Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
MGIC has relaxed some of its underwriting guidelines. Among the changes are higher loan-to-value ratios, increased loan amounts and reduced credit scores.
With a credit score of at least 720, the maximum loan amount on one-unit properties has been raised to $650,000 from $450,000. The LTV ratio is 97 percent.
On residential loans up to $650,000 with LTV ratios up to 95 percent, the minimum credit score on one-unit properties has been reduced to 680 from 700.
From:: Financing
Household debt is set to hit an all-new high in 2017 after showing the largest increase in over a decade. Mortgages made up the majority of household debt in 2016, however student debt is also on the rise. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
A $225 million settlement with the state of California resolves a consent order that was reached in early 2015 with an Ocwen Financial Corp. unit.
In January 2015, the California Department of Business Oversight sought to suspend the mortgage licenses of Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC.
The action, taken because it allegedly failed to comply with requests for documentation, jeopardized the servicing of $94 billion of loans in the state.
From:: Financing
Heading into the Presidents Day holiday weekend, new refinance activity sank — driving down overall mortgage business. But adjustable-rate business soared.
A gauge of upcoming residential loan originations, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily, was 123 in the week ended Feb. 17.
The index, which is determined based on average per-user rate-lock volume by customers of OpenClose, tumbled 17 percent compared to the previous week.
From:: Financing
By swheeler@housingwire.com For businesses in the mortgage space, there’s some optimism of late thanks to the Trump administration’s emphasis on deregulation. And that’s understandable. But what about all the time, energy, and money that the industry spent over the last few years dealing with a glut of new regulations? Was it all worth it? …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
For the first time in history, the United States elected a president without any political or military experience. For some, this means a promising departure from the status quo and the rapidly increasing feelings of disenfranchisement from our political system. For others, a Trump presidency encourages apprehension, as his directives are considerably less predictable than those of a seasoned politician. The actuality of a Trump Administration still prompts more questions than clear policy directives; however, the new president’s lifelong career as a builder and real estate investor could provide some fresh prospects for a growing, but fragile, housing industry. While fumbling GSE reform or following through on his promise for mass deportations would cause major setbacks to the housing market, below are where some of the best opportunities might exist.
Housing Supply
Trump likes to build things, and if you ask 100 real estate agents from around the country what is the one thing that would help them sell more homes, the most common answer would be increasing available housing inventory, especially in the affordable price ranges. The home-building industry was nearly decimated during the housing crisis. New-home construction was almost non-existent between 2008 and 2013. During that same period of time, the country added nearly five million new households. The net result of this shortage of housing supply has been a sharp increase in home prices and an equally sharp decrease in affordability, leaving millions of would-be homeowners on the sidelines.
This has proven to be a difficult problem to solve, as rising construction costs and an increasingly complicated regulatory environment have made the business prospect for the construction of affordable homes unviable in many markets. The Trump Administration could, by providing supply-side solutions to our housing inventory challenges, inject a powerful boost to the industry and go a long way toward reversing the trend of decreasing homeownership rates across the country.
Financial Regulations
Members of the new administration have promised, and have already begun, an overhaul of our financial regulations. Many leaders in the housing finance industry, regardless of their political leanings, believe the market would benefit by some selective regulatory relief. While nobody wants a return to the irresponsible lending that proliferated in the last decade, pulling back on a few regulatory levers would stimulate demand, especially in a number of markets where an increase in qualified buyers is most needed.
Consumer Confidence
In the years following the Great Recession, many would-be homebuyers have been understandably cautious to leap back into the housing market. This has been especially true for our minority and millennial populations, whose introductions to the housing market were likely during the worst market conditions in a century. While the shortage of housing inventory has made this issue less noticeable, as the market continues to normalize, a shortage of buyers will become more problematic.
The new president could help improve this perspective by using his formidable promotional talents to advise the country that it is safe to get back into the housing market, and that purchasing a home is still one of …read more
From:: Real Estate News
The deadline to complete RISMedia’s 29th Annual Power Broker Survey has been extended to this Friday, Feb. 24. RISMedia’s Power Broker Survey, the industry’s longest-running listing of America’s top brokerage firms, ranks firms by closed residential transactions and residential sales volume for 2016.
Brokers who completed RISMedia’s Power Broker Survey last year received an invitation email containing a unique link to complete this year’s survey. If you have not received this invitation, please contact James Jones at jim@rismedia.com.
If you are new to RISMedia’s Power Broker Survey, please click here to take the survey.
Results of RISMedia’s Power Broker Survey will be widely distributed through RISMedia’s Power Broker Report. The Top 500 brokerage firms according to sales volume will appear in the April issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine, both in print and online, along with the findings of the Power Broker Survey’s research questions polling brokers on business operations, market conditions, and consumer trends.
Brokers who make the Top 500 ranking in RISMedia’s Power Broker Report will be invited to gather at RISMedia’s annual gala, The Power Broker Reception & Dinner, taking place on Friday, Nov. 3, in conjunction with the REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Chicago, Ill.
Taking the Power Broker Survey: What You Need to Know
For questions regarding RISMedia’s 29th Annual Power Broker Report & Survey, please contact Executive Editor Maria Patterson (maria@rismedia.com) or IT Manager James Jones (jim@rismedia.com).
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
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From:: Real Estate News
A new housing affordability measure, the REALTORS® Affordability Distribution Curve and Score from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and realtor.com®, affirms the imbalance between housing costs and wages—and indicates inventory will continue to be constrained this spring.
