In February, the National Association of Home Builders released its Blueprint for Appraisal Reform, a thorough examination of the nation’s appraisal system. The blueprint, also known as a white paper, will be used by the NAHB in its advocacy efforts with Congress, regulators and the appraiser community.
But not everyone agrees with what NAHB has to...
With Ed DeMarco set to testify Tuesday — and no doubt facing a grilling by members of the House Financial Services Committee — the guessing game of potential nominees to succeed the current acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency continues with no clear decision in sight.
HousingWire’s Jacob Gaffney posted ...
Redfin revealed its list of the nation’s fastest real estate markets and, not surprisingly, Dallas was fourth on the list.
To establish what is considered a 'fast real estate market,' Redfin defined it as having the most homes going under contract in 24 hours or less.
All I can think when I read this is, ‘thank goodness I don’t live in Phoenix.’
...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is going beyond the regulation of mortgages and has its sights set on overseeing non-bank student loan lenders who may end up causing college graduates to miss other major life milestones—such as taking out a mortgage.
Life is comprised of major milestones: first day of school, graduating college, getting married and buying your first house. However, the graduating college milestone is turning into a roadblock rather than a...
The concept of “housing for one” is a trend we are seeing more and more in the mortgage industry as single Millenials from Generation Y begin entering the marketplace. Also trending for us mortgage originators is that as more couples from other generational groups divorce, leaving one member of the previous relationship to assume or refinance the house under their own name.
These homeowners have unique needs and need mortgages to reflect those...
The Millennials, recently deemed the next generation of homebuyers, have earned a new nickname for themselves: the Fix-It Generation.
According to a national survey released by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, 72% of Millennials (those born between 1982 and 2002) consider themselves just as handy — if not more so — than their parents.
Of those surveyed, 77% would prefer purposeful homes...
You may be of the camp that big banks cannot be aggressively prosecuted because they are too-big-to-fail and will take the rest of America down with them.
On the other hand, you may be someone who sympathizes with protesters on both sides of the aisle who have ranted against the special untouchable legal status that larger institutions seem to benefit from when the risk of drawn out trials and legal measures could disrupt the financial markets.
But the real...
Flashback to 2008 and you may recall the hot summer with skyrocketing gas prices that passed right before the financial markets collapsed.
What has been lost in all the financial news as of late is just how high energy prices soared in 2008, placing extreme pressures on consumers before the meltdown.
Perhaps, high gas prices were not the cause of the crisis, but they certainly put a squeeze on spending, adding to the pain.
It’s easy to forget the...
If there’s one fundamental trait that connects every analysis for the main cause of the financial crisis, it's bad mortgages.
At least, that’s what Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., reiterated — twelve times — in his testimony Wednesday during a hearing on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s "failures" at the U.S. Housing Financial...
With the argument for the short sale all the rage these days, foreclosures are getting a bad name. But according to data from RealtyTrac, in some markets, it really is better to buy a foreclosure.
The year-end report by RealtyTrac released in February revealed a 6% drop in sold foreclosures during the year.
Even further, foreclosure-related sales accounted for 21% of all U.S. residential sales...
