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Independent mortgage lender Embrace Home Loans has promoted Ryan “Buddy” Hardiman to the position of president, the company announced on Wednesday.
Before the promotion, Hardiman served as the company’s senior vice president of retail and direct sales for more than four years. In his new role, Hardiman will lead its lending and fulfillment operations. He will also head Embrace’s financial services division.
“I’m genuinely thrilled for this new opportunity,” Buddy Hardiman said in a statement. “We have an outstanding team at Embrace, and I’m looking forward to contributing to our growth and our community-focused initiatives. It’s a great honor, and I’m eager to lead us into this new chapter.”
Hardiman first joined Embrace Home Loans in 2008 as a project manager, the news release stated. He held various roles at the company before being promoted to the position of vice president of sales strategy and recruiting in 2016, followed by a stint as senior vice president of retail and direct sales starting in 2019.
“Buddy’s promotion reflects his hard work and exceptional contributions to Embrace,” Embrace CEO Dennis Hardiman said in a statement. “His leadership in building a top-tier sales force, achieving outstanding results in data analytics, and enhancing the borrower experience speak for themselves. We’re confident in Buddy’s ability to drive our company’s continued success.”
Source: housingwire.com
This downturn in KREF’s fortunes reflects a growing concern within the sector, especially after New York Community Bancorp announced a dividend cut last week and increased its reserves for loans at risk, particularly those to office and apartment landlords. Adding to the industry’s woes, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the bank’s credit rating to junk status … [Read more…]
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Source: scotsmanguide.com
January has emerged as a prime month for renters to secure deals on apartments, and recent data from RentCafe.com revealed which cities were the hottest markets for apartment hunters. Minneapolis claimed the title of January’s most sought-after city for renters, with a 159% increase in page views from locals and renters from cities like Chicago, … [Read more…]
The average long-term rate remains in the mid-6% range, Freddie Mac said. The rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, popular for home refinances, fell to 5.90% from 5.94% last week.
LOS ANGELES— The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged higher this week, reflecting a recent uptick in the 10-year Treasury yield.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 6.64% from 6.63% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.12%.
“Mortgage rates remain stagnant, hovering in the mid-6% range over the past several weeks,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
The move echoes an increase this week in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing loans. The yield moved above 4% this week as bond traders reacted to the government’s January’s jobs report. The surprisingly strong report stoked worries that it could persuade the Federal Reserve to wait longer before it begins cutting interest rates.
Hopes for such cuts amid signs that inflation has declined from its peak two summers ago have been a major reason the 10-year Treasury yield has mostly pulled back since October, when it climbed to its highest level since 2007.
In an interview broadcast Sunday night, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank remains on track to cut its benchmark interest rate three times this year, a move that economists expect could begin as early as May.
Investors’ expectations for future inflation, global demand for U.S. Treasurys and what the Fed does with interest rates can influence rates on home loans.
The cost of refinancing a home got a little bit less expensive this week. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, fell this week, pulling the average rate down to 5.90% from 5.94% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.25%, Freddie Mac said.
The cost of financing a home has been mostly easing since late October, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage hit 7.79%, the highest level since late 2000. So far this year, the weekly average has ranged between 6.60% and 6.69%.
The overall decline in rates since their peak last fall has helped lower monthly mortgage payments, providing more financial breathing room for homebuyers facing rising prices and a shortage of homes for sale as the spring homebuying season nears.
Still, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage remains sharply higher than just two years ago, when it was 3.69%.
Many economists are projecting that mortgage rates will continue heading lower this year, though forecasts generally have the average rate on a 30-year home loan hovering around 6% by the end of the year.
“Homebuyers should expect mortgage rates to move lower as we head through 2024, but that does not necessarily mean it will be easier to buy a home,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Waiting to buy later this year might mean a buyer can get a lower rate, but prices are still rising, and inventory will still be tight, which means the market will still be competitive.”
Elevated mortgage rates and a dearth of available homes have kept the U.S. housing market mired in a slump the past two years. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank to a nearly 30-year low last year, tumbling 18.7% from 2022.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Source: floridarealtors.org
The positive signals for the housing market in 2024 include improvements in rates, affordability, and available inventory, alongside a moderation of monthly home price growth on a seasonally adjusted basis. The current market remains driven by interest rates. With the recent dip in rates, a noticeable uptick in purchase mortgage demand has reached levels comparable … [Read more…]
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland’s Department of Community Development is seeking permission to forgive Afford-a-Home loans that it distributed years ago.
