Source: goodfinancialcents.com

Apache is functioning normally

Most homeowners opt for fixed-rate mortgages because there aren’t any surprises. Many of them go with a 30-year term because it’s the norm, and also because it allows would-be homeowners to buy a lot more home.

The major downside is that a 30-year fixed mortgage takes 30 years to pay off. In other words, you pay a whole lot of interest over three decades, and you don’t really own much of your home for the bulk of the amortization period.

In fact, it’s not until late in the loan period that payments go primarily toward principal, as opposed to interest.

This can create problems down the road, especially for those who put little down on their home purchase.

After all, without any home equity, lenders don’t have a buffer in place if borrowers fall behind on payments. And borrowers who don’t have much (if any) skin in the game can simply walk away if things don’t go their way.

How About a 15-Year Fixed That Isn’t Super Expensive?

  • The Wealth Building Home Loan (WBHL)
  • Created by Edward Pinto and Stephen Oliner of the American Enterprise Institute
  • Combines the affordability of a 30-year fixed
  • With the equity building power of a 15-year fixed

Unfortunately, 15-year fixed mortgages aren’t cheap, seeing that the borrower has half the amount of time to pay off roughly the same sized loan.

This explains why 30-year loans continue to be a lot more popular, despite what I just said.

But that may all change with the advent of the Wealth Building Home Loan (WBHL), created by Edward Pinto and Stephen Oliner of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

In a nutshell, it combines the equity-building benefit of a 15-year fixed mortgage with the affordability of a 30-year fixed. So borrowers pay down their mortgages faster without breaking the bank.

Speaking of banks, borrowers also gain a lot more home equity in a shorter period of time, which greatly reduces the credit risk associated with extending high loan-to-value loans.

In fact, during the first three years of a WBHL, 77% of the monthly mortgage payment goes toward principal.

Compare that to a traditional 30-year fixed, where 68% goes toward interest. Sure, the payment is substantially lower, but the house still mostly belongs to the lender.

A 15-Year Fixed Rate Below 2%?

  • The WBHL is a no down payment mortgage
  • That relies on a rate buy down at the outset
  • To lower the interest rate and make monthly payments similar to a 30-year loan
  • Lenders are protected through sound underwriting and fast equity accrual

In order to keep monthly payments down and maintain home buying power, the AEI notes that a conventional 15-year fixed is priced around 0.75% below the going rate for a 30-year fixed FHA loan.

Additionally, the WBHL allows for zero down financing, with five percent in down payment funds repurposed for a permanent 1.25% rate buy down.

Its creators also claim that the annual credit risk expense on the WBHL is lower, and the strong savings component of the loan program allows for a slightly higher debt-to-income ratio.

The 15-year averages around 3.25% today, so borrowers could enjoy fixed rates in the high 1% range. Not too shabby.

All this apparently gives borrowers who go with a WBHL more than 90% of the purchasing power they’d normally get via the FHA and their standard 30-year fixed product with 3% down.

For the record, Pinto has long taken issue with the FHA for overcharging borrowers and sticking them with costly mortgage insurance premiums. Unfortunately, most renters need an FHA loan to buy a home, so there aren’t many other options.

While the WBHL certainly sounds like an interesting and potentially game-changing loan product, not everyone actually wants to pay off their mortgage faster. Some people would rather invest their money elsewhere.

But there are a lot of positives to the WBHL, both for borrowers and lenders, and it does make sense for lower-income borrowers to create wealth as opposed to dig deeper into debt.

This mindset could actually help us avoid another crisis, or at least postpone one.

The WBHL is being launched by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) and Bank of America this month.

Over the next few months, it will be rolled out to NACA’s 37 offices. A WBHL for middle-income home buyers is also in the pipeline. If interested, inquire with NACA.

Source: thetruthaboutmortgage.com

Apache is functioning normally

The strongest agents are constantly analyzing their return on investment regarding how they’re spending both their time and their money. This includes money spent on their business as well as their personal lives. Below are the top 10 powerful secrets that strong agents use to stay motivated and keep the right mindset for success.    

If they’re not getting more out than they’re spending in return, the expenditure isn’t worth it. 

