The Federal Reserve met again on July 26th and made the decision to raise interest rates another quarter percent. This decision has significant implications for the real estate industry, particularly for those looking to purchase a home or refinance their current mortgage. In this blog post, we'll discuss what this rate increase means for mortgage rates, provide updates on the current real estate market, and offer advice for buyers and sellers in light of this news.Mortgage RatesWhen the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, as they have done twice this year already, it can have a ripple effect on mortgage rates. Typically, when the Fed raises rates, mortgage rates also increase. This means that if you're in the market for a new home or looking to refinance your current mortgage, your interest rate will likely be higher than it was just a few months ago.However, it's important to remember that mortgage rates are still historically low. Even with the recent rate increases, mortgage rates are still significantly lower than they were before the recession. This means that if you're thinking about buying a home or refinancing, now is still a great time to do so.Real Estate NewsDespite the recent rate increase, the real estate market is still strong. In many areas of the country, home prices are still on the rise and inventory remains tight. This is good news for sellers, as it means that their homes are likely to sell quickly and for a good price.For buyers, however, this can be a challenging market. With low inventory and high demand, it can be difficult to find the perfect home. Buyers may need to be prepared to act quickly when they find a home they like, and may need to be willing to make competitive offers in order to secure the property.Market UpdateOverall, the real estate market remains strong. While there are some signs that the market may be cooling off slightly, particularly in certain high-priced markets such as San Francisco and New York City, the overall trend is still upward. Home prices are still on the rise, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years, and demand remains high.This is good news for sellers, as it means that they are likely to get a good price for their home and to sell relatively quickly. However, it can be challenging for buyers, who may need to be prepared to act quickly and make competitive offers in order to secure the home of their dreams.Advice for Buyers and SellersIf you're thinking about buying a home or selling your current property, there are a few things to keep in mind in light of the recent rate increase. For buyers, it's important to be prepared to act quickly when you find a home you like. This means getting pre-approved for a mortgage, having your finances in order, and being ready to make an offer as soon as you find the right property.For sellers, it's important to price your home appropriately for the current market. While it's tempting to ask for an inflated price, this can actually backfire and cause your home to sit on the market for longer than you'd like. Work with your real estate agent to determine the right price for your property based on local market conditions.Overall, the recent rate increase by the Federal Reserve is a reminder that the real estate market is constantly changing. While it can be challenging to navigate these changes, with the right information and a knowledgeable real estate agent on your side, you can still buy or sell a home with confidence.

Higher borrowing costs across the world took a toll on annual foreign investment in U.S. existing homes last year. Foreign buyers purchased $53.3 billion worth of U.S. existing homes from April 2022 through March 2023, down 9.6% from the previous year, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors. Foreign buyers closed on 84,600 properties, down 14.2% from the prior year. It was the lowest number of homes bought since 2009, when NAR began tracking this data. Overall, U.S. existing-home sales totaled 5.03 million in 2022, down 17.8% from 2021.NAR’s 2023 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate report surveyed members about transactions with international clients who purchased and sold U.S. residential property from April 2022 through March 2023. “Sharply lower housing inventory in the U.S. and higher borrowing costs across the world have dented international buyers for two straight years,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “However, recovering international travel following the end of the pandemic will bring more foreign transactions in coming months and years.”Meanwhile, the foreign buyer median purchase price leaped to $396,400 for an existing home, the highest price ever recorded by NAR. The average price was $639,000, increasing 8.3% compared to the previous year. The increase in prices for foreign buyers reflects the increase in U.S. home prices, as the median sales price for all U.S. existing homes in June was $410,200. Top foreign buyersChina and Canada remained first and second in U.S. residential sales dollar volume at $13.6 billion and $6.6 billion, respectively, a trend that goes back to 2013. Mexico ($4.2 billion), India ($3.4 billion) and Colombia ($0.9 billion) rounded out the top five.In total, 15% percent of foreign buyers purchased properties worth more than $1 million from April 2022 to March 2023.Top destinationFlorida remained the top destination for foreign buyers for the 15th consecutive year, accounting for 23% of all international purchases. California and Texas tied for second (12% each), followed by North Carolina, Arizona and Illinois (4% each).All-cash sales accounted for 42% of international buyer transactions compared to 26% of all existing-home buyers. Meanwhile, non-resident foreign buyers (52%) were more likely to make an all-cash purchase than resident foreign buyers (32%). For a breakdown by nationality, two-thirds of Colombian buyers (67%) made all-cash purchases, the highest share among the top five foreign buyer nations. Approximately half of Canadian (51%) and Chinese (47%) buyers made all-cash purchases. Indian buyers were the least likely to pay all cash, at just 15%.Half of foreign buyers purchased their property for use as a vacation home, rental property, or both – up from 44% the previous year. Also, 76% of international buyers purchased detached, single-family homes.

