Frozen Real Estate Market Forebodes Inactive Winter Ahead

Newsletter - December 2023 The real estate market, much like the wintery holidays, is frozen solid due to inactivity. Mortgage rates have remained elevated causing both homeowners and prospective home buyers to dip out of the selling and buying game. Before the pandemic, existing-home sales was at 5 million seasonally…

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Crash, Flatline, or Grow? – Experts Weigh in on the 2024 Real Estate Market

Newsletter - November 2023 This year delivered some shocking developments most homeowners, investors, and buyers were not expecting to deal with. Mainly the massive increase in interest rates, which are at a 20-plus year high of 8%, sent the housing market into a standstill. Due to the concurrent record-breaking inflation…

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Real Estate Industry Freezes as Mortgage Rates Skyrocket to 7.3%

Newsletter - October 2023 Prospective homebuyers are facing more hurdles to jump through as the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 7.3% this month. Freddie Mac reported the increase from 7.19% to 7.31%, which is the highest average long-term interest rate in 23 years. In 2022, the average rate…

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Americans Default on Credit Cards and Car Loans amid Inflation and Record Consumer Debts

Newsletter - September 2023 Credit card balances and interest rates are soaring as Americans continue to grapple with inflation. Credit card debt has exceeded $1 trillion for the first time according to the New York Federal Reserve, and there are also more credit card accounts open now than in 2019.…

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Americans Draw on Home Equity Lines of Credit as Personal Savings Empty

Newsletter - August 2023 Americans' personal savings have fallen to lower levels than before the pandemic began Barchart reported in a July tweet. The financial data company reported losses of 5.5 trillion since April of 2020. The significant drop likely correlates to inflation and overspending after the pandemic. While families were…

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How Artificial Intelligence and New Tech is Impacting the Mortgage Industry

Newsletter - June 2023 Visiting the local bank to acquire a mortgage might be a thing of the past. With the massive rise in digital mortgage lenders and artificial intelligence (AI), Americans might be skipping the trip to brick and mortar establishments these days. Are AI and digital lending providers…

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New Policies Make Home Buying More Accessible for Some, Raises Fees for Others

Newsletter - May 2023 Back in May of 2022, President Biden announced a series of initiatives to ease the burden of housing costs for Americans both renting and buying. One aspect of the Housing Supply Action Plan was to "deploy new financing mechanisms to build and preserve more housing where…

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What Recent Bank Failures Mean for Fluctuating Mortgage Rates

Newsletter - April 2023 Predictions for this year's mortgage rates and real estate trends shifted this week after the second-largest and third-largest bank failures in history occurred. Investors quickly withdrew their funds from banks across the country causing changes in the Fed's plans to reduce inflation. The Federal Reserve had…

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Rising Household Debt Leads Homeowners to Tap into Home Equity

Newsletter - March 2023 As inflation continues to affect the country, many Americans are turning to credit cards and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) in order to find relief from the rising costs of basic needs, like groceries and gas. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,…

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Millennials priced out of housing market (or maxing their budgets)

Newsletter - February 2023 Millennials and other first-time home buyers have been hit particularly hard by one of the most expensive housing markets in U.S. history. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, high demand driven by low inventory and even lower interest rates sent home prices skyrocketing. Many millennials lost bidding…

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Upside-down mortgages on the rise as market corrects

Newsletter - January 2023 U.S. home prices increased by 10.1% annually in October compared to 11.4% in September. That's the lowest year-over-year increase since early 2021, and the trend is expected to continue. One in 12 U.S. homes purchased in 2022 now have upside-down mortgages, according to Black Knight's October…

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Refinance activity ends year on a low note

Newsletter - December 2022 There were no surprises when real estate data agency ATTOM released its Q3 Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report last month. Mortgage originations were down 47% from Q3 of last year-the sixth quarterly decrease in a row and the steepest annual drop since 2001. Mortgage rates that…

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Housing market cooling, Realtors feeling the heat

