Redfin has decided to end its support of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) for two primary reasons. Firstly, Redfin disagrees with NAR policies that require a fee for the buyer’s agent on every listing. Secondly, Redfin is concerned about a pattern of alleged sexual harassment within the organization.
Redfin has engaged in numerous discussions with NAR executives to find compromises on these policies. Since joining NAR in 2017, Redfin has paid over $13 million in dues to influence NAR to advocate for a technology-driven marketplace that benefits consumers. However, Redfin will now explore alternative ways to advance these goals.
Besides disagreement over commissions, Redfin became increasingly uncomfortable with NAR after learning about reports of sexist behavior and sexual harassment involving NAR’s president. These allegations came to light through interviews with 29 former NAR employees. Redfin is concerned that NAR was aware of these allegations for an extended period but only took action after they became public.
Redfin had already resigned its national board seat in June before the allegations of sexual harassment became public. NAR’s policies continue to restrict sellers from listing homes that do not pay a commission to the buyer’s agent, and they also prevent websites like Redfin.com from displaying for-sale-by-owner listings alongside agent-listed homes. Redfin believes that removing these restrictions would make the industry more consumer-friendly and competitive.
After careful consideration, Redfin has decided to go beyond resigning from the NAR board. Redfin will require its brokers and agents to leave NAR wherever possible. While most brokerages operate as loose affiliations of independent agents, Redfin wishes to refrain from imposing a policy that could alienate its revenue-generating individuals.
However, Redfin’s decision to leave NAR is only partially voluntary. NAR rules mandate that Redfin must leave local and state associations, even if its grievances are solely with the national association. These rules stipulate that a broker must pay dues for each agent under their supervision, regardless of whether the agent wants to be a member. No agent under their leadership can be a member if a broker is not a member. Given this all-or-nothing approach, Redfin has decided to choose the latter.
Unfortunately, in many markets, Redfin does not even have the option to make this choice. Approximately half of the U.S., including Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Long Island, Minneapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, requires NAR membership for agents to access listing databases, lockboxes, and industry-standard contracts. It is impossible to be an agent without the ability to view available homes, unlock their doors, or write offers.
Redfin urges NAR to separate local access to Multiple Listing Services (MLS) from support for the national lobbying organization. Agents should not be required to support policies and legal efforts that harm consumers, especially when they intend to help consumers.
Despite the disagreement with NAR, Redfin remains committed to the real estate industry. The company will continue to fully support the MLSs that brokers use to share listing data, and it will maintain positive relationships with the many dedicated individuals working at NAR and its local affiliates on matters such as economics, diversity, and pro-housing policies.
Victoria Udrea, a talented author who specializes in real estate and technology, is a valued contributor to Realty Biz News. With her keen eye for detail and passion for keeping readers informed, she diligently covers the latest developments in the industry, focusing particularly on the exciting realm of smart home technology.
Milestones, the all-in-one home management solution specifically designed for consumers to buy, move, own, sell, manage, and access mortgage services for their home seamlessly in one centralized portal, has announced its strategic alliance with FinLocker, a pioneer in digital, consumer-permissioned personal financial fitness tools focused on homeownership. This partnership will provide mortgage lenders with an end-to-end engagement solution to attract, nurture, and retain homebuyers and ensure their consumers have a smooth transition from initial interest, through the preparation for a mortgage, to closing and beyond.
FinLocker provides mortgage lenders and their originators with a hyper-personalized engagement platform to attract early-journey homebuyers to their business and nurtures them with personalized data-driven journeys using the financial tools and education embedded in the platform to achieve mortgage readiness and sustain homeownership.
Milestones complement this approach by guiding these educated leads throughout the decade-long journey of homeownership with online home management portals “hubs” that deliver a wide array of home services, such as home service providers, home value insights, home maintenance tasks, home document storage, and much more.
Together, this comprehensive solution will revolutionize the way consumers navigate the complex journey of homeownership by educating and empowering them from planning to closing, resulting in increased customer retention, and reduced customer acquisition costs for mortgage lenders.