‘Breaking even’ doesn’t count, because of the time lost and effort expended to get the results. Results mean trackable, profitable, closed business. Not just leads, impressions or likes. 

They are actively and aggressively isolating themselves from the media, both online and off. 

They are making their world smaller regarding who is influencing them. Following a  media-free morning or media-free life is a good start. Eliminating negative feeds from social media is another good strategy to ‘build a moat’ around your mindset! 

They are constantly monitoring their own internal dialog. 

Has negative thinking entered their mindset? Strong agents are self-aware of the unintended consequences of allowing one negative thought to manifest. 

They are hyper-aware of their own market conditions. 

They study what’s selling, what’s not and what the hot price ranges and zip codes are. Strong agents know where the new construction is being built and they know what’s happening with mortgages. They’re not hiding out waiting for the market to lift them up. 

Their mantra is ‘If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me!’ 

They are very proactive in their lead generation, having more conversations with more prospects. 

They’re not reliant on lucking into repeat or referral business, and they’re not addicted to buying leads. They are working with multiple sources of business at once. 

They are aware that when they’re feeling out of control, they’ll subconsciously look for things to control. 

This sometimes manifests in overeating, substance abuse, and wrecking relationships. That gives them the feeling of control, but it’s destructive. Powerful agents (and people) are introspective before they make those mistakes. 

They recognize their own ‘early warning signs’ as the trigger to the bad behavior and take a step back before causing more drama to themselves, their prospects, clients or family. 

They are empathetic to the fact that other people don’t have the mechanisms to adapt quickly to the forced changes happening in the economy.

Strong agents forgive easily and quickly because they understand that others are stressed. They offer a positive light backed by facts and thoughtful solutions, rather than jumping in the moshpit of negativity or drama.

Because they’re rooted in a mindset of service, they are genuinely excited and appreciative of the opportunities in the market.

They are focused on the many people who genuinely need help and they are there to be of service.   

They know that knowledge leads to confidence and ignorance leads to fear. 

Thus they are constantly increasing their skillset so they can increase their confidence. They’re seeking out new ways to be able to help more people in a variety of circumstances. An example of this is knowing how to explain different types of mortgage loan programs that get the interest rates down and make the payment more attractive. 

They’re involved in Premier Coaching. 

They actively get overwhelming value from the daily, semi-private coaching sessions! 

Tim and Julie Harris host a podcast for real estate professionals. Tim and Julie of Premier Coaching have been real estate coaches for more than two decades, coaching the top agents in the country through different types of markets.

Source: housingwire.com

Apache is functioning normally

The decision to allow the ICEBlack Knight merger to proceed announces the digital integration of the real estate value chain anticipated for over 25 years. Digitization redraws industry boundaries and changes how the value of information is expressed, enriched and exchanged. The capital, capability and content are present to make all real estate markets smarter, faster, safer and connected. Consumers, communities and taxpayers are major beneficiaries.

Residential property transactions are manufactured with data components assembled from disconnected and diverse sources.  Many industries began to deploy electronic supply chains in the 1980’s. Real estate still relies on a “system” unable to integrate production across the silos of media, brokerage, lending, insurance and trading. The result is higher costs, lower productivity, unmeasured quality, and systemic exposure as government monopolies take most of the risk and make most of the money. The GSE’s $8B profit in 2Q could buy most of the brokerage industry.

Technology and the trust model

Real estate is too vital to our economy to be so financially concentrated and functionally outdated. Technology hasn’t been the barrier since 1998 when Equifax, and later other firms, developed systems to secure complex, multi-party transactions over the Internet.  Lenders began to define the “trust model” of standards, contracts and shared services necessary to achieve cross industry interoperability. 

Conflicts among special interests and then the GFC prevented full adoption.  Low interest rates and purchases of Agency securities helped to foster a – don’t fix what’s not broken mindset. The reckoning has brought staff reductions, loan repurchases, higher reserves and mass consolidation.

Behind the headlines of locked-in supply and tighter credit is the start of a new real estate cycle driven by the urbanization of the suburbs. Information deficits are a feature of secular shifts until new insights fill the knowledge gaps.  Geographically aware marketplaces that link listings, lending and liquidity will unlock actionable information.