The Affordability Distribution Curve, which examines how many listings are affordable to those in a particular income percentile, came in under the equality line in January, with the gap generally wider at lower incomes. A household in the 35th percentile could afford 28 percent of all listings; a household in the 50th percentile (median income) could afford 46 percent of listings; and a household in the 75th percentile could afford 74 percent of listings. The Affordability Score, which is a calculation varying between zero and two equal to twice the area below the Affordability Distribution Curve on a graph, was 0.92 in January. A score of one or higher suggests a market where homes for sales are more affordable in proportion to income; only 19 states had a score higher than one.
“Home prices have ascended far past wage growth in much of the country in recent years because not enough homeowners are selling and home builders have not boosted production enough to meet rising demand,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “NAR and realtor.com’s new affordability measure confirms that buyers aren’t exaggerating about the imbalance. Amid higher home prices and now mortgage rates, households with lower incomes have been able to afford less of all homes on the market last year and so far in 2017.”
“Consistently strong job gains and a growing share of millennials entering their prime buying years is laying the foundation for robust buyer demand in 2017,” says Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com. “However, buyers with a lower maximum affordable price are seeing heavy competition for the fewer listings they can afford. At a time of higher borrowing costs, this situation could affect affordability even more, as buyers battle for a smaller pool of homes and bid prices upward.”
For more information, please www.nar.realtor.
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
The post Housing Affordability Measure Affirms Imbalance between Housing Costs and Wages appeared first on RISMedia.
From:: Real Estate News
A new housing affordability measure, the REALTORS® Affordability Distribution Curve and Score from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and realtor.com®, affirms the imbalance between housing costs and wages—and indicates inventory will continue to be constrained this spring.
The Affordability Distribution Curve, which examines how many listings are affordable to those in a particular income percentile, came in under the equality line in January, with the gap generally wider at lower incomes. A household in the 35th percentile could afford 28 percent of all listings; a household in the 50th percentile (median income) could afford 46 percent of listings; and a household in the 75th percentile could afford 74 percent of listings. The Affordability Score, which is a calculation varying between zero and two equal to twice the area below the Affordability Distribution Curve on a graph, was 0.92 in January. A score of one or higher suggests a market where homes for sales are more affordable in proportion to income; only 19 states had a score higher than one.
“Home prices have ascended far past wage growth in much of the country in recent years because not enough homeowners are selling and home builders have not boosted production enough to meet rising demand,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “NAR and realtor.com’s new affordability measure confirms that buyers aren’t exaggerating about the imbalance. Amid higher home prices and now mortgage rates, households with lower incomes have been able to afford less of all homes on the market last year and so far in 2017.”
“Consistently strong job gains and a growing share of millennials entering their prime buying years is laying the foundation for robust buyer demand in 2017,” says Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com. “However, buyers with a lower maximum affordable price are seeing heavy competition for the fewer listings they can afford. At a time of higher borrowing costs, this situation could affect affordability even more, as buyers battle for a smaller pool of homes and bid prices upward.”
For more information, please www.nar.realtor.
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
The post Housing Affordability Measure Affirms Imbalance between Housing Costs and Wages appeared first on RISMedia.
From:: Finance and Economy
For the first time in a dozen years, Texas is not claiming the top spot in the annual Allied Van Lines Magnet States Report. Instead, Florida and Arizona beat the Longhorn State with higher net relocation gains.
The annual report uses internal data to track U.S. and cross-border migration patterns with Canada, and found that Florida’s net relocation gain of 1,316 propelled it to the top of the 2016 list from the second spot last year. This net gain is calculated by the difference between inbound moves and outbound moves performed by Allied Van Lines, one of the world’s largest moving companies.
“Texas has been a powerhouse magnet state for more than a decade, but traditional retirement states like Florida and Arizona are always strong contenders for the list,” says Lesli Bertoli, general manager and vice president of Allied Van Lines. “For the first time in recent history, both Florida and Arizona were able to unseat Texas from its top spot position.”
Arizona was the second most magnetic state, with 1,137 net inbound moves in 2016, and Texas came in third, with 891 net inbound moves.
Rounding out the top five magnet states in 2016 were North Carolina (9th in 2015) and Utah (8th in 2015).
Biggest Movers in 2016
California continues to dominate as the most mobile state, with 10,590 moves conducted by Allied Van Lines that featured California as its departure or destination state.
Increasing Attraction
Some of the biggest movers on the list are Virginia (up 16 spots from the least magnetic state in 2015 to the 17th least magnetic), Iowa (up 15 spots from No. 42 to 27) and Connecticut (up 10 spots from 37th place to 26th place).
Other states with big changes on the list included Delaware, which tumbled to 9th least magnetic state, dropping 17 spots, and Colorado, which went from 6th most magnetic in 2015 to 21st in 2016.
Outbound States
Illinois returned to the bottom of the list after a brief respite in 2015. Allied’s 2016 Magnet States data show Illinois as the state with the greatest net outbound moves, with 1,284 moves out of state. California took its place as the 2nd most outbound state (1,060 outbound moves), followed by Pennsylvania (716 net outbound moves) and New York (714 net outbound moves). Rounding out the bottom five was New Jersey (542 net outbound moves).
Canadians on the Move
Similar to 2015, more Americans crossed the border in a move to British Columbia than left, making it the most attractive province for U.S. relocation. Ontario chalked up the largest net loss to cross-border moves.
Source: Allied Van Lines
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
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From:: Finance and Economy