“FinLocker is excited to partner with Milestones as the platform provides an extension of our financial fitness platform to prepare first-time homebuyers to qualify for a mortgage,” said Brian Vieaux, President and COO of FinLocker. “Mortgage lenders who use Milestones will now have an all-encompassing solution to attract, engage, nurture, retain and reactivate clients in their database.”
FinLocker and Milestones combined boast a myriad of features catering to both pre and post-transaction stages, ensuring a holistic and supportive homeownership experience.
Pre-transaction
Credit monitoring and credit score-building tools
Goal setting and budgeting for down payment saving and debt reduction
Financial Education
Homebuyer mortgage readiness assessment and guidance
Home Search
Streamlined mortgage application management
Post-transaction
Home Education Knowledge Base
Home Value and Home Equity Monitoring
Home Maintenance Task Reminders
Suggested Home Improvements to Build Equity
Home Document Storage
Home Services Vendor Marketplace
About FinLocker Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, FinLocker provides a secure financial fitness app that aggregates and analyzes a consumer’s financial data to offer personalized journeys to build and monitor their credit, manage their financial accounts, receive their net worth and cash flow analysis, create goals, save and budget to achieve loan eligibility for a mortgage and other financial goals.
Within the FinLocker app, consumers can take a readiness assessment before applying for a mortgage, begin their property search, and securely store personal and financial documents, which can be shared with a lender directly from the app to start their loan application. Mortgage lenders and financial service providers use their white-labeled FinLocker to generate and convert leads, gain market share, cross-sell value-added products, reduce loan processing costs, decrease risk, and create customers for life. For more information, visit FinLocker.com.
About Milestones Milestones is a homeownership solution that delivers personalized client portals (“hubs”) specifically designed to engage consumers at every stage of the decade-long homeownership journey – from buying, selling, moving, and managing a home. Milestones hubs give consumers access to a wide array of home service providers, insights into home value, and much more, positioning real estate professionals to stay connected, educate, and add value to create forever clients. Learn more at Milestones.ai.
Media Contact: Monika Sollee for Milestones [email protected]
Find topics in marketing, technology, and social media for realtors, and housing market resources for homeowners. Be sure to subscribe to Digital Age of Real Estate.
The Florida housing market in September and the third quarter (3Q) of 2023 showed signs of stabilization in statewide median prices and improved inventory levels compared to the previous year, according to the latest housing data from Florida Realtors®.
“Florida continues to draw new residents, and the dollar volume of single-family home sales in September was up 14.1% year-over-year to $12.2 billion dollars. Over that same timeframe, closed sales of single-family homes rose 6.1%. The Florida market remains strong in the face of higher mortgage rates, and first-time buyers are finding greater selections and less competition than they’ve seen in years.”
Florida Realtors® President G. Mike McGraw
Despite higher mortgage rates, the Florida market remains strong, offering more choices and less competition for first-time buyers.
In September 2023, closed sales of existing single-family homes statewide reached 21,335, a 6.1% increase from the previous year. Existing condo-townhouse sales, on the other hand, totalled 8,387, a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to September 2022.
During the 3Q of 2023, statewide existing single-family home sales declined by 3.2% from the previous year, totalling 66,450. Existing condo-townhouse sales also decreased by 5.8% year-over-year, totaling 26,129. It’s important to note that closed sales may occur from 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.
Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor noted some positive signs as the market entered the fall season:
“In September, closed sales of single-family homes were up for the first time compared to a year ago, rising by over 6%. Closed sales of townhouses and condos in 2023 have been converging with their 2022 levels as well. We were still down in September year over year, but by a fraction of 1%.”
Fla. Sept. Report: Single-Family Sales Up 6.1%
In September, the statewide median sales price for existing single-family homes reached $409,243, a 1.3% increase from the previous year. Condo-townhouse units had a median price of $324,990, reflecting a 5.8% increase compared to September 2022.