This year’s HousingWire Women of Influence list recognizes a remarkable group of women in housing who represent the pinnacle of excellence and innovation. These extraordinary women have shattered glass ceilings, defied expectations and carved a path of success through their dedication, expertise and unwavering commitment to transforming the housing landscape. Through their visionary leadership, they have propelled the industry forward, driving change, fostering inclusivity and taking the reigns as female executives in a traditionally male industry.From leading mortgage companies and real estate firms to spearheading groundbreaking initiatives and driving policy reforms, these honorees are making an indelible impact on housing. Their collective expertise spans the entire spectrum of the sector, encompassing areas such as lending, tech, real estate, appraisal, compliance, operations, sales and so much more.The following list of honorees comprises many more examples of exceptional leadership from some of the industry’s most accomplished women. Congratulations to the 2023 Women of Influence winners. Name Job Title Company Name Agnes Standowicz Senior Vice President and Head of Underwriting United Wholesale Mortgage Alayna Gardner Director of Sales and Marketing LodeStar Software Solutions Ali Haralson President Auction.com Amanda Tucker Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Atlantic Bay Mortgage Company Amy Gromowski Executive of Science and Analytics CoreLogic Andria Thomas Head of Product FinLocker Arlyn Kalinski SVP, Fair & Equitable Lending Strategies Guaranteed Rate Ashley Terrell Chief Revenue Officer Milestones Brooke Carillo Chief Financial Officer Redwood Trust Candice McNaught Senior Vice President of National Sales Supreme Lending Carrie Gusmus President and CEO Aslan Home Lending Corporation Cindy Ariosa Chair, Board of Directors Bright MLS Courtney Poulos Broker, Founder and CEO ACME Real Estate Cristy Conolly Executive Vice President of Appraisal Modernization Class Valuation Dawn Svedberg Vice President, Director of Customer Success and Head of Fintech Product Sales Tavant Dr. Lesli Gooch CEO Manufactured Housing Institute Dr. Maneesha Asundi Senior Principal IT Product Manager Mr. Cooper Elly Cummings Divisional Senior Vice President, Great Lakes and South Florida New American Funding Eloise Schmitz Co-founder and CEO LoanNEX Erika Franks President ACT Appraisal Felecia Bowers Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance and Servicing Homeowners Financial Group Georgia Perez Chief Growth Officer LiveEasy Heidi Mason Executive Vice President and General Counsel Freddie Mac Ines Hegedus-Garcia Chairman of the Board MIAMI Association of Realtors Irene Wahl Vice President of Quality Assurance American Financial Resources Jan Davis Vice President of Operations MISMO Janet Jozwik Senior Managing Director and Head of Product RiskSpan Jenna Evans Executive Vice President, Deputy Counsel, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Ocwen Financial Corp. Jennifer McGuinness CEO Pivot Finance Jennifer Vallinayagam Chief Operating Officer Sun West Mortgage Company Jennifer Battista President of Operations and Insurance, Title – Settlement Services Anywhere Integrated Services Jennifer Lind Regional President, West Coldwell Banker Realty Jessica Sturm Executive Vice President Opteon Jillian White CEO and Founder Appraisal Insights Julia Curran Senior Director Product Design SitusAMC Kamini Lane President and CEO Coldwell Banker Realty Karen Starns CEO OJO Canada Katharine Loveland CEO Volly Kathleen Pagliaro Vice President of Capital Markets – Credit Risk Fannie Mae Kathy Randich Area Manager Academy Mortgage Corporation Kathy Baker Executive Vice President of Learning Realty ONE Group Katie Sweeney Chairman and CEO AIME Kellie Allen Vice President of Production Synergy One Lending Kelly Kennedy Mack President Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group Kim Harland Senior Vice President and Regional Manager PrimeLending Kim Krick Vice President of Wholesale East Freedom Mortgage KimArie Yowell Chief Learning and Diversity Officer Rocket Companies Kimberly Hare President Fay Servicing Lana Izgarsheva Chief Operating and Compliance Officer A&D Mortgage Laura O'Connor President and Chief Operating Officer JPAR Real Estate Franchising Laura Brandao Chief Strategy Officer and Partner Equity Prime Mortgage Laura Lee Senior Vice President and General Auditor Freddie Mac Lauren Trevathan Chief of Staff ATTOM Liz Gehringer President and CEO, Anywhere Franchise Brands Anywhere Real Estate Lora Helt Chief Growth Officer BOSSCAT Loran Coleman Vice President of Brokerage Operations for the East U.S. eXp Realty Lysette Bailey Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer Common Securitization Solutions Madhavi Vellore Senior Vice President of Technical Product Management Mr Cooper Marcia Kaufman CEO Bayport Funding Maria Moskver CEO Cloudvirga Maria Gallucci Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary Freedom Mortgage Marianne Sullivan Chief Operating Officer Sagent Marilyn Wright Broker Premiere Sotheby’s International Real Estate Meghan Bartholomew Radian Executive Vice President of Credit and Counterparty Risk Management Melissa Peregord Chief Growth Officer QC Ally Michelle Anderson Senior Vice President of Client and Investor Relations LoanCare Michelle Post Retail Market Manager Sierra Pacific Mortgage Mosi Gatling Sales Manager loanDepot Nancy Alley Vice President of Product Strategy ICE Mortgage Technology Nomi Smith CEO PMI Rate Pro Odeta Kushi Deputy Chief Economist First American Patty Arvielo Co-Founder and CEO New American Funding Rachel Cunningham Vice President of Customer Success TrustEngine Rachel Beam Director of Collateral Policy and Equity Fannie Mae Raveen Phifer Business Development Manager ValueLink Software Rayman Mathoda CEO Anchor Loans Robin Clayton Director of Digital Lending and Marketing Paramount Residential Mortgage Group Rola Gurrieri Chief Fulfillment Officer Guaranteed Rate Roxana Davidoff CEO Big Purple Dot Samantha Giuggio Chief Operations Officer Fathom Realty Sandra Madigan Chief Digital Officer Black Knight Sara Knochel CEO of Data and Analytics Candor Technology Sarah Middleton Chief Growth Officer Movement Mortgage Sasha Stair Senior Director of Customer Success Snapdocs Shawna Hernandez Chief Operating Officer Endpoint Shelby Washington Vice President and General Manager of Growth Businesses Divvy Homes Shelley Leonard President Xactus Stacy Speas Senior Vice President of Loan Servicing Cornerstone Servicing Stephanie Casper Chief Revenue Officer Kiavi Stephenie Flood Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Operations RE/MAX Gold Nation Susan Connally Managing Director of Servicing Solutions The Oakleaf Group Susan Falsetti Managing Director of Origination Title and Close ServiceLink Susan Portnoy Senior Vice President of Product and Enterprise Operations LERETA Tai Christensen Co-Founder and Chief Diversity Officer Arrive Home Tamra Rieger President Evergreen Home Loans Tanya Reu-Narvaez Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Anywhere Real Estate Telle VanTrojen Partner and Chief Operations Officer Geneva Financial Home Loans Vanessa Famulener President of HomeLight Homes HomeLight Victoria Garcia DeLuca Vice President of Marketplace Diversity Strategy Guild Mortgage