Newsletter - November 2022 There's a chill in the air, and not because it's autumn. The housing market is cooling off fast, and some experts say winter is coming. Mortgage rates topped 7% last month while originations plummeted, and things aren't expected to turn around this year-or next. The Mortgage…

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Mortgage rates rising, house prices dropping — eventually (probably)

Newsletter - October 2022 Mortgage rates have been flirting with 7% since late September - more than double the all-time low of 2.65% in January - pushed up primarily by the highest inflation we've seen in 40 years. Rates changing this quickly can have a "chilling effect" on homebuyers since…

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From Housing Recession to Recession-Recession?

Newsletter - September 2022 After two quarters of economic contraction, economists are divided as to whether the U.S. is headed for a recession. But the housing industry is already there, some experts say. "Tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and persistently elevated construction costs have brought on a housing…

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Experts Say We’re on the Verge of a Housing Market “Meltdown”

Newsletter - August 2022 If the state of the housing market — and economy in general — has you feeling a bit queasy, you’re not alone. We’re facing a “perfect storm” for a 2008-type housing crisis, said Jose Torres, a senior economist for Interactive Brokers. “At this point, housing is…

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Are a Housing Crash and Recession Imminent?

Newsletter - July 2022 After two years of a red-hot housing market fueled by low inventory and even lower interest rates, things seem to finally be cooling down. As the 30-year fixed rate hovers near 6%, "fewer people are getting mortgages, homes are sitting on the market for longer, and…

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Are Increasing Adjustable-Rate Mortgages a Red Flag for Today’s Housing Market?

Newsletter - June 2022 With interest rates climbing and home prices still sky high, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are on the rise. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 5.30% last month - compared to 3% a year ago - significantly increasing the cost of financing a home. In May 2021, the…

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FHA Adds 40-year Loan Modification to COVID-19 Recovery Options

Newsletter - May 2022 Mortgage servicers can now offer a 40-year loan modification as part of the COVID-19 Recovery waterfall. For now, only borrowers with FHA Title II forward mortgages who were financially affected by the pandemic are eligible, and the option must be used in conjunction with a partial…

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Housing Market 2022: No Relief in Sight for Buyers

Newsletter - April 2022 Virtually every real estate firm predicted that home price growth would slow down this year, but just a few months in, that consensus has fallen apart. Home prices surged an unsustainable 18.8% last year, fueled by a depleted inventory and record-low mortgage rates. But with interest…

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2022 Forecast: Rising Mortgage Rates Ahead

Newsletter - March 2022 The 30-year mortgage rate topped 4% last month for the first time since 2019, and is expected to go higher before the year's over. Experts point to three factors behind rising mortgage rates: a recovering economy, the Fed winding down the buying of mortgage-backed securities, and…

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What is Document Retrieval & How Does it Work?

What exactly is document retrieval? We're here to break it down for you. Have you ever needed important vital records for a family member, such as a marriage record or death certificate? What about requesting a deed or title search for a new home you're looking to buy? If so,…

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Investment in Mortgage Tech Critical for 2022 and Beyond

Newsletter - February 2022 By now, most lenders have adopted mortgage tech that enables homebuyers to apply for loans online, but a shifting market demands even more investment in automation. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts the 30-year fixed-rate could reach 4% before this year is over, which will reduce the…

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Home Prices in 2022: Going Up, Says Zillow

Newsletter - January 2022 The hot housing market we saw in 2021 doesn't appear to be cooling off anytime soon. According to the Zillow Economic Research team, home prices in 2022 will continue to rise, keeping homeownership out of reach for some would-be homebuyers. Zillow predicts the price of homes…

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Still No Spike in Foreclosure Rates as 2021 Winds Down

Newsletter - December 2021 Despite the federal moratorium ending months ago, foreclosure rates increased by just 2.6% in October, according to Black Knight's First Look report. Meanwhile, fewer homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments, with around 2 million loans at least 30 days past due in October - 1.45…

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