For the 3Q of 2023, the median sales price for single-family homes in Florida was $414,000, showing a 1.0% increase over the second quarter of 2022. The median sales price for condo-townhouses during the same period was $320,545, reflecting a 5.8% year-over-year increase.
O’Connor mentioned that new listings have been at their lowest level in several years in 2023, but in recent months, they’ve been closer to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, September’s new single-family listings exceeded the number from the same month in 2019, marking an 8% increase compared to the previous year.
While there is more active inventory at the end of September compared to the beginning, Florida still has a lower inventory of single-family homes than in 2019 before the pandemic. The state had a 3.2-month supply of single-family existing homes in September, a 28% increase year-over-year. Condo-townhouse units had a 4.1-month supply, reflecting a significant 78.3% increase compared to the previous year.
For the full statewide housing activity reports, interested parties can visit the Florida Realtors Newsroom or access the September 2023 and 3Q 2023 data report PDFs under Market Data.
Find me on:
Mihaela Lica Butler is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. She is a widely cited authority on public relations issues, with an experience of over 25 years in online PR, marketing, and SEO.She covers startups, online marketing, social media, SEO, and other topics of interest for Realty Biz News.
And yet Sweeney is praised not just for her institutional knowledge but for her abilities to assess the industry and fire up a crowd. Since she took the helm of the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts three years ago, she has focused the membership on its mission as a group supporting independent mortgage brokers after … [Read more…]
The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) today released its annual A-List which honors 162 individual real estate agents and 83 teams for outstanding production in 2022, along with 36 mortgage professionals. The A-List honorees, all AREAA members, generated more $15.4 billion in sales volume from 20,472 transaction sides in 2022. A-List honorees will be recognized at AREAA’s National Convention on October 12-14 in Chicago.
The list of real estate agents and teams on the A-List was produced again by leading-industry observer RealTrends in partnership with Bank of America. AREAA honored 167 individual agents and teams a year ago.
Shirley Gary of Ansley Christie’s Real Estate generated 263 transaction sides in 2022 to lead all individual sales professionals on the A-List. She was listed 22nd in the nation on RealTrends’ “The Thousand.”Danielle Moy (204 sides) with @Properties in Orland Park, Ill., Eric Delgado (201) with Keller Williams Encino Sherman Oaks in Encino, Calif., Meghan Clarkson (140) with Long & Foster Real Estate in Chincoteague Island, Va., and Stephanie Vitacco (137.5) with Equity Union in Encino, Calif. followed on the sides list.
Tracy Allen of Coldwell Banker Realty in Honolulu, Hawaii, generated $200.92 million in 2022 volume to lead the A-List. She was 77th in RealTrends’ “The Thousand.”, Gary ($191.42 million) was second followed by Vitacco ($180.47 million), Delgado ($147.64 million), and Zar Zanganeh with The Agency Las Vegas ($112.28 million).
Long Doan’s Realty Group in Minneapolis, Minn., repeated as the top team on the A-List team transaction sides list with 4,412 in 2022. The Advanced Super Team (2,893 sides) led by Calvin Gong in Arcadia, Calif., was second followed by Kenny Truong’s Fast Real Estate (977) with eXp in Oakland, Calif., Kyle Yeatman’s Yeatman Group (919.23) with Long & Foster Real Estate in Midlothian, Va., and Momentum Realty (482), led by Michael Ramos, in San Jose, Calif.
The Advanced Super Team earned top honors in sales volume, generating $2.69 billion in 2022, followed by the Realty Group with $1.5 billion. The next three highest-earners in sales volume were Fast Real Estate ($755.9 million), Andy Tse’s Intero Real Estate Services in Saratoga, Calif. ($712.3 million), and the Yeatman Group ($413.1 million).
For the second straight year, Shashank Shekhar, the founder and CEO of InstaMortgage in San Jose, Calif., was the top loan originator by mortgage units with 400 closed mortgages in 2022. Leading the A-List in mortgage volume was Joanna Yu of US Bank in Los Altos Hills, Calif., with 244.3 million in volume, marking her second straight year leading in her respective category.