Brena Nath, Director of HW+ and EventsLeading up to this issue, I’ve been building the Women of Influence panels for October’s HousingWire Annual in Austin, Texas. One of my biggest takeaways in planning and hosting dedicated Women of Influence sessions at our flag-ship event is that these sessions are for every-one. And, reading through this year’s esteemed list of women explains why.I first want to recognize and congratulate those who made the 2023 list. Your achievements and leadership momentum in 2022 and 2023 not only caught our attention, but also the attention of the industry as a whole. You are joining the ranks of women who have gone on to lead housing at the national level , work as CEOs and serve as chairs of associations and boards. These women are leaving a mark in housing.This is also why we’re excited to bring our Women of Influence honorees, and really everyone in the industry, together for HW Annual on October 10-12. As presidents, CEOs and leaders at some of the biggest organizations, these women wield an incredible amount of advice, insight and knowledge that applies to anyone growing their career or their business. Their talks will focus on the importance of giving yourself permission to not know everything and navigating your career in a down market.I hope to see you there!

Dallas, Texas-based Mr. Cooper Group on Tuesday announced it has completed the acquisitions of Home Point Capital and Roosevelt Management Company. With the deals, Mr. Cooper has moved closer to its $1 trillion mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio target. Mr. Cooper concluded on Monday a tender offer for Home Point’s outstanding shares after extending the deadline twice. According to Equiniti Trust Company, the depository and paying agent for the tender offer, 136,532,192 shares of Home Point were tendered and not validly withdrawn (98.5% of the total). Mr. Cooper paid $2.333 per share. “This acquisition adds scale to our platform, bringing us closer to our $1 trillion strategic target while enhancing returns due to attractive yields and positive operating leverage,” Jay Bray, Mr. Cooper’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.The deal – which will result in Homepoint becoming a wholly subsidiary of Mr. Cooper – was first announced in May and was expected to close in the third quarter of 2023. Mr. Cooper is paying $324 million in cash and assuming $500 million in outstanding Home Point 5% senior notes due in February 2026. “The transaction includes the assumption of $500 million in bonds with an attractive rate, and as a result, we do not expect the acquisition to have a material impact on the company’s liquidity, which remains at robust and near-record levels,” Chris Marshall, Mr. Cooper’s vice chairman and president, said in a statement. Also on Tuesday Mr. Cooper announced it completed the acquisition of Roosevelt and its affiliated subsidiaries, which include a registered investment advisor and licensed mortgage servicing rights (MSR) owner. The expectation was that the deal would close in the second half of 2023. The deal was announced in February. The private New York-based company, founded in 2008, manages third-party capital on behalf of insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds and other investors. “We continue to see significant volumes of MSRs trading in the marketplace with attractive yields. Our asset management strategy is designed to make these yields available to institutional investors while continuing to grow our customer base and operational scale,” Marshall said. Mr. Cooper ended June with $882 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB), compared to $853 billion at the end of March, according to its second-quarter 2023 earnings released last week. The servicing portfolio grew because of Rushmore’s special servicing platform acquisition. But other deals may bring the servicing portfolio to $957 billion, including $83 billion from the acquisition of Home Point Capital and $25 billion in pending bulk acquisitions. 

