Mortgage Debt Increased Most For Maryland Homeowners In Q4 2023

With home prices high and interest rates nearing 7%, mortgage debt is a growing burden on American families. But homeowners in some states are seeing this type of debt grow more than in others. A new report from WalletHub found that homeowners in Maryland, Hawaii, and Nevada added the most mortgage debt between Q3 and Q4 2023. The average household is $100,000 away from paying off their home, and the total mortgage balance in the U.S. is more than $12 trillion. But in Maryland, the average balance is $283,092 and rose by 1.23% in Q4 2023. No other state saw an increase above 1% in the same period, and seventeen states saw decreases, putting Maryland at the top of the…

Jennifer Schachterle Joins FHLBank San Francisco

Jennifer Schachterle has been named SVP of Sales and Business Development of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBank San Francisco). In this position, Schachterle will oversee the bank’s relationships with its more than 300 member financial institutions across the West. She leads the team spearheading its sales, business development, and new member recruitment. “I’m excited to join FHLBank San Francisco and the team that is fulfilling their mission to provide liquidity to members and support homeownership, fund development of affordable housing, and economically energize communities,” she said. “As a former member of FHLBank San Francisco, I’ve seen firsthand their impact across so many touchpoints, and I’m inspired by the opportunity to partner with our member banks, credit…

Unique Opportunities: A Look At The Spring Season In Nontraditional Markets

By CHUCK GREEN Tradition dictates that April and May are the hottest months for the housing market but there are unique opportunities in parts of the country where that isn’t necessarily the case. Rick Sharga, president & CEO of CJ Patrick Company in Trabuco Canyon, California, says that although there is truth to the idea that home sales increase as the weather improves, there are exceptions to the rule. “Markets with a late spring – cold weather states in particular like Alaska or North Dakota – might have a later start to the traditional home selling season, while markets with more temperate clients like California and Hawaii may not be quite as dependent on changing seasons to encourage home buyers…

Sun Belt Deals Called Off As Housing Market Slumps

By CHUCK GREEN During the pandemic homebuyers fled to southern states for warmer weather but now would-be purchasers are bailing out of deals at a faster clip than anywhere in the country. According to analysts at Redfin, 60,000 deals were called off nationally in September. That’s 17% of the homes that went under contract that month. In Florida, Jacksonville had 745 home-purchase agreements fall through, equal to 30.3% of homes that went under contract. That was the highest percentage among the metros Redfin analyzed. They were followed by San Antonio, TX (25.3%), Atlanta, GA (25%), Orlando, FL (24.6%), and Tampa, FL (24.5%). In August, about 800 home purchase agreements were tabled in Jacksonville. That’s 26.1% of homes that went under contract…

Foreclosures Activity Hits Record Low

ATTOM Data Solution’s Year-End 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report found foreclosure filings dropped 29% from 2020 and were down 95% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010. It is the lowest level since ATTOM began tracking filings in 2005. Properties with foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions– made up 0.11% of all U.S. housing units, down from 0.16% in 2020. “The COVID-19 foreclosure tsunami that some people had anticipated is clearly not happening,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company.  The report is heartening from a broad view of foreclosure filings in the US. However, it found that filings increased as protections expired, pushing rates closer to pre-pandemic levels. A total of…

Hot Market, Inflation Causes Rental Rates To Skyrocket In America

By KIMBERLEY HAAS More than a quarter of the states in the country have experienced a rental price increase of 20% or more in 2021 and a senior research analyst says people moving out of cities and into more rural communities are partially to blame. Nick VinZant works for QuoteWizard by LendingTree. He co-authored an article that was published this month which shows that Florida had the highest percentage increase in the nation at 29%. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Florida is about $1,425. Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington all saw rents increase by more than 20% for one-bedroom apartments in 2021, according…