“AREAA’s A-List is eagerly anticipated each year,” said AREAA President Kurt Nishimura. “This list not only gives us insight into the growth and success of our members, but it also shows the full impact that AANHPI real estate professionals have on the industry. This professionalism within our AREAA membership is widely known within the real estate industry. This group is a major reason why. Their production is awe-inspiring.”
The A-List was developed using these criteria:
RealTrends identified honorees by cross-tabulating AREAA membership with those on its RealTrends + Tom Ferry America’s Best Real Estate Professionals list.
AREAAallowed for individual submissions allowing individual agents who generated at least 15 transaction sides or $6 million in sales volume in 2022 to be recognized.
Teams needed at least 25 transaction sides and $9 million in sales volume. The team lead must be an AREAA member.
The list of loan officers was generated through self-submissions directly to AREAA.
The top 50 in each real estate category and top 30 in the mortgage categories follow. Click here for the full list of the 2023 A-List:
Individual Real Estate Agents Sides
Rank
Name
Company
City, State
Sides
1
Shirley Gary
Ansley Christie’s Real Estate
Atlanta, GA
263
2
Danielle Moy
@properties
Orland Park , IL
204
3
Eric Delgado
Keller Williams Encino Sherman Oaks
Encino, CA
201
4
Meghan O Clarkson
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Chincoteague Island, VA
140
5
Stephanie Vitacco
Equity Union
Encino, CA
137.5
6
Soomin Kim
eXp Realty
Liberty Hill, TX
114
7
Anthony Domathoti
EXIT Realty Premium
Bronx, NY
88
8
Oscar Garcia
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Carolina Premier Properties
Wilmington, NC
83
9
Sairavi Suribhotla
Real People Realty
Bolingbrook, IL
81
10
Karen Sorenson
RE/MAX Newport Elite
Racine, WI
79
11
Randy Hatada
XPand Realty & Property Management
Las Vegas, NV
78
12
Christine Do
Keller Williams Realty Easton
Easton, MA
76.8
13
Ruth Manzano Javier
Five Star Realty, Inc.
Ewa Beach, HI
72.9
14
Peter Luu
eXp Realty
Orlando, FL
68.5
15
Dane Gates
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties
The Woodlands, TX
62
T16
Zar Zanganeh
The Agency Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
61
T16
Blair Myers
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers
The Delawalla Group – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Beach Properties of Florida
Watersound, FL
$71,962,318
25
Tadashi Kondo
The Kondo Group – Compass
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
$63,790,989
26
Peter Au/Alice Schroeder
Avant Team – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties
Irvine, CA
$62,433,779
27
Tim Hur/Helen Nguyen
Point Honors and Associates, Realtors®
Atlanta, GA
$62,332,861
28
Clay Byrne
Byrne Real Estate Group – Keller Williams
Austin, TX
$61,542,826
29
Kayla Lee
Kayla Lee Team
New York, NY
$61,008,822
30
Lily Do
Lily Cai Do – Compass
Contra Costa, CA
$60,744,200
31
Kenneth Er
The Er Group – Compass
Oakland, CA
$60,075,330
32
Crystal Florida
Crystal Florida and Associates – Compass
Oakland, CA
$58,906,773
33
Andrew Peters
The Peters Team – Keller Williams
Peachtree Corners, GA
$57,871,883
34
Amy Kong
Trust Real Estate – SIDE
San Bruno, CA
$55,428,400
35
Connie Van
Connie Van Real Estate Group – Keller Williams
Elk Grove, CA
$54,863,093
36
Dave + Amy Chung
The Dave + Amy Chung Team – Compass
Chicago, IL
$54,105,965
37
Phat Nguyen/Julie Phan
Team Affinity
Orlando, FL
$51,309,695
38
Dave & Liz Goodchild
