Foreclosures | Mortgages | Financing
Goldman Sachs released a new report predicting the latest hurricanes will hold a negative impact on third quarter GDP. But while Goldman predicts GDP will drop in the third quarter, it also says the weakness will reverse course in the quarters that follow. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire
Federal investigators are poised to recommend that Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot, the car maker’s suite of advanced driver-assistance systems, be declared a contributing factor in a fatal crash in May 2016, according to a Bloomberg report that cited a person briefed on the findings. The system allowed the driver of a Model S that drove itself into the side of a truck to go for long periods without steering or looking at the road, the report said. According to Bloomberg, the National Transportation Safety Board is meeting on Tuesday to issue final findings on the crash, and its conclusions could be revised. Tesla in June was found not at fault in the accident.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. said late Monday it is selling its Paragard IUD product to Cooper Cos. for $1.1 billion cash. Paraguard had sales of about $168 million for the 12 months ending June 30. The deal includes Teva’s plant in Buffalo, N.Y., which makes the Paragard. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Teva said it will continue to divest the remaining assets in its women’s health business, and in its oncology and pain relief businesses in Europe. Cooper said it expects the deal to add 70 cents to 75 cents a share to earnings in the first year. U.S.-traded Teva shares rose 1.1% to $18.72 after hours, while Cooper shares gained 0.2% to $254. On Monday, Teva shares had their biggest one-day gain since 1984 following the naming of a new chief executive.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
The Federal Reserve’s monthly release of Janet Yellen’s calendar shows that she meet with Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Trump and a senior White House adviser. The calendar does not show what they discussed at the July 17 breakfast meeting. President Trump has said that he’s considering renominating Yellen after her term as chair expires next year. Yellen also had lunch with Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council — and also someone considered to be a Fed chair candidate.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
U.S. stocks on Monday kicked off the first full week of trading in September with a bang, underlined by the S&P 500 ending at a record, as a raft of meteorological and geopolitical jitters gave way to a re-emergence of appetite for assets perceived as risky. The S&P 500 index closed up 1.1% at 2,488, marking its first record close since Aug. 7 and its 31st in 2017, buoyed by gains in the technology and financials sectors. Financials, as gauged by the PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF booked their best daily rises since June 9, according to FactSet data. Bank stocks benefited from a resurgence in benchmark Treasury yields, with the 10-year Treasury note rising to 2.13%, compared with 2.05% late Friday. Higher yields support a banks’s business models. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , meanwhile, jumped about 260 points, retaking is perch above 22,000, while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 1.1%. The technology sector has often been viewed as a gauge of Wall Street’s tolerance for risk, seeing heavy bidding when investors feel bullish on the market. Monday’s bounce was attributed to Hurricane Irma hitting Florida with less force than feared and North Korea refraining from conducting another missile test in the Korean Peninsula, factors that last week had helped push stocks and bonds mostly lower. The relatively milder impact of Hurricane Irma helped insurers, bracing for bigger liabilities from the storm, rally, highlighted by a 3.1% advance in the PowerShares KBW Property & Casualty Insurance Portfolio , a popular exchange-traded fund used to invest in the in the sector. Art Cashin, UBS’s director of floor operations, on CNBC described Monday trading as a two-pronged “sigh of relief rally.” In corporate news, shares of Apple Inc. bounced 1.8% ahead of what is expected to be the debut of a fresh lineup of iPhones and other products from the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
In the following interview, Gregory Kelly, co-owner and general manager, and Joe Vorwerk, broker, of Sellstate Next Generation Realty in Ocala, Fla., discuss culture, recruitment, training, and more.
Regions Served: Marion County, Lake County, Sumter County, Citrus County, Alachua County
Years in Real Estate: 25
Number of Offices: 5
Number of Agents: 150
Many top agents work with you. Can you describe what your agent recruitment process is like?
Gregory Kelly: We have several different recruiting strategies, but our focus has always been on attracting the industry’s top talent. We concentrate our efforts on the most respected REALTORS® at the four boards we belong to. In addition, we’ve established ourselves as the most productive office in town, which makes it a lot easier to attract new or less experienced agents. And regardless of their production level, every prospect we visit with sits through our value proposition presentation, a 90-minute, interactive session. We call these “Information Sessions,” and they’re very thorough. Everyone leaves very well-informed, and 95 percent of them come back and sign up. The key is being consistent. The presentation is well-scripted, and our USPs (unique selling points) are always emphasized. We never talk down the competition. We always take the high road.
What would you say has contributed most to your rapid growth?
GK: When you hire the top producers, the most respected, and the most ethical agents at your local board, you tend to garner a lot of attention. Everyone wants to know what it is you’re offering. Additionally, everything we do with Sellstate is first-class. We have cutting-edge technology, the nicest facilities, a very talented support staff, and the strongest compensation model in the market. It really just sells itself.
What sets your office apart and makes agents want to stick around?
GK: Our culture. The culture is the key. We don’t have a competing broker/owner and our management team doesn’t actively list or sell residential real estate. This way, our staff is 100 percent dedicated to helping our agents with their businesses. We don’t play favorites either, so every agent receives the same commission split regardless of their production level. Everyone loves the fact that we treat everyone equally.
Finally, we (the owners) don’t make any of the big decisions. In essence, we operate like an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). We have a governing board called The Founder’s Club, which is a group of top producers who have been with us since the beginning. We manage our brokerage through consensus-building, and, by doing so, we usually get it right the first time. Our agents also like the fact that they’re participating in the decision-making process.
How have you used the Sellstate brand to better serve the Ocala area?
GK: We deliberately positioned the Sellstate brand to be a cut above our competitors in every conceivable way. Since the brand was new to the Ocala market, we felt this would be critical to our success. Executing that plan and maintaining our high standards takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it. We never round any …read more
From:: Real Estate News
Although the dollar volume of quarterly purchase-money production has recently risen, the number of loans closed has fallen thanks to the lack of junior-lien utilization.
From April 1 through June 30 of this year, U.S. residential lenders generated $467 billion in first-lien mortgage originations — including refinances and purchase financing.
That represented a 20 percent improvement from the upwardly revised total for the first-quarter 2017. But mortgage bankers slowed production from the same three months last year last year by 16 percent.
From:: Financing
For the third month in a row, home lenders have been more aggressive about which loan applicants they will approve. Conforming credit eased the most.
That is according to the Mortgage Credit Availability Index, which was 180.2 in August. The index is a standardized quantitative index focused on mortgage credit.
Compared to the previous month, the index ascended 0.7 percent. A month-over-month increase is an indication that lending standards are loosening.
From:: Financing
Gold prices dropped Monday to settle at their lowest level in just over a week, after ending last Friday at their highest since early September. Investment demand for the precious metal dulled as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea and concerns surrounding Hurricane Irma eased back. Strength in the dollar and U.S. equities also pressured prices for the metal. December gold fell $15.50, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,335.70 an ounce. That was the lowest finish since Sept. 1. The decline followed Friday’s settlement at $1.351.20, which was the highest for a most-active contract since Sept. 6, according to FactSet data.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News
A few months ago, RealtyShares, which bills itself as the “leading online marketplace for real estate investing,” bought its biggest rival in commercial and multifamily real estate real estate lending, Acquire Real Estate. As it turns out, that acquisition provided a clue about RealtyShares’ future, because the company is selling its residential lending business and plans to focus entirely on commercial and multifamily lending instead. …read more
From:: Real Estate Wire