of affordability. Household income was up 5% from January 2021, but that gain was…

6 Million US Homes Are Worth $1M Or More

U.S. home prices have broken another record: 8% of homes (6 million) are now worth $1 million or more, according to a new report from Redfin. That is nearly double the share from before the pandemic when the share was only 4.8% (3.5 million). The Bay Area has the biggest share of million-dollar homes, with nearly nine out of 10 properties in San Francisco and San Jose making the list. This isn’t surprising given its long history of being the most expensive place to buy a home in the U.S. Anaheim, CA, saw the biggest increase, with its share of million-dollar homes jumping to 55% from 27% two years ago. California dominated the top five, following up with Oakland (55.1%),…