Good Morning! Today is Monday, January 17. It’s Martin Luther King Day, and markets are closed. Martin Luther King Jr.’s family will lead a march for voting rights today in DC as congressional Democrats vow to press ahead with legislation. The public can begin ordering free at-home rapid Covid-19 tests through a new government website on Wednesday. Four hostages at a Texas synagogue were freed on Saturday, and their captor killed. And in mortgage and housing news… No Longer A Nightmare on Elm Street: The house made famous by the 1984 horror movie “A Nightmare on Elm Street” has sold for nearly $3 million in Los Angeles after being on the market for less than three months. C&M Delinquencies Fall:…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The house made famous by the 1984 horror movie ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ has sold in Los Angeles after being on the market for less than three months. In the supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, the house was depicted as being in Springwood, Ohio, but the actual street address is 1428 North Genesee Avenue in LA. The photo above is published on seeing-stars.com. Originally put on the market for $3.25 million on October 20, there was a pending sale at that price on November 23. According to Zillow.com, the house was listed for sale again on December 9 at $2.999 million. A pending sale was reported on December 21 and the house…
Mortgage credit availability grew slightly in December 2021, increasing by 0.8% to 125.9, according to the Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI). The Conventional MCAI rose by 0.8%% while the Government MCAI rose by 0.7%. Within the Conventional MCAI, the Jumbo MCAI rose by 0.6% and the Conforming MCAI rose by 1.1%. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while an increase indicates loosening credit. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012. The overall credit index rose to its highest point since May 2021. However, it remains 30% below its pre-pandemic level. The increase puts mortgage credit availability back on a positive trajectory after a November decline that interrupted a four-month…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Jaws are dropping as “The One” hits the market at $295 million. Located on a 3.83-acre lot on Airole Way in the prestigious Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California, the megamansion has 21 bedrooms, 42 bathrooms, and 7 half baths. It is considered to be the most expensive house on the market and is being brokered by The Beverly Hills Estates, which is representing the property with Aaron Kirman of Aaron Kirman Group at Compass. Click the link above to see the listing. You can also see photos on Realtor.com, where the property was posted on Monday. “Paradise beyond compare awaits in ‘The One,’ a masterpiece of an estate that truly redefines luxury. This 105,000-square-foot work…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increases, it is being reported that Millennials are choosing to buy single-family houses with their friends. In an article written by Zinhle Essamuah for NBC News, three women talked about their decision to buy a house together. Amanda Scheider, 30, told Essamuah that it’s like having a permanent sleepover. Scheider lives with Kathy Keel, 30, and Stephanie Vandergrift, 28, in Gallatin, Tennessee. They signed for a 30-year, $315,000 mortgage in May of 2020 after renting a house together. Essamuah used analytics from Attom Data Solutions which shows the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increased by nearly 772% between 2010 and…
Investors and economic analysts are closely monitoring Omicron, the Covid-19 variant taking the news cycle by storm, as the country enters the busy holiday season. The question on mortgage professionals’ minds is: how will Omicron affect the housing market? Analysts’ answers are mixed, but the overall trend is cautious optimism. “Right now, we are looking at pretty severe reactions to the omicron news in the stock market,” Tomas Jandik, a finance professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, told Realtor.com. “The residential market may be more immune to COVID because of what we have already seen in the past waves of the virus.” “It is unlikely that rates will move down any further due to the new Omicron variant,”…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and workers reevaluate their commitment to metropolitan life, lenders in smaller cities stand to benefit from what is being termed the “Great Resignation.” It is estimated that about 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September after months of dramatic departure numbers, which means those employees are looking for and taking new jobs, often choosing to live in a different location if they have the option of working remotely. Since 87% of employees say they would like to work remotely at least one day a week, and one in three workers would not want to work for an employer that required them to be onsite full time, potential homebuyers are taking these…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS When the holiday season starts, people are typically reluctant to put their homes on the market due to a lack of potential buyers. But this could be the year when that changes. In a recent article at Realtor.com, the company’s Chief Economist Danielle Hale said sellers can expect to see plenty of buyers this winter. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, agreed. He expects there will be more home sales this winter than there were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is good news for sellers, especially since CNN Business reported last week that the median price of single-family existing homes rose in 99% of the 183 markets tracked by employees at the…
More than half of respondents to a Realtor.com survey said they considered natural disasters when deciding where to live. Millennials and Gen Z were particularly wary of potential disasters when choosing a home. Disaster fears have grown over the last five years, with 47% of homeowners becoming more concerned over time. Of current homeowners, 62% expressed fears about the threat of natural disasters to their homes. The most concerned demographics were recent buyers, Millennials, Gen X, and urban homeowners. These groups also reported the most growth in their fears over the last five years. Baby Boomers, the Silent Generation, and rural homeowners weren’t as worried overall; half said they weren’t concerned at all. More than half of Millennial and Gen…
Rent price growth topped home price growth in August, rising by over 10% year-over-year for the first time on record, a Realtor.com report found. The average national rent is now $1,633, up $169 and 11.5% year-over-year. Home prices in the same month grew 8.6%. Rents reached their highest levels ever in 35 of the 50 largest U.S. metros. All but 4 of the 50 hit record highs between June and August. Two-bedroom units saw the most significant median national growth, up 12.3% to $1,828 year-over-year. Compared to August 2019, it’s even higher: up 16.7%. One-bedrooms rose 11.6% from the same time last year and 14.3% since August 2019. Both broke the record for highest levels in Realtor.com’s data history. Rents…
