Over the weekend, CoStar Group announced that it has agreed to acquire real estate tech company Homesnap. The acquisition was made for $250 million in cash and is expected to close by the end of this year, pending closing conditions
How is Working from Home Affecting the Office Sector
The office sector is experiencing unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19. As shelter-in-place orders rolled out earlier this year and companies allowed their employees to work from home, the need for physical office space declined. So, what will happen to the
2021 housing market forecast: It’s about politics, not economics
As we prepare to enter 2021, our country has lost more than 250,000 people and over 22 million jobs during the 2020 pandemic. Millions of others have suffered from COVID-19 complications, both health and economic related. At the same time,
MBA: Forbearance rate increases for the first time since June to 5.48%
The U.S. forbearance rate measuring the share of mortgages with suspended payments increased for the first time in nearly five months from 5.47% to 5.48%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The U.S forbearance rate has either fallen or remained flat since forbearances
Biden picks Janet Yellen to be next Treasury Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen to be the next Treasury Secretary, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal on Monday afternoon reported that Biden tapped Yellen, an economist who was the
Low, low mortgage rates make 19.4 million eligible for refi
As mortgage rates stay below 3% for the 17th consecutive week, a Black Knight report released Friday found that the number of “high quality” refinance candidates continues to climb. According to the report, a whopping 19.4 million homeowners are now
HUD Secretary Ben Carson improving following COVID-19 diagnosis
Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said he’s “out of the woods” after experiencing severe symptoms related to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis earlier this month, according to a MarketWatch report. Carson, 69, credited a botanical treatment derived
Startup profile: Sundae
Taken from the October/November issue of HousingWire Magazine, Sundae aims to aggregate demand from “fix and flippers,” who use the marketplace to bid against each other for distressed properties. Earlier this year, the company raised $16.55 million in Series A funding. QED Investors led the
Buying a Home with Well Water? Here’s 5 Ways to Maintain it
If you’re moving out of the bustling city to a more peaceful and quiet countryside home, chances are you’re buying a home that has a well water system. Most homes in cities access their water via traditional municipal sewer systems.
Remote Work Could Most Help Black Renters Trying to Buy Homes
Black renters are 29% more likely than other renters to be able to buy a first home because of the rise in telework. Go to Source Author:
Mnuchin moves to end emergency programs. How would it affect housing?
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rolled grenades down Wall Street and Main Street: he said he would not extend several emergency lending programs beyond Dec. 31, and also asked the Federal Reserve to return a portion of $195 billion
Las Vegas Real Estate Market: Prices | Trends | Forecast 2021
The Las Vegas housing market is sizzling hot with prices surging month over month. Even during these tough times, the Las Vegas properties are selling at record prices and rental homes continue to be in demand. The unemployment rate is
Case Study: How Sierra Pacific Mortgage increased underwriting capacity
Recent tech innovations have targeted point of sale or specific underwriting tasks to improve operational efficiencies, leaving the manual review of appraisals as an underexplored area ripe for digitization and automation. Collateral underwriting turn times in particular have been slowing
Housing Tech Rundown: Quantarium, Equifax and Ellie Mae
Artificial Intelligence company Quantarium announced on Thursday its partnership with Valligent Technologies to launch a condition adjusted “Quantarium Valuation Model” for equity lending, broker price opinions and real estate owned valuations. The latest tech, coined QVM-Insights, leverages Quantariums AI power
Time to close on mortgages growing amid soaring volume
Ellie Mae’s Origination Insight report for October demonstrates some of the side effects of the historically low mortgage rates we’ve seen in 2020: incredibly high volume and an increase in time-to-close. Across the board, 30-year mortgage rates decreased on average
NAR launches interactive training to combat housing discrimination
The National Association of Realtors has rolled out a new, free interactive training platform designed to help combat discrimination in the real estate industry called Fairhaven. Fairhaven is a fair housing simulation exercise that will be offered directly to NAR
Here’s what to expect from a Biden administration regarding housing
We are now under 60 days remaining until we have President Biden and Vice President Harris leading a new administration in D.C. Beyond any political views of the election and the ensuing drama, industry is asking: What will a Biden
Home values rising faster than at any time since 2005
Competition among buyers pushes home values higher as rent growth slows nationwide Go to Source Author:
Industry gives mixed reviews of FHFA’s Final Capital Rule
The mortgage industry is responding with mixed reviews to the Federal Housing Finance Agency‘s Final Capital Rule for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which it released on Wednesday. The final rule mandates that the GSEs maintain tier 1 capital in excess of
Companies with MISMO RON certificate double in three months
Digital notary platform NotaryCam announced on Wednesday it has been awarded the Remote Online Notarization (RON) Compliance Certification through the Mortgage Industry Standard Maintenance Organization (MISMO) – making it the eighth company to receive the specialized certification. Originally introduced in April, the MISMO RON compliance
The housing market is hot, but not in a bubble
Existing home sales came in at a whopping 6,850,000, beating estimates with the highest print since 2006. Days on market fell from 36 days to 21 days on a year-over-year basis. Cash buyers remain at a historically high level of
How will California’s Proposition 19 impact property taxes?
A slim majority of California residents voted in favor of Proposition 19 on Election Day, green-lighting a motion that gives new property tax breaks to older homeowners while increasing property taxes for those inheriting their parents’ or grandparents’ properties. The
DOJ sues NAR for alleged antitrust violations
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Thursday, alleging a series of violations of antitrust law, including commission arrangements and consumer disclosure requirements. NAR has adopted a “series of rules, policies,
Mortgage rates break record again, down to 2.72%
The average U.S. mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan fell this week to 2.72%, Freddie Mac said in a report on Thursday – the lowest rate in the survey’s near 50-year history. This week’s rate broke the previous record set on Nov. 5 by 6