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While here in Denver I received an email. “Rob, does what’s going on in Florida impact lenders?” I had to figure out if the author was asking about Disney/DeSantis, new Florida Man news, climate change, or insurance issues. Florida has a lot of cool things: manatees, Dry Tortugas National Park, Epcot Center, and cigar rollers in Tampa who do parties. Unfortunately it now has an additional insurance fee, as Florida has imposed a 1 percent “emergency” fee to property insurance premiums due to property-insurer insolvencies. Lenders in Florida often mention the Agencies, including HUD, and loan amounts. More specifically, many people living in Florida (“locals”) couldn’t buy their own homes due to wages versus values. Many of the Florida home loans that LOs have crossing their desks are now true jumbos. Buyers don’t get much in Tampa for $700k, and eastern Florida is worse. The loan limits are out of adjustment for the locals. ....
For some reason, companies laying off large numbers of people (most recently Better, Freedom, Mr. Cooper) make headlines, whereas shouldn’t the unusual, like companies that aren’t laying off anyone or who are hiring, be more newsworthy? There are indeed companies that are not laying off anyone, and in fact are hiring to take advantage of slow times. There is other good news. Despite inflation, elevated mortgage rates, and slowing sales activity, severely limited housing inventory will prevent large home price drops for most of the country next year according to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in his 2023 outlook. “For most parts of the country, home prices are holding steady since available inventory is extremely low. Some places are experiencing price gains, while some places, most notably in California, are seeing prices pull back… Housing inventory is about a quarter of what it was in 2008, distressed property sales are almost non-existent, at just 2%, a ....
I was walking down North Wabash in Chicago yesterday and a beggar (is that politically correct?) yelled out at me, “You’re the reason this country has to put directions on cereal boxes!” Simple things like cereal boxes, shampoo, or soup didn’t used to have directions, but things are always changing. Including our industry. Another non-QM company appears to be exiting: As one AE wrote, echoed by a few others, “Athas Capital Group is shutting down its doors. We will be open for about two more months to fund out our remaining loans in the pipeline. But we are not allowed to submit any newer loans.” For confirmation or details, you should contact Athas Capital or your AE. Certainly the Agencies (namely Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) are always changing, and Chicago is one of six cities (along with Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, and Philadelphia) that are targeted by Fannie Mae for an Equitable Housing Finance Plan. Freddie has a similar plan wi ....