The Goodchild Team – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Realty
Palatine, IL
$51,058,667
39
Wailani O’Herlihy
The O’Herlihy Group – Sotheby’s International Realty
Malibu, CA
$46,935,962
40
Charan Bajwa
Team Charan Bajwa – RE/MAX
Monmouth Junction, NJ
$45,093,166
41
Scottee Downing
Downing + Ivicic Group – Compass
Austin, TX
$44,578,171
42
Ivona Kutermankiewicz
IKGroup – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago
Chicago, IL
$44,548,542
43
Garrick Yan
Garrick Yan Group – eXp
San Leandro, CA
$42,474,639
44
Smitha Ramchandani
SR Real Estate Group – LeadingRE
Summit, NJ
$41,150,687
45
Michael Saladino
The Saladino Sells Team – Keller Williams
Chicago, IL
$41,106,129
46
Amy Duong Kim
Duong Kim Global – Compass
Chicago, IL
$38,797,886
47
Lisa Nguyen
The International Group at RE/MAX Professionals – RE/MAX
Lakewood, CO
$38,592,985
48
Janet Moore
Tampa Lux Group – Premier Sotheby’s International Realty
Tampa, FL
$35,988,627
49
Yassi Jazayeri
Yassi & Associates – Keller Williams
Bellevue, WA
$35,341,644
50
Jamie Younger
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Richmond, VA
$34,789,290
Top Loan Originators by Mortgage Units
Rank
Full Name
Company
City, State
# Closed Mortgages
1
Shashank Shekhar
InstaMortgage Inc
San Jose, CA
400
2
Karen Chiu
New American Funding
San Marino, CA
297
3
James Chen
Citizens Bank
Roslyn, NY
261
4
Nathan Sibbet
loanDepot
Sacramento, CA
256
5
Viral Vora
PNC Bank
Cupertino, CA
211
6
Tyler (Tu Ba) Nguyen
Bluegrey Mortgage
Tampa, FL
206
7
Judy Sakata
Sakata Mortgage dba of 247 Mortgage Loan LLC
Houston, TX
198
8
Joanna Yu
US bank
Los Altos Hills, CA
190
9
Choe Hung
US bank
Pasadena, CA
188
10
Kevin Oto
Green Haven Capital Inc.
Sacramento, CA
177
11
Ha Le Dao
DHI Mortgage
Sacramento, CA
146
12
An Le
Lifestyle Home Lending
Southlake, TX
141
13
Sunny (Meixu) Duan
Citi
Rockville, MD
118
14
Jasmine Cheng
US bank
Union City, CA
110
15
Michelle Kim
HSBC
Los Angeles, CA
102
16
Caroline Ke Liu
US bank
San Francisco, CA
101
17
Patrick Ly
Union Home Mortgage
Leesburg, VA
82
18
Daniel Dai
Lemonbrew Lending
Edison, NJ
81
19
Nick Chee Seng Leong
HSBC
Whitestone, NY
79
20
Anne Wiker
US bank
San Diego, CA
78
21
Jennifer Yang
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Torrance, CA
76
22
Meinoh Kim
BluPrint Home Loans
Fairfield, CA
75
23
Hai David Le
US bank
Fairfax, VA
72
24
Greg Louie
GFL Capital Mortgage, Inc
Henderson, NV
71
25
Sunny Kumar
US bank
San Diego, CA
70
26
Ray Zeng
HSBC
New York, NY
69
T27
Gennaro Bizzarro
HSBC
Yonkers, NY
68
T27
Aileen Hom
Wells Fargo Private Bank
San Mateo, CA
68
29
Kamal Sohal
Chase bank
Sacramento, CA
67
30
Bopha Phang
loanDepot
Stockton, CA
65
Top Loan Originators by Mortgage Volume
Rank
Full Name
Company
City, State
Volume Closed Mortgages
1
Joanna Yu
US bank
Los Altos Hills, CA
$244,307,535
2
Viral Vora
PNC Bank
Cupertino, CA
$221,839,038
3
Shashank Shekhar
InstaMortgage Inc
San Jose, CA
$187,048,281
4
James Chen
Citizens Bank
Roslyn, NY
$178,391,673
5
Gennaro Bizzarro
HSBC
Yonkers, NY
$175,517,864
6
Karen Chiu
New American Funding
San Marino, CA
$165,711,007
7
Choe Hung
US bank
Pasadena, CA
$163,943,064
8
Nathan Sibbet
loanDepot
Sacramento, CA
$124,232,591
9
Caroline Ke Liu
US bank
San Francisco, CA
$118,631,590
10
Michelle Kim
HSBC
Los Angeles, CA
$115,654,558
11
Sunny (Meixu) Duan
Citi
Rockville, MD
$106,094,000
12
Jasmine Cheng
US bank
Union City, CA
$101,242,343
13
Aileen Hom
Wells Fargo Private Bank
San Mateo, CA
$96,474,112
14
Kevin Oto
Green Haven Capital Inc.
