Origination

On Monday, the United States Census Bureau will release its Construction Spending study for February 2017. The report will cover all areas of construction, including single-family residential. The previous study, for January 2017, revealed an increase in single-family construction, both month-over-month and year-over-year. Did this trend of growth continue?

The flipside of the sellers-market economy of 2017 is that sellers looking to buy a new home are running into the same problems as all other buyers. A new study by Redfin shows that two-thirds of sellers are worried about finding a new property once they sell. And low inventories are reeling from the increasing speed of sales.

The majority of the fastest moving market areas can be found in California. The number one hottest market for both March and February was Vallejo-Fairfield, California; followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California. The median age of inventory for these two areas were 33 days and 26 days, respectively, well below the nationwide median. Areas in California make up nine of the Realtor.com’s top 20 hottest markets. Javier Vivas, Manager of Economic Research at Realtor.com, noted the large drops om days on the market, and its indication of a strong spring buying season.

This week, Freddie Mac, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released reports on the state of the mortgage rates. According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates are still in a decline. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell nine basis points this week, another week-over-week decline. But despite the fluctuations in rates, new home sales still managed to exceed expectations jumping 6.1 percent in February to 592,000.

According to a paper released by Fannie Mae on Thursday, educational attainment can increase the likelihood a young adult will buy a home. The paper’s findings showed a decrease in young adult homeownership since the Great Recession, as well as a dip in the likelihood of a 25- to 34-year-old to buy a home.

We sat down with industry veteran Joseph Melendez to learn how changing buyer demographics, technology, and the new administration are shaking things up. Melendez is the CEO of ValueInsured, a down payment protection provider based in Dallas. He has more than three decades in the insurance and financial services industry.

The National Association of Realtor's Pending Home Sales Index showed an increase in pending home sales, the highest inn a year, and second highest in a decade. However, limited inventory continues to dampen the market, especially among homes in the low- and mid-market price range.

Many immigrants struggle to gain homeownership, however, many immigrants who have been here for 10 years or longer, especially those with higher education, are able to find higher paying jobs and buy a home. Over 61 percent of immigrants from travel-ban countries are homeowners, coming close to the domestic-born homeownership rate of 68.8 percent.

Alternative payment records could provide valuable routes to better credit for low-income people, and open up the path to a mortgage. Data from checking accounts rent, telecommunications, and utility accounts could all supplement the negative collections data. The problem is, very few consumer files have these types of data.

The newest addition to FCM will contribute to the development of the overall strategic vision and will lead all marketing, brandings, and advertising activities, with a focus on the customer experience-based Human Mortgage brand.