Today I’m going to focus on home prices around the country. How much will home prices climb over the next year? All year, the strength of homebuyer demand and the tight supply of homes for sale has meant that the market pretty rapidly found a floor on the home-price correction of 2022. Even as mortgage rates rose, and affordability was pushed out of reach for many potential homebuyers, there are still sufficient buyers who can afford these prices and these rates. The number of buyers has been surprising. If you were looking at the market in the fall of 2022, you would have expected home prices to continue to fall further in 2023. That’s what I was expecting. But, the price correction stopped right after December 2022. In July 2022, we talked about how it looked like home prices would be flat at best over the next year. After the mortgage rate spike in September 2022, we got significantly more bearish on home prices for 2023. That bearishness from late last year has reversed. Demand picked up this year and home prices stabilized.So now the question is: What do we know for the next year? Zillow released a report that said they expect 6% home price gains for next year. If you haven’t been paying close attention to the data, that might seem shocking. So today we’ll look at the current price trends and the leading indicators to see if we can make some sense of where that comes from and what we can see already for 2024.PricesThe leading indicators point to home prices at flat to slightly higher for the next 12 months. If mortgage rates decline say into the 5% range by next spring, I’d expect home prices to maybe appreciate 5% in that time. If mortgage rates stay near 7%, it seems hard for home prices to climb that much. If mortgage rates increase to the 7.5% or 8% range, then there is definitely downside risk for home prices. At Altos Research we do not forecast mortgage rates. But the forecasters we respect still seem to agree that rates have probably peaked and will be declining. That implies the higher end of our price forecast is likely.Home prices now are essentially unchanged from 2022. It turns out that’s exactly what we estimated in July 2022 — that they’d be flat at best by this summer. That was coming off two previous years of 12-15% annual price gains. The path from 2022 to 2023 had a bigger crash and a faster recovery than I foresaw, so part of being right in that prediction was probably pure luck. Nonetheless, the median price of single-family homes in the U.S. is $450,000. This is the median asking price, and it’s exactly flat from last year. That price is unchanged from the last few weeks. We like the median list price as a measure of the market better than the traditional view of median sales price because these are the homes you actually have to choose from if you walk into the market today. If you’re shopping for a home today, then the median price is $450,000.The median price of the new listings this week is $399,900. That’s also at the same $400,000 level as in 2022 at this time. As the summer progresses, each subsequent week of new listings gets priced at a slight discount to the previous weeks. In August and September, the data will show if the discounts this year stay in line with the discounts for next year. Late in summer 2022 was when there were big mortgage rate spikes, a steep decline in buyer demand and quick discounts for the homes that were on the market. In the light red line of the chart, you can see how the seasonal discounting definitely accelerated in 2022. I think we’ll end the year with this leading indicator moving from flat to positive over 2022, meaning we’re set up for mild home price appreciation in 2023.So our forecast for next year: Home prices are flat last year, but the annual comparisons get easier. By this time next year, home prices will be flat to slightly up over 2023.The next step in investigating the home price leading indicators is to look at the pending sales data. The median price of the homes in contract is $385,000. That number is unchanged from last week and almost 3% higher than a year ago. It is interesting that $385,000 this week is the high point for prices of the pending home sales for the year. Home prices peaked overall in June 2022 at just under $389,000. We didn’t re-reach that peak. Maybe we’ll pass it in 2024.When we look at the total pace of sales, you can see that we’re still running at 10% less than last year. We started 2023 with 30% fewer home sales than in 2022. There are now 376,000 single-family homes in contract. In 2022 there were 418,000. You can see the gap from last year was narrowing. The dark red line has been approaching the light red curve of the pace from 2022. This year’s pace of sales recovery got derailed a bit in June when mortgage rates jumped from 6% to closer to 7%. Mortgage rates have stayed elevated. We can see a slight slowdown in this year’s recovery when rates reach 7%. Home sales slowed down dramatically after September 2022, but we’ll see if this year our pace holds. Maybe by Q4, we’ll have more homes in contract than there were at the end of 2022. When you look at just the new sales each week, you can see how the pace of the market has recovered. The count of new contracts this week was just over 68,000 single-family homes. That’s still low, but the data has caught up with last year when the number of homes in contract was falling. See the last few weeks how the sales rate has been tracking just about the same as  in 2022? Both lines indicate about 70,000 contracts. This is after significantly fewer sales all year long. 68,000 homes went into contract this week, while last year’s end of July saw 67,000 new pending sales for single-family homes. Early 2022 sales were still carrying pandemic demand. That demand shifted in July 2022, so the new sales volume each week is now an easier comparison and we’re at the transition point where the sale rate starts to overtake the prior year. This trend is why we’ve called it a soft landing for the housing market. Prices are flat year over year and the sales rate is not falling, it may be starting to increase. Inventory As a result, the seasonal inventory build is slow and on a normal cycle. There are 485,000 single-family homes on the market in the U.S. That’s up 1% from last week and is 10% fewer than in 2022 at this time. Inventory growth seems to have a few more weeks to go. Inventory will probably peak at the end of August like it did in 2021. In many years, the last week of July is the peak of inventory — like this week — but the data hasn’t shown a plateau yet so I expect we have a few more weeks of inventory growth. There are 50% fewer homes on the market now than there were in 2019. When you want to look at home prices in the future it’s helpful to look at inventory levels now. Specifically, examine the year-over-year change in inventory to project home price changes another year out in the future. When inventory falls from last year, that means demand is greater than supply and therefore there is sufficient demand to push prices higher. Conversely, when inventory is up year over year, that implies demand is less than supply and prices will be more likely to decline another year out. During the GFC, inventory rose in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Home prices declined subsequently. But since then demand has reversed, we were buying more homes than were available and inventory declined most years in the past decade. Mortgage rates rose during 2018 which tempered demand. By early 2019, there was more available inventory of unsold single-family homes. That shift in demand that is first evident in inventory is a year later evident in home prices. By early 2020, home prices were flat from the year earlier. It took the incredible shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic to turn 2020 into such a roaring year of home price growth. In 2022, as it became clear that inventory was growing dramatically, we could see demand from buyers slowing in a bunch of metrics in the real estate market. That’s why we were able to foresee this year’s home prices would be down. Which they have been until right about now. Inventory is now 10% below this point a year ago. That tells us the housing market has more demand by buyers than supply from sellers. That dynamic helps us forecast that home prices will have upward pressure over the next year. Inventory is a leading indicator for home prices for about 12 months in the future. Price reductions are a more immediate leading indicator for home prices. When the supply of homes for sale rises and demand does not, the homes on the market have to take a price cut. There are always homes on the market with price reductions. As a rule of thumb, about one-third take a price cut before they sell. When the market is hot, fewer than a third need to cut prices. When the market cools, more than one-third start cutting their asking price to find the demand. Right now, 34.1% of the single-family homes on the market have taken a price cut. Price cuts climb in late summer, so this rate is perfectly seasonal. You can see how the dark red line in the chart is in line with many other years. In 2022, the light red line was rising incredibly quickly. That indicated home price declines to start 2023 which is exactly what we saw.The takeaway with the price reductions leading indicator is that we can see plenty of demand to keep a floor on home prices. Sellers are in much better shape than they were last year. This means that the homes on the market now are priced well, they have buyers, and therefore we already know that the sales that complete in August and September have price support. Home prices are not falling even though mortgage rates are high. There are plenty of buyers who can afford to buy.However, 34% price reductions is not low. It’s not a hot market. Demand is obviously way down from the COVID-19 pandemic frenzy. So there’s nothing in the data that says home prices are surging from here. There’s nothing in the data that makes me particularly bullish on home prices. The real estate market is much more balanced than it has been in many recent years.  When you see a forecast from a firm for example saying that home prices will climb 6% in the next year, I would presume that forecast includes assumptions that we avoid recession and that mortgage rates slide down from 7% to below 6%. When mortgage rates fall, that spurs demand, but not supply. Inventory will fall, buyers emerge and home prices will rise. At Altos we don’t forecast recessions or mortgage rates, so when we talk about our expectations for home prices in the coming year. We’re looking at the very direct data that’s already in the bag right now.More next week.Mike Simonsen is the founder of Altos Research