Sacramento, CA
$82,155,712
15
Tyler (Tu Ba) Nguyen
Bluegrey Mortgage
Tampa, FL
$75,702,929
16
Jennifer Yang
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Torrance, CA
$71,624,460
17
Hai David Le
US bank
Fairfax, VA
$70,711,136
18
Ha Le Dao
DHI Mortgage
Sacramento, CA
$70,124,004
19
Sunny Kumar
US bank
San Diego, CA
$66,618,844
20
Ryan Dang
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
San Mateo, CA
$65,306,558
21
Roger Pei
HSBC
San Francisco, CA
$58,714,459
22
Vanessa Liu
HSBC
San Francisco, CA
$57,556,052
23
An Le
Lifestyle Home Lending
Southlake, TX
$54,609,986
24
Judy Sakata
Sakata Mortgage dba of 247 Mortgage Loan LLC
Houston, TX
$49,708,616
25
Dan Anacker
US bank
Bonney Lake, WA
$49,432,542
26
Leena Sankary
US bank
Monrovia, CA
$49,367,062
27
Ray Zeng
HSBC
New York, NY
$45,997,014
28
Meinoh Kim
BluPrint Home Loans
Fairfield, CA
$43,294,216
29
Bobby Saadieh
loanDepot
Morgan Hill, CA
$43,236,251
30
Nick Chee Seng Leong
HSBC
Whitestone, NY
$40,491,013
ABOUT AREAA
Founded in 2003, the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) is a national nonprofit trade organization with more than 18,000 members dedicated to improving the lives of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community through homeownership. Visit areaa.org for more information.
Find topics in marketing, technology, and social media for realtors, and housing market resources for homeowners. Be sure to subscribe to Digital Age of Real Estate.
Mr. Cooper reported Thursday it had a cybersecurity incident earlier in the week, in which an unauthorized third party gained access to certain technology systems.
Though the lender did not expand upon the attack and its scope, which took place Oct. 31, it did note that for now, some of its systems are offline.
Customers have been alerted of this issue and those “who have tried or need to make payments will not incur fees, penalties or negative credit reporting as we work to resolve this issue, ” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The lender has “initiated response protocols, including deploying containment measures to protect systems and data.” The timeline for when some of its systems will be restored was not disclosed.
“We value our customers and take their data privacy very seriously, and we have launched an investigation with assistance from leading cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement,” the spokesperson said.
The attack coincides with a number of other cybersecurity incidents hitting the mortgage industry of late.
Earlier this year, companies such as Planet Home Lending and Mutual of Omaha Mortgage disclosed both were impacted by attacks that compromised the personally identifiable information of consumers.
Additionally, home builder Lennar Corp. disclosed that the social security numbers of 7,448 consumers were exposed in a July hack, while Scottsdale, Arizona-based V.I.P. Mortgage was the victim of a malware attack in December 2022, according to a September notice.
Reporting these types of instances will become mandated for mortgage shops early next year as the Federal Trade Commission Friday voted unanimously in October to approve an amendment to its Safeguards Rule to include nonbank financial institutions.
The FTC’s rule requires nonbanks to notify the agency no later than 30 days after discovery of a breach involving the information of at least 500 consumers. Incidents are defined by the agency as events where unencrypted customer data has been acquired without authorization.