If approved by City Council, eligible borrowers would get up to $10,000 forgiven on outstanding debt.
The move is aimed at fostering generational wealth for low-to-moderate income households, but it’s also intended to ease the bureaucratic burden on the Community Development department, as it emerges from a major staffing reorganization that aims, in part, to provide more customer-friendly housing assistance.
From 2005 to 2011, the city used federal block grants and other funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to distribute 351 Afford-a-Home loans, which ranged from $5,000 to $20,000, and carried a deferred term of 30 years. The loans amounted to a second mortgage, and the program was created to help eligible buyers purchase fully rehabilitated homes, according to a city news release.
The majority of those who received Afford-a-Home loans – 304 recipients – received no more than $10,000, the release said.
Maturity dates on some of the loans extend to 2041, but the city stopped issuing new ones in 2011.
To be eligible for loan forgiveness, property taxes must be paid up, and the city needs proof of ownership and proof that the borrower or one of their descendants is the current occupant. Properties in foreclosure are not eligible.
The city believes it could be forgiving up to $910,000, but that will depend on how many borrowers meet the eligibility requirements.
Community Development Director Alyssa Hernandez said the forgiveness program will have a meaningful impact on those who are relieved of debt. She also said the forgiveness program will cut down on staff time that’s currently spent on individual requests for forgiveness.
If and when City Council approves the program, eligible loan recipients should receive a notification letter from the city.
Source: cleveland.com
Mortgage debt, which is the largest chunk of household debt, reached a new high of $12.25 trillion at the end of December. Credit card balances surged to $1.13 trillion and auto loans to $1.61 trillion in the fourth quarter, both setting records since data collection began in 2003. Interestingly, student loan amounts remained relatively stable … [Read more…]
Refinancing activity rebounded for the week ending February 2 after declining the previous week, as mortgage rates stabilize in the under-7 percent level, contributing to a rise in home loans application, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.
The Refinance Index jumped 12 percent from the week before February and also rose by a percent compared to one year ago, according to MBA. Meanwhile, mortgage applications jumped by nearly 4 percent in the same time span.
The average cost of a 30-year fixed rate mortgage for a loan of $766,550 ticked up slightly to 6.80 percent compared to 6.78 the previous week.
“Mortgage rates have stayed close to where they started the year, despite swings in Treasury yields because of slowing inflation offset by stronger than expected readings on the job market,” Joel Kan, MBA’s deputy chief economist, said in a statement shared with Newsweek. “Rates at these levels have not prompted much of a reaction in the refinance market, as most homeowners have mortgages with much lower rates.”
Mortgage rates peaked at about 8 percent in the fall of 2023, making the cost of a home loan the highest it had been since the turn of the century. The elevated rate environment discouraged both buyers and sellers to step into the housing market who were reluctant to incur higher monthly payments of their housing loan.
Part of the reason rates jumped so high was due to the Federal Reserve’s hiking of its funds rate to battle soaring inflation. The rise in prices is cooling giving confidence that policymakers will slash rates but a strong jobs market is creating uncertainty on how quickly those cuts will happen.
But to begin the year, there is evidence that buyers are showing interest in dipping into the housing market, according to real estate platform Redfin, as rates have fallen over the last few weeks.
Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which tracks requests for tours, went up 6 percent for the week ending January 28, the platform said. Real estate agents say, however, that that increase in interest has yet to translate to a substantial jump in sales.
MBA experts are seeing a similar bubbling up of buyer interest.
“Purchase activity has been strong to start 2024 compared to the final quarter of 2023. However, activity is still weaker than a year ago because of low housing supply,” MBA’s Kan said.
Supply of homes is a huge challenge for the housing market. Housing economists have told Newsweek in the past that the market is 4 million homes short of demand, contributing to a jump in prices.
Some economists suggest that as mortgage rates fall, the used homes market may pick-up as sellers would begin to come out of the sidelines and finally put their homes in the market.
“Once they start moving, and I suspect we’ll see more and more of those folks moving in the coming year, they’ll have to become somewhat aggressive on pricing, they’re going to have to lower their price,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Newsweek last week.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Source: newsweek.com
The professional and business services sector contributed strongly to January’s labor market growth, adding 74,000 jobs, with employment in health care rising by 70,000 and retail trade tacking on 45,000 jobs. The news marks a further indication of the US economy’s resilience amid high interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook, with job gains for … [Read more…]