Chime Technologies, a real estate tech innovator based in Phoenix, Arizona, has recently integrated ChatGPT functionality into its platform to streamline content creation for real estate marketing and communications. This integration marks a significant step towards enhancing the platform’s generative AI capabilities.Chime has been using Google’s machine learning algorithm to power its intuitive chatbot AI Assistant for the past five years. With the addition of ChatGPT, Chime aims to boost efficiency and productivity for real estate agents by automating content generation, idea generation, and content editing processes.The key features of the new ChatGPT functionality include auto-generated content for individual and mass communications via email and text, as well as for marketing communications such as blogs and social media posts. The platform also offers a library of templated, popular prompts, and the flexibility to create bespoke prompts based on specific customer needs.By integrating ChatGPT, Chime aims to address the time pressures faced by real estate agents in identifying, nurturing, and converting leads. The AI-driven content creation helps agents focus on providing a more personalized and human touch in the real estate process. It ensures that agents can engage their database with relevant and meaningful content, ultimately fueling the pipeline with sales-ready leads.This content was generated using AI and was edited by HousingWire’s editors.

Finding a dream home for your buyers can be difficult in a market plagued by low inventory and high demand. So what do you do when your buyers include more than a couple looking for their starter home or a growing family looking to raise their children? Throwing grandparents, adult siblings or in-laws into the mix can create a daunting challenge for real estate agents. A recent report by Rocket Mortgage broke down the increasing trend in multigenerational living, so the next time you work with multi-generational buyers, you’ll have all the tools you need to find them the unique home that works for their family. The report from Rocket says, “In the last five decades, the number of Americans living with multiple generations under one roof has quadrupled, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 59 million people live in multigenerational households or a home that includes two or more adult generations.”Most multigenerational households are using this living situation to save money. A few report living with family for child care or senior care. Regardless of the motivation, the most common multigenerational living arrangement is a combination of parents and adult children. Top of mind for these buyers is finding the balance between privacy and the joys of spending time with family. Privacy Key home features that could appeal to multigenerational buyers who value privacy could include: Basement apartment layoutsOn suite bathroomsSeparate office spaces“26.4% of respondents said privacy concerns are common,” the report said. Mitigating privacy concerns will often mean finding larger properties that can accommodate more family members. Common SpacesUnlike younger respondents, 30% of the older, parental adults surveyed said, “The greatest advantage of living in a multigenerational home is the increased time spent with their family. Parental adults are more likely to experience positive improvement with their mental health.” Common spaces that can provide family time that is important to older adults could include:Outdoor living spacesOpen-concept main floorsBasement or attic rec areasWhen working with the increasingly popular multigenerational homebuyer, keep these two key factors in mind. These buyers have needs that may differ from the standard homebuyer, but finding their dream home is possible!

The Schmidt Family of Companies, the parent company of Coldwell Banker Premier Properties, has announced its market expansion in Florida through the strategic acquisition of a sales office in Palm Coast.The acquisition involves the Palm Coast office from Coldwell Banker Realty in Florida. Situated in the Hammock Beach Resort, the office currently comprises approximately 40 independent real estate agents. The newly acquired oceanfront Palm Coast office will operate alongside the existing Coldwell Banker Palm Coast office, both falling under Coldwell Banker Premier Properties. The Schmidt Family of Companies brand maintains over 90 Coldwell Banker offices across Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Michigan, and northeast Ohio.Steve Carr, Region President of Florida operations for the Schmidt Family of Companies, expressed the company’s goal of expanding further into Florida and the strategic rationale behind the acquisition, considering the complementary nature of the offices and shared culture.Mike Schmidt, Chairman, and CEO of the Schmidt Family of Companies highlighted the company’s growth-oriented approach and commitment to providing top-quality service to clients while empowering agents and brokers.Gregg Hade, Regional Vice President of Coldwell Banker Realty for central Florida, expressed confidence in the office’s continued success under the leadership of the Schmidt Family of Companies and Coldwell Banker Premier Properties. He emphasized the collaboration and strength of the Coldwell Banker brand network.Coldwell Banker Premier Properties will begin immediate operations at the Palm Coast office located at 1 Hammock Beach Pkwy.This content was generated using AI and was edited by HousingWire’s editors.

