Start the day with a little something non-mortgage? Ira S. with U.S. Mortgage, on his time off, of course, found “River Runner.” One can basically click anywhere in the United States, and it will tell you, and your kids, where a raindrop will flow to the ocean. (No stories of you stopping at the Continental Divide with your drunk buddies, please!) This is cool technology, as opposed to ads that pop up on my computer from something I bought two years ago online. While on technology, here’s something else that anyone working with builders, or having a new home built, will find interesting: “Three Technologies that Buyers Will Expect from Home Builders in the Future.” Technology helped Zillow, which has never set foot in a house, determine that homes that have a front door that is either black or gray, can increase the home’s value by at least $6,271. (Today’s podcast is available here and is sponsored by Black Knight, providing innovative
Everyone has a story about something they said or asked that they shouldn’t have. “When are you due?” is a good one, as is asking, “When did you turn 60?” when the person is only 55. But forecasters are out in force, saying things about interest rates they may, or may not, regret later. Analysts at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, for example, expect an interest-rate increase likely forthcoming from the Federal Reserve to be less than the widely predicted half-percentage point, noting a quarter point is a better bet. I heard an analyst this morning on the radio saying he believed that the yield on the risk-free 10-year should be up to 2.90 percent! Meanwhile, managers are trying to predict “where the puck is going” in terms of the pandemic and work from home moves. As staffers at financial institutions begin to return to the office in large numbers, there is an increasing trend to allow workers greater choice in the office-remote work balan
Today is “National Pizza Day,” a made-up day that wasn’t around when Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president 45 years ago. Back then the yield on the risk-free 10-year T-note was 7.40 percent and 30-year mortgage rates were 8.75 percent. Rates have bumped lower since 1981, but for the first time since August 2019, the 10-year Treasury yield is nearing 2%, reaching 1.95 percent this week. President Carter had housing on his agenda, and after the presidency went on to do Habitat for Humanity work throughout the United States. Recall that Habitat For Humanity came up with its first-ever 3-D printed house. I mention this because many lenders are concentrating on products to help buyers, and finding those buyers. “Rob, is there a database to determine how many purchase money mortgages were recorded in a specific county/area during a certain time period?” Marina Walsh, MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis, and the MBA is a good source, and she recommended,
While the Northern East Coast digs out from snow, and Southern East Coast is on the lookout for falling iguanas in Florida, how’s this for a clever “out of office” message? “Knock knock. Who’s there? Not me!” I have some real estate agent humor today below, but plenty of real estate agents and builder sales staff are out of the office, as there is less reason for them to man the phones versus 2020. Approximately only 762,000 new homes were sold in 2021. Estimates from the Census Bureau and HUD reveal 2021's sales were 7.3% below the 2020 figure of 822,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 403,000 at the end of December, representing a six-month supply at the current sales rate. Do you think it is just your imagination that active real estate listings are down? Nope. The St. Louis Federal Reserve shows us, in a nice graph, something you can show your real estate agent clients. Numbers are indeed important and c
Overheard in the hallway: “My email got hacked again. That’s now the third time I’ve had to rename the cat.” But there’s a lot of other conversation and session topics here in the hallways at the IMB in Nashville. Discussion about the rapidity of the Federal Reserve’s moves in attempting to combat inflation, and how might those moves actually eventually push rates back down if they dampen the economy. How volume and margin projections for 2022 are changing the minds of lenders, potentially turning them into sellers. The impact of Experian Go: a free, first-of-its-kind program designed to help credit invisibles begin building credit on their own terms. The continuing shift by employees, and the mangers managing them, in hybrid work-from-home arrangements. Trends in signing and retention bonuses. (The STRATMOR Group has a compensation survey, as does the MBA’s Compensation Survey.) Conventional servicing multiples up to 5x1! Conventional f