The notices must include information about the breach, such as the number of consumers either affected or potentially affected. The reporting requirement goes into effect April 27, 2024.
Forex is a portmanteau of the two words “foreign” and “exchange,” and implies the purchase or sale of one particular currency for another. Although Forex trading might at first glance seem like a form of gambling, the tools, strategies, and skills involved with Forex trading do not rely on chance and sheer luck to the degree they do in gambling activity.
Learning the terminology and basics of Forex trading is like learning any new language. Some of the most important terms in Forex trading include currency pairs, pip, and margin. These are some basic Forex terms that you should know when you are looking to venture in trading. Having a working knowledge of basic Forex terminology is a great way to build a solid foundation for trading.
Pips and their value
In the English language, a pip is another word for a small, hard seed in a fruit. In terms of currency exchange, it has another definition entirely. To answer the question, what is a pip in forex, it is the smallest unit of measurement to denote the change in value of two designated currencies. Pips are price increments that have a value dependent on the particular currency you are trading.
For example, if you are trading between Euros and United States dollars, the pip extends out to four decimals, or .0001. In other words, it is one-hundredth of one percent. However, the value is different for other currencies such as if you are dealing with United States dollars and Japanese yen, where a pip will be worth .01. Pip calculators are valuable tools to help do the math for specific currency pairs.
Currency pairs – major, minor, and exotic
To start off the list, currency pairs are just like the name suggests – they are the two currencies that comprise the exchange rate like GBP/USD, which is the currency pair for British pound sterling and United States dollars.
Another major currency pair is EUR/USD, which is the currency pair for Euros as the official currency of the European Union’s nineteen member states and United States dollars. Major currency pairs are one of the three types of currency pairs in Forex trading, along with minor and exotic.
Margins – what they are
In Forex trading, the margin is the amount of currency that is required for a trader to commence a transaction. As a general rule of thumb, a margin above 100% is considered to be acceptable, but it is better and safer to shoot for a margin that is 200% at the minimum.
Find topics in marketing, technology, and social media for realtors, and housing market resources for homeowners. Be sure to subscribe to Digital Age of Real Estate.
Non-bank mortgage players will have to report more cybersecurity incidents to a federal regulator beginning next spring.
The Federal Trade Commission Friday said its commissioners voted unanimously to approve an amendment to its Safeguards Rule to include non-bank financial institutions. The rule is the latest obligation for lenders and other industry firms regarding data breach reporting, as millions of mortgage customers have been impacted by hacks in the past few years.
The FTC’s rule requires non-banks to notify the agency no later than 30 days after discovery of a breach involving the information of at least 500 consumers. Incidents are defined by the agency as events where unencrypted customer data has been acquired without their authorization.
The notices must include information about the breach, such as the number of consumers either affected or potentially affected. The reporting requirement goes into effect 180 days after the rule’s publication, which would be April 27, 2024. The FTC’s commissioners voted 3-0 for the amendment.
The disclosures require similar information to the notices lenders, servicers and technology vendors already post to some state attorneys general offices. Not every state requires firms to report breaches, and only around a dozen states post such notifications regularly. In those disclosures, mortgage firms often include vague references to notifying regulators.
“Without a notification, the Commission would have no guarantee that it has found all breaches in its searches,” wrote April Tabor, FTC secretary, in the recent amendment announcement.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will begin requiring publicly traded firms in December to report cybersecurity incidents that they determine “material” – a definition that has not been clearly defined. Public companies under that rule won’t have to disclose technical details of hacks but rather high-level overviews of what happened, similar to details companies post in a Maine database.
Data breaches have impacted as many as 4 million consumers in one servicer incident in late 2021. Flagstar Bank recently said over 837,000 of its customers were entangled in a vendor cyber attack.
Mortgage businesses also don’t have an obligation to report instances of fraud to law enforcement, but feds urge them to write more detailed crime reports to increase the likelihood of investigations. Representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service recently told a mortgage audience incidents of home equity theft and wire fraud are up, and asked for lenders to provide as much information to feds as possible.