When the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to zero on March 15, 2020 and set off an extraordinary real estate boom, Rocket Mortgage was ready. The Detroit-based lender’s unmatched combination of name recognition, digital infrastructure and consumer technology enabled it to originate more than $670 billion in mortgages in 2020 and 2021, smashing records in the process. Its parent Rocket Companies rode the wave to a stunning $9.4 billion in profit in 2020 and $6.1 billion in 2021. But more than 80% of Rocket’s volume during those years came from refinancings, data from Inside Mortgage Finance (IMF) showed. Its centralized call center business model, which Rocket relied upon to dominate an unprecedented refi market, isn’t as durable when interest rates are high, there are few refi opportunities and having strong relationships with real estate agents is what brings home the bacon. And Rocket is well aware. The lender made focused efforts to target the purchase market in 2021 and set up dedicated teams to cultivate relationships with real estate agents. Coming off multiple quarters of financial losses, Rocket has accelerated those efforts in 2023, embarking on a remote local loan officer hiring spree designed to capture purchase market business from real estate agent connections, sources told HousingWire. It’s not yet clear whether this represents a change in its business model or what level of resources Rocket intends to devote to grow this revenue line. Against the backdrop of rising rates, Rocket Companies has been betting big on the strength of its platform. Its announcement of a new CEO Varun Krishna — a veteran in the financial technology world who held executive positions at Intuit and Paypal, confirms that Rocket is fully committed to becoming a fintech company.“What is clear here is that their long-held view that when rates went up, they could simply change their focus to purchase mortgages is not holding up. Because in a purchase volume environment we’re in now, local originators have a distinct advantage over call center, centralized originators,” said Brian Hale, CEO of industry consulting firm Mortgage Advisory Partners. To gain insight into how Rocket plans to strengthen its local presence to capture purchase volume, HousingWire spoke to more than a dozen former Rocket employees, current retail loan officers and mortgage brokers who have been contacted by Rocket recruiters to join its local initiative. Rocket declined to answer HousingWire’s questions about the company’s efforts to strengthen its local presence; it noted in a statement that its hiring of remote mortgage bankers is not new.Shift in internal messaging, recruiting high-producing LOs There’s no doubt that Rocket’s model works exceptionally well when the environment is heavy refi. But it’s not as successful in a purchase market, a former president’s club account executive explained in an interview with HousingWire.“In the purchase market, there are a lot of times people want that more personal touch, you need to be developing relationships with Realtors, and that can be much more difficult to do at scale,” he said.It was around late 2020, early 2021 when executives started emphasizing the need to target the purchase market, according to multiple former Rocket employees, including former mortgage bankers, an account executive and a senior recruiter.Rocket tried different tactics to increase its purchase market share, including setting up teams that focused on cultivating relationships with real estate agents in 2021.Also in 2021, Rocket decided it needed to have some loan officers on the ground who are in close contact with real estate agents. According to a former senior recruiter, it was in the summer of 2021 that the lender started the “executive local loan officer program.” “The executive loan officer or the local loan officer program was not on the radar [when refis were booming], like even discussed or like a kind of a dream child project yet, I think that it became very reactionary to what was going on in the market,” a former senior recruiter said.With the mortgage market declining 70% year over year, the plan gained traction in early 2023. Rocket is currently recruiting remote local loan officers who have a minimum of three years of experience in mortgage loan origination, active NMLS and state licenses and a “proven track record generating organic referrals from your network that results in closing,” according to job postings on LinkedIn and Rocket’s careers website. The LOs are to be based in the West, Southeast and Northeast regions of the country. Job postings show that it is hiring remote executive loan officers in more than 30 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Florida, Tennessee and Washington as of July 31. The former senior recruiter trained other recruiters on how to reach out to high-producing, licensed loan officers before leaving Rocket in August 2022.Rocket pulled data to see who had “volume underneath them because they wanted people that are already doing well in the marketplace,” the former recruiter said. Messages were intentionally kept generic – not throwing too much out there but enough of a bait to get someone interested.“‘We just want to see if there’s maybe an opportunity to have you come work for us’ is what the recruiter told me,” Shane Kidwell, CEO of Dwell Mortgage, said in an interview with HousingWire in June. “I was told by the recruiter this division – Rocket retail started a year ago. So this isn’t brand new,” Kidwell noted. HousingWire reviewed voice messages and transcripts of phone conversations between Rocket and mortgage brokers and retail loan officers. Those messages commonly said “Rocket Mortgage is going local” and that it was a different division than its consumer-direct model. In December of 2022, Rocket said it would pay 40 bps on a Rocket lead, 115 bps on a self-generated lead and a $36,000 base salary for a local executive loan officer, according to the former senior recruiter.A mortgage broker who was contacted by a Rocket recruiter in June said Rocket would provide 37 bps on Rocket-generated loans, 97 bps for self-generated leads and $7,000 per loan.The comp structure “was lower than some places but the executive loan officers were provided the marketing materials, the brand of Rocket,” the former senior recruiter said. “They [positioned] it as we’re able to pay you a little less because of the value that we provide as the No. 1 lender.” While HousingWire was unable to confirm the size of the executive loan officer program, a mortgage banker who was recently hired by Rocket said he was told roughly 150 loan officers had joined as of late June.That mortgage banker is tapping into his existing real estate agent networks while leveraging Rocket’s brand name recognition with consumers.“It’s the branding that Rocket has. When you tell someone you’re going to Rocket, everybody knows who Rocket is,” the mortgage banker said. “With my previous employer, they didn’t have as much [name recognition]. (…) I’m still working with all of the real estate agents that I was working with in the past.” Another benefit for remote LOs in Rocket’s executive local loan officer program is the dedicated support staff.Remote LOs send their loans to a dedicated team of processors and underwriters who exclusively handle executive loan officers’ loans, the banker told HousingWire.And purchase loans are coming from markets across the country.“I don’t think that there’s anywhere that they’re not focused on,” the newly hired banker told HousingWire. “I think it’s everywhere, just trying to create a presence literally in every market.”Rocket declined to speak to HousingWire about its efforts to expand its local presence. In a prepared statement, a spokesperson said, “The country’s best mortgage bankers can’t always work out of one of its offices in Detroit, Cleveland or Phoenix, but that doesn’t keep them from working with Rocket and having the backing and support of the nation’s largest and most respected lender.”