By TYRONE TOWNSEND and KIMBERLEY HAAS Wells Fargo leadership has laid off employees in a move that is being blamed on a dramatically smaller originations market. In a statement to The Mortgage Note, Spokesperson Jennifer Langan said the latest Mortgage Bankers Association forecast has total originations for 2022 at $2.4T, down 40% year-over-year, with refinances down over 70%. “The home lending displacements are the natural result of cyclical changes in the broader home lending environment, as has been acknowledged by most mortgage providers across the industry. Employees affected by these changes have each been an essential part of our success. We are carrying out displacements in a transparent and thoughtful manner and providing assistance, such as severance and career counseling,”…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND and KIMBERLEY HAAS The metaverse is attracting a lot of attention from real estate investors, but they are not the only ones looking to the virtual world for a source of profit. Criminals are watching as well. Non-fungible tokens are reportedly the target of widespread criminal activity, with schemes including fraudulent giveaways, browser wallet hacks, and social engineering, posing risks to participants. Scams, in general, such as fake airdrops and phishing URLs, are also a cause for concern. The theft of cryptographic assets is expected to account for more than 99 percent of all illicit activities. How much money are we talking about here? The metaverse is expected to be worth $13 trillion by 2030, according to…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Robotic furniture may help people turn small spaces into comfortable homes. In a YouTube video published by the MIT Alumni Association in December of 2021, Ori CEO Hasier Larrea told interviewers that real estate has two big challenges today. “One of them is real estate sustainability and the other one is affordability,” Larrea said. “Those two challenges are really connected to one metric, square footage.” Ori was formed in 2015 by Larrea and a team of MIT academics who set out to build interiors that optimize the potential of usable space, allowing for a more extensive range of activities and settings inside dwellings, all within the same footprint. Larrea said they believe that robotic furniture and architecture…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Leaders at Rocket Mortgage have launched a new program that will cover a sizable portion of closing costs for a refinance transaction if interest rates drop and their customer refinances within three years of purchasing a home. Applicants with credit scores as low as 580 will be considered, in contrast to other mortgage lenders who need a minimum of 620. Leaders at the company say this offers a choice for potential homebuyers with bad credit. John Perich, Director of Public Relations of Rocket Central, spoke with the Mortgage Note about the Rate Drop Advantage. “People might want to buy a house, and if you want to buy a house now, go ahead and get it,” Perich said.…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND In the upcoming months, mortgage lenders, refinancing businesses, and real estate agencies may fire thousands of people as the housing market cools. Many millennials had started looking for new houses because of low-interest rates, stimulus payments, and the ability to work from home during the coronavirus epidemic, which fueled a booming U.S. housing market. But now the pandemic is no longer driving workers out of metro markets. Peak prices hit in June and potential buyers are pulling out of the market. According to experts, mortgage origination is expected to fall 35 to 50 percent this year. The drop in refinancing is also playing a key role in changes to the mortgage industry. The Mortgage Bankers Association attributes…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Renters continue to engage in bidding wars as Americans struggle to find affordable places to live. The demand for rental properties is growing due to rising mortgage rates, increasing inflationary concerns, and supply chain problems. Michael Scuito is a Savannah, Georgia, resident and an Army veteran who says he had to rearrange his budget to fit the current rental market. In 2020, he moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment and was paying $1,575 a month. Later that year, the price was raised by over $200. “I live in one bed and one bath, paying $1650 a month. That’s not including utilities. I’ve constantly rearranged my budget to adjust to raising rent, food, and gas prices,” Scuito told…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND The Federal Reserve has indicated that the central bank views inflation as a national emergency, with markets expecting a 0.75 percent interest rate rise. However, the Fed’s policy measures could come at a high cost, notably in the housing market. Low mortgage rates and a lack of housing inventory during COVID-19 lockdowns sent home prices skyrocketing during the last two years. The housing market is cooling as mortgage rates have gone up and even surpassed 6 percent. Although this may be an acceptable short-term price to pay in the fight against inflation, it will cause future supply-chain issues after inflation is under control. Before the pandemic, a six-month supply of homes for sale was considered a sign…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Rising mortgage rates may not have brought the housing market to a halt just yet, but experts are predicting a cooldown that will come in waves and hit different areas of the country at different times. As home prices begin to level off, the 30-year mortgage rate is moving between 5% and 6%. At the same time, consumer confidence is dwindling, and economic statistics indicate the housing industry is cooling after its frenzied surge during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, several Wall Street analysts are revising their outlooks for the homebuilding sector and downgrading some equities. “The housing market faces both demand-side and supply-side challenges,” Robert Dietz, chief economist at the NAHB, said in a statement.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS and TYRONE TOWNSEND TCG World has announced a strategic partnership with Curzio Research, which has spent $5 million to acquire 19 commercial real estate properties inside the Metaverse. The acquisition is one of the largest real estate purchases for virtual property inside the Metaverse, and Curzio plans on building its headquarters in the Asia region of TCG World, near WallStreetBets. By being part of this region, company leaders expect to have access to traders. VIP members can meet with other investors, attend live events, host conferences, listen to exclusive podcasts, and hold special education courses, according to a video posted online. Curzio is expected to complete its headquarters before September. More celebrities and companies are putting money…
By TYRONE TOWNSEND Millions of dollars are being spent on digital real estate as investors take their money to the land of the Metaverse. Since Facebook renamed its company to Meta Platforms in October, plot prices have skyrocketed by 500 percent. Meta and other businesses have a long-term ambition of creating 360-degree immersive worlds that people will access through virtual reality goggles. Users may now access these worlds using a standard computer screen. Real individuals engage in these virtual worlds as cartoon-like characters known as avatars, akin to a real-time multiplayer video game. Journalists from the Wall Street Journal recently spoke with companies investing in digital real estate to understand the economic model, and why investors are spending so much…
