By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Industry leaders are speculating about what officials at the Federal Reserve will do concerning rate increases during their meeting this week.
In May, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said they were prepared to raise rates again if economic conditions worsened, but hinted at a wait-and-see attitude regarding this month’s meeting. Policymakers may even skip raising rates after a smaller than expected rise in the Consumer Price Index, released on Tuesday.
CNN reporter Matt Egan said the CPI report gives officials the cover they need to hold off on increasing rates this month.
“Investors are becoming increasingly confident that the Fed is going to keep interest rates steady after … 10 consecutive interest rate hikes. The Fed has…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Although the market is slow now, there will eventually be a point when homeowners let go of their low interest rates and move.
Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, said it is just a matter of time.
Hepp was speaking during an economic forecast panel at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Las Vegas last week. During her presentation, she said although the housing market varies throughout the country, it has been a disappointing spring season.
“Most all markets at this point are showing declines in home sales, but some markets are showing much larger declines in home sales than others,” Hepp said.
She said part of the reason for that is homeowners feel…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As the commercial real estate market continues to change, office space is down, but not out, according to an economist who says a majority of companies are still committed to having a place where the “secret sauce” of their business is created.
Richard Barkham, global chief economist for CBRE in Dallas, said it may take up to nine years for the office market to fully recover but it is important to remember that not all of that sector has been badly hit by drops in value.
Barkham said that a large portion of the vacancies are in a minority of the stock, with 80% of the rise in vacancies in 10% of office buildings.
The office buildings…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As artificial intelligence continues to dominate news headlines, real estate leaders are speaking about what this wave of technology means for the future of their market.
Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, said AI is a “massive game changer” during the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning.
“In real estate, there is going to be a massive transition of who’s going to get consumer’s attention,” Phillips said.
Phillips said AI is going to enhance how they look at consumer behavior and suggested that industry professionals form partnerships to bring themselves to scale.
Michael Gerrity, founder and CEO of Global Listings, said they’re already planning to flip the whole listings…
Tennessee now has more than seven million residents and a senior loan officer who works in the eastern half of the state says inventory and affordability issues have hit the communities he serves.
According to U.S. Census Bureau information, the population of Tennessee grew by 2% between April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2022. The latest population estimate is that 7,051,339 people live in the Volunteer State, a nickname earned because of Tennessean’s eagerness to step forward in times of war.
Athens, the county seat of McMinn County, is located near the eastern border between the cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga.
The population in Athens has grown from 14,086 residents in April 2020 to 14,371 in July 2022 and data…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
A report released on Thursday shows that residential lending continues to slow across the United States.
According to ATTOM’s first-quarter 2023 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, 1.25 million mortgages were originated in Q1. That number was down 19% from Q4 2022.
“Lenders saw opportunities dwindle even more during the first quarter as the longest slowdown in mortgage activity in at least 20 years continued,” Rob Barber, chief executive officer at ATTOM, said in a statement. “In one sense, it wasn’t that unusual, given that wintertime is usually the slow time of the year for lenders. But the latest slide extends a run that started two years ago and has carved away nearly three-quarters of the home-mortgage…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
After a 27-year career, Rocket Companies CEO Jay Farner is retiring this week and he will be remembered as a keen businessman who helped make mortgages more accessible to average Americans as technology pushed transactions out of traditional offices and onto mobile devices.
Leaders at the company announced Farner’s retirement on February 13, saying that he had stepped down from his position on the Rocket Board of Directors and would begin transitioning his roles and responsibilities as CEO to longtime Rocket executive Bill Emerson. Emerson will assume the role of chief executive officer on an interim basis on June 1, according to the press release.
Farner, who is 50 years old, said in a statement that he…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Changes to fees for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to be a hot topic as Republicans push to repeal them.
The changes to the loan-level price adjustment matrix by officials at the Federal Housing Finance Agency went into effect on May 1 and critics are opposed to the notion that homebuyers with good credit scores and substantial down payments will pay more so fees for borrowers limited by income or wealth can be reduced.
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who introduced the Middle Class Borrower Protection Act on Monday, again attacked the policy on Wednesday. He refers to it as “a socialist redistribution of wealth.” Biden’s mortgage fee is a socialist redistribution of wealth.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
The president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association said they are pushing for clarity and common sense as he criticized policymakers this week during his remarks at the Secondary and Capital Markets Conference and Expo in New York City.
Bob Broeksmit said policymakers plan to pile on more enforcement and red tape at a time when MBA member businesses are struggling.
“There seems to be a sense, at the highest levels of government, that the mortgage industry needs to be reined in,” Broeksmit said, according to his prepared remarks.
Broeksmit referred to the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank saying some policymakers are now pushing for new rules that could…
The CEO of a national end-to-end risk mitigation company says their platform opens doors to lenders that want to enter the construction market.
Leaders at CFSI Loan Management in Colorado say that at most lending institutions, construction loans make up less than 10% of originations due to the challenges and complexities of managing these transactions.
The company has completed more than 150,000 project inspections, 50,000 funding draws, and 25,000 project feasibility reviews. More than $15 billion in construction projects are being managed through CFSI’s construction lending platform, according to a press release.
Brian Mingham, founder and CEO of the company, was working in the mortgage business when the idea for CFSI was conceived. He says he saw the value in…