“Many of Rocket Mortgage’s remote mortgage bankers work out of their homes, while some have desk-share agreements in real estate offices or use co-working spaces,” Rocket’s spokesperson added. Possible channel conflicts for Rocket? Prior to Rocket’s accelerated local initiative, its origination business came entirely from its direct-to-consumer centralized model and its Pro TPO division – its conduit to mortgage brokers and historically a stronger source of purchase business.“But now, there is potential that Rocket local loan officers are going after the same geography as the brokers who are also forwarding business to Rocket,” Warren Kornfeld, senior vice president of the financial institutions group at Moody’s Investors Service, said.As is true for other lenders operating in multiple channels, Rocket needs to manage potential conflicts between its broker and remote local loan officer channels.It has always had multiple broker partners in the same neighborhood competing with one another, so from their perspective nothing has changed, Rocket said.“If a broker is working with a client and that client has had a relationship or a conversation with Rocket retail, Rocket retail stands down and its broker partner continues with the transaction as part of the commitment to the broker community,” Mike Fawaz, executive vice president at Rocket Pro TPO, said in an interview with HousingWire in early June.However, Rocket’s “apparent strategy to build out a retail channel” will create channel conflict stemming from different pricing strategies in its TPO and retail channel, Rick Roque, vice president of CrossCountry Mortgage and an industry consultant on partnerships and retail acquisitions. “What will happen is their internal operations will either better serve their wholesale or their retail platforms, it won’t better serve both. So there will be service-level challenges operationally. There will be conflict, internally and externally. And so you just create service-level challenges for the consumer,” Roque said.Challenges of offering different pricing and services would hardly be unique to Rocket. There are plenty of other lenders that also offer different services through different channels, including Caliber/Newrez and Pennymac, both of which work in retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.Even within the same company, retail loan officers can offer different loan pricing than their colleagues depending on their production volume.As to how to solve the broker versus local LOs conflicts?“I guess it’s with communication and geographic areas, and how they are going to do two businesses together. It’s one of those things that all companies say about cannibalizing a certain business. And what’s the tipping point when you go and do that? You don’t want to do it too fast, you don’t want to do it too slow. So, it’s a balancing act,” said Kornfield.Will going local be enough to move the needle?“A Realtor had a listing, I think he had like eight or 10 offers on the house. None of the loan officers called to introduce themselves to the listing agent except for Rocket Mortgage, which is very unusual,” Brian Parkinson, a mortgage banker at Alerus Mortgage, said.Parkinson said he believed that it was one of the local Rocket LOs who closed the deal, which indicates that “they are clearly making a shift as they have to with no refi business.”These are the kinds of proactive moves Rocket wants to see from the local loan officers they’ve hired.Rocket is making progress in its transition from refi to purchase, the data shows. By the end of 2021, less than 20% of Rocket’s production came from purchase mortgages, according to IMF. Fast forward to this year, and Rocket’s share of purchase business jumped to 55% in the first three months of 2023. Purchase volume in the first quarter came in at $9.4 billion, good for third overall on IMF’s rankings. But Rocket’s purchase gains haven’t kept pace with its rivals. United Wholesale Mortgage, which surpassed it as the top mortgage lender in America in Q3 2022, originated $19.2 billion in purchase mortgages (86% of its originations) in the first quarter of 2023. To boot, the average purchase mix for the top-50 mortgage lenders in America in the first quarter was 84.7%, nearly 30 percentage points higher than Rocket.What Rocket does have is nearly unlimited resources. If the lender wants to dramatically increase its purchase business through recruitment or other means, it has more dry powder than any rival independent mortgage bank.As of Q1 2023, Rocket reported $8.1 billion in liquidity — including $900 million in cash. The cost of originating the next loan is also quite low for Rocket – a lot of the underwriting and processing goes through technology and the main cost comes down to individual workers, according to Kornfeld. “The company has enormous unused capacity and unbelievable operating leverage(…) The company wants to drive as much volume efficiently through their machine,” Kornfeld noted.Another advantage to investing in local LOs is that retail originated loans have a higher gain-on-sale margin compared to the wholesale channel and the lender owns the customer relationship, Kornfeld said. “In retail originated loans, [lenders] own the customer. So, when that homeowner has other financing needs, they’ll come, hopefully, if you’ve done a good job, to you whether they’re buying a new property or whether they are refinancing their existing property,” Kornfeld noted.Rocket – a company with 8,236 sponsored MLOs according to the NMLS as of July 31 – would need to hire hundreds of loan officers to be a meaningful player in non-consumer direct retail lending, experts said. And the lender has not made any indication in its SEC filings that it is pursuing a new, distributed sales strategy.As with every other lender in America, Rocket may still be figuring out how to adapt to the high-rate environment, even if it means going against the grain of what they’ve done for decades — relying on direct-to-consumer business and mortgage brokers. Given that Rocket’s purchase mortgage market share improved marginally to 3.8% in Q1 2023 from 3.5% at the end of 2021, it would appear that the mortgage lender is simply testing the waters. By comparison, UWM almost doubled its purchase mortgage market share to 7.7% in Q1 2023 from 4.7% at the end of 2021. Analysts are split as to whether Rocket has shifted its strategy to go after the purchase market.Rocket hiring local loan officers is considered “incremental at best as it is not a big enough component to be classified as a change in strategy or a new division,” said Shampa Bhattacharya, senior director at Fitch Ratings.“If they were to grow it significantly and quickly and/or bolt on an acquisition, we would pay more attention to what it might mean for their profile.”But it does seem like a “slight shift in strategy” from what they’re doing and it would appear that they’re maybe more focused on being able to drive purchase origination by themselves as opposed to relying on third parties, said Kevin Barker, managing director at Piper Sandler. “Rocket is attempting to adjust to the market dynamics, given that they were so sensitive to refinance originations with their call center operations, and ultimately, the purchase market is dominated by access to Realtors, which requires a more distributed sales force,” Barker said.If Rocket’s going-local strategy is ultimately successful, “it could have a big impact on the market,” Kornfield said. Transitioning meaningfully from the direct-to-consumer channel and a broker strategy to an in-house local loan officer tactic would take time. “I think they could (be successful). It takes a long time to build up the relationships on a national level,” Barker said.