Finance of America is beefing up its reverse mortgage programs, announcing Monday plans to launch a second-lien product to consumers 55 and older.
The product, dubbed Homesafe Second Loan, will allow borrowers to tap their home equity via a second mortgage. HomeSafe Second will be available through FoA’s direct-to-consumer division, which consists of recently acquired American Advisor Group, and its wholesale division.
By rolling out this loan, the reverse mortgage lender says it will be giving older homeowners an upper hand in accessing their home wealth. Other options of doing so, such as applying for a home equity line of credit, have elevated rejection rates, with about 47% of applicants not getting approval, they said.
“Today’s market conditions are uniquely challenging, and innovative financing is needed to fill gaps between consumers and traditional loan products,” said Kristen Sieffert, president of Finance of America, in a press release. “This is especially true for homeowners over 55 who are not well served by typical home equity solutions despite home equity generally hitting record highs.”
Consumers will be able to opt for this product starting next month in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas, the lender said.
FoA’s announcement comes in the midst of the company’s strategic shift to being a “retirement solutions company.” The company’s transformation was kickstarted in October 2022 when it announced ending its forward mortgage originations.
Though some stakeholders see the company’s metamorphosis in a positive light, the cost of Finance of America’s repositioning has led Fitch Ratings to revise the company’s long-term issuer default rating.
Operational losses related to FOA’s acquisition of AAG and a decline in tangible equity to negative $5 million drove the slight drop in already speculative-grade rating to CCC+ from B-. Fitch explained that the downgrade hinged on concerns around how the lender’s weaker financial position will affect its ability to borrow. The total capacity of its warehouse financing and lines of credit was $1.8 billion in the second quarter, down from $5.5 billion a year earlier. Finance of America did not respond to a request for comment.
A class action lawsuit has been certified by a Maryland federal court against Home Point for alleged Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act violations stemming from a decade ago.
The suit claims Home Point acquired a company in 2015 that was already involved in a kickback arrangement with a title company, but these practices continued a few years after the company was purchased.
RESPA violations at first occurred between Maverick Funding Corporation and All Star Title, a now-defunct title and settlement services company, the suit says. Maverick purportedly referred residential mortgage loans to the title company in exchange for payments that were then laundered through third-party marketing companies, per the suit.
The arrangement, which went on from 2014 to 2016, resulted in Home Point receiving “thousands of dollars in kickbacks from All Star Title in exchange for assigning and referring 444 loans,” the suit claims. The certification was first reported on by Law360.
To fund the kickbacks, plaintiffs allege that the now defunct lender and All Star Title “charged Home Point borrowers fraudulent and unnecessarily increased charges for title and settlement services.”
Mr.Cooper, which acquired Home Point earlier this year, declined to comment.
The class action is represented by plaintiffs Sandra Moyer, Richard Martin, Terry Patterson, Jr., and Yvonne Matthews on behalf of similarly situated individuals.
The defendant in turn filed a motion questioning evidence the plaintiffs presented to the judge to be granted class certification.
The motion points out that the class action relies on certain email chains that “do not involve Home Point at all, but instead involve the relationships between All Star Title, Inc. (“All Star”) and two entirely different lenders.” This, in Home Point’s opinion, provides no foundation for class certification, nor does this amount to any kind of confession.
The lender also argues that the class relied on a previous RESPA case involving a bank and All Star Title – Brasko v. Howard Bank – for the certification, which ” involved different facts, different evidence, and a different lender” making it moot and not relevant in this case.
Specifically, the defendant argues the plaintiffs failed to show evidence of communication between Home Point and All Star, wherein in Brasko V. Howard Bank, there was proof.
RESPA violations and kickback schemes are under the watchful purview of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seems to have ratcheted up its enforcement efforts.
Most recently, Freedom Mortgage was accused of such practices and fined $1.75 million for allegedly providing illegal incentives to real estate brokers and agents, such as cash payments, paid subscription services, and catered parties, with the understanding purchase business would be sent its way in return.