It reflects a contemporary design style that has been widely adopted in the community.

Parental controls is another area where technology can assist, especially with the youngest children, and where Acree said he is getting more requests.

Parental controls is another area where technology can assist, especially with the youngest children, and where Acree said he is getting more requests.

Flagstar Bank, a top-25 U.S. mortgage lender, has long described itself as a “one-stop mortgage shop.” Flagstar made news in recent months, expanding its footprint and further diversifying its business model with the completion of the merger with New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) and the acquisition of certain financially and strategically complementary parts of Signature Bank.But it has built its reputation on its expertise in mortgage. So what exactly is a “one-stop mortgage shop?”“We can do everything, whatever it is you need,” said Lee M. Smith, senior executive vice president and president of mortgage at Flagstar. “From a mortgage point of view, you can come to Flagstar and we can take care of you.”“Flagstar is an originator and servicer that also provides financing solutions through its warehouse and MSR lending businesses,” Smith said. “We can buy loans, sell loans, buy mortgage servicing rights, sell mortgage servicing rights, and we have our own residential mortgage-backed securities capabilities. And now, thanks to our acquisitions from Signature, we also can offer cash and treasury management services that focus on mortgage clients and businesses.”The bank serves both business-to-business and business-to-consumer clientele. On the origination side, Flagstar originates in all six delivery channels — broker, delegated correspondent, non-delegated correspondent, bulk, distributed retail and direct-to-consumer.“It doesn’t matter whether you’re the biggest hedge fund in the country investing in mortgage assets, a third-party originator or you’re an individual borrower looking for a mortgage, you come to Flagstar, and we can take good care of you,” Smith said.Flagstar has been around for more than 35 years and has always focused on mortgage, even as it grew its banking and commercial business. If anything, it’s only doubled down on its commitment to the mortgage industry now that it’s a much bigger bank.“If you think of all of the challenges that an institution like Flagstar has seen — that we’ve navigated through all those cycles and have always been there for our business partners, it’s remarkable,” said John Gibson, senior vice president and national sales director of wholesale and correspondent lending for Flagstar. “Our partners have always known they can count on us. We’ve never exited a channel — we’re the only bank that’s actually stayed in the broker space throughout all those years and still continues to grow in that space.”Recent growthSpeaking of growth, the merger of NYCB and Flagstar, and the addition of the businesses that came with Signature, has created a $124 billion-dollar-bank. The three companies coming together have very little overlap and work well together, according to Smith.“If you think of Flagstar bringing a unique commercial banking and mortgage expertise, New York Community Bank with its multifamily expertise and Signature Bank with its private client group and its expertise in dealing with high net worth customers, it’s a very complementary business model,” he said.Another result, Smith said, is a strengthening of the liability side of the balance sheet given the much more diversified and stronger deposit mix which has resulted in the combined companies having a loan-to-deposit ratio that’s now less than 90%.Now, with the three companies under one Flagstar-branded umbrella, the bank can offer its clients an even larger array of products and services.“We’ve got more capital and more firepower [so] we’re able to do more with our existing clients,” Smith said. “The good news is, you’ve got three organizations whose values and cultures [align] and everybody’s working together to make it as seamless as possible for our customers while increasing the number of service offerings available to them.”Helping partners succeedEven with all the growth, mortgage remains a fundamental and very important vertical of Flagstar. The organization continues to focus on helping its mortgage business partners succeed. Gibson highlighted a few ways the bank helps support its clients.First, the bank has several support systems for its business partners, such as dedicated sales assistants and client advocates that can help on the manufacturing side of originations.Second, Flagstar brings value to its partners by providing resources like their monthly FLEX series that has featured speakers like Dave Stevens and Barry Habib who offer market intelligence and insights on how clients can grow their book of business in today’s challenging market.And third, Flagstar’s account executives are spread throughout the entire country, working locally in the markets where its partners do business. On average, these account executives have been with the bank for nearly 16 years.“The experience and the knowledge that they bring, not only from a process perspective, but also the expertise that they bring on product and depth of knowledge about the market — I think that’s one of our secret sauces,” Gibson said.Flagstar’s account executives can do business in all its channels, making it easy for clients who work with them to change to a different delivery type — for example, brokers who want to move to the correspondent channel.“We have 30-plus years of helping our business partners evolve,” Gibson said. “Because our account executives are experienced in the different delivery channels, that transition is seamless, and our AEs are able to educate their partners and support them along the way.”Looking forwardAs the mortgage industry cycles through a rough patch, Flagstar is positioned to continue to succeed.“I think 2023 is going to be a tough year for mortgage, but Flagstar has done what we needed to do to restructure our business so that we can be profitable in any interest rate environment,” Smith said. “I do think 2024 and 2025 are going to be good years for the mortgage industry as the Fed pauses and eventually reduces interest rates.”Gibson noted that anyone who’s been in the industry for a period of time has experienced these high- and low interest-rate cycles. With Flagstar’s longevity, the bank and its team are prepared to continue to support partners through any cycle. In fact, where other companies look to downsize and reorganize their mortgage shops, Flagstar continues to grow.“We’re investing in the TPO channel and we continue to support the channel by opening up and growing new business relationships,” he said.Flagstar is listening to its business partners and expanding its product set as well as investing in technology to improve ease of use and efficiency.“Ultimately, our strength and our commitment to the TPO channel has been unwavering,” Gibson said. “We’re one of the companies that is continuing to grow.”Find out more about how Flagstar can help your business succeed here.

When moving into a new home, adding items to the bathroom that provide texture and warmth – as well as functionality - can make it feel more personalized.

Mississippi, unfortunately, is perennially ranked as one of, if not the, poorest state in the United States. But that doesn't mean there aren't wealthy cities.

Second mortgages are very common in America, though they've actually gotten less common over the last decade when you look at the raw numbers.

Whether it’s renovating a bathroom, kitchen, or entire house—getting a professional not only makes the process easier but maximizes budget and return on investment.