ICE is best known as the owner of global marketplaces including the New York Stock Exchange. It entered real estate in 2012 after buying DebtMarket, an exchange for distressed home debt. A sequence of acquisitions followed that targeted the control points of a next generation operating system. 

MERS provided a trusted “golden record” of the owner of the mortgage loan asset, Simplifile reaches the county recording end-points, IDC integrated $5.2B of data services, Ellie Mae added $11B of origination processing, risQ made location risk visible and now Black Knight delivers another $11B of MLS capability, public data and consumer payments.  This massive bet on a digital future delivers trusted connections to verify parts (data), eliminates rework, assures quality and collapses the cycle time of a loan.

The power of innovation

ICE’s network, data and trading system architecture can power innovation to transform fixed income capital markets.  A “Housing Capital Cloud” would unify the fragmented ecosystem to package, evaluate and distribute information based “durable goods.” Lenders should expect to redesign workflows and business rules to determine if a loan is “Fit 4 Sale.”

Homebuyers and other investors will gain better views of risk and return as hyper local “Forward” projections inform valuations and pricing for a range of assets. A “Lens” that creates a shared understanding of all property sub-markets may enable the private and public sectors to effectively target capital that meets the challenges of housing affordability, struggling downtowns, fiscal imbalances and social inequities that unevenly affect every community.      

The basis of competition is shifting as ICE, CoStar, Zillow, and the GSEs after release, contend for consumer attention, top producer loyalty and data supremacy.  ICE has previewed a Consumer Engagement Suite which could deliver a list-to-loan-to-servicing experience.  Realtors have a structural advantage as the listing event is the signal to downstream transactions.  Will they ever share in the value of their data to profit beyond the first point of sale?

ICE promises a systemwide upgrade where everyone wins except the unstable status quo. Digitization will enable industry efficiency, new choices for consumers and communities, reliable liquidity for capital markets and risk aware pricing of guarantees.  The “on platform” first movers will grow profit margins, gain market share and build brand equity by controlling their digital rights, adopting interoperability standards and creating greater value from local networks. Success means zero defect loans, costing $2K to manufacture, for 5M new homes, built in the right places.

This merger means modernization that advances real estate toward an adaptive, sustainable and connected future.  

Stuart McFarland is the former EVP Operations and CFO at Fannie Mae, EVP General Manager at GE Capital Mortgage  Services, and CEO at GE Capital Asset Management.

Source: housingwire.com

Apache is functioning normally

The New York-based Bowery Valuation has just announced Series A funding in the amount of $12 million to further its technology-powered real estate appraisal platform. According to the announcement, Bowery raised the capital from Builders VC, Camber Creek, Corigin Ventures, Fika Ventures, and Navitas Capital.

Bowery Valuation aims to fix the broken property appraisal system

Bowery Valuation makes technology that appraisers can use to streamline and make more effective their efforts. A mobile app, for instance, enables users to check off items without having to write down details. As ordinary as this function may sound, it’s surprising nobody else thought of creating tech before Bowery. This app even pulls data from the cloud so appraisers don’t have to surf to find it.

There’s also natural language capability that helps users generate reports. The company narrative says the technology-driven innovations “modernize the appraisal process,” and considering pencils and paper are still the “go to” tools of appraisers… Well, the best innovations are the simplest ones, and Bowery’s team seems to have reinvented the appraisal wheel.
Jim Kim, General Partner of Builders VC, and lead investor offered this statement via BusinessWire:

“Bowery brings a whole new way of thinking around appraisals and efficiency when it comes to using technology in the antiquated world of real estate valuation. Builders VC is thrilled to be investing in this team and company, applying a modern mindset and technology to an outdated industry.”

Moving forward, Bowery Valuation is now rolling out a white-label version of the aforementioned app for customers and is expanding outside the company’s original licensing areas in the Eastern U.S. Bowery Valuation has moved out of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Conneticut, into L.A. and Chicago, with other markets in coming into range. Co-founder Noah Isaacs, told reporters his company wants to be in either Los Angeles or Chicago in the next few months. Isaacs told reporters Bowery has tripled its customer base since March of 2018. Bowery Valuation is currently focused on multi-family and mixed-use assets, but the company has plans to expand to other commercial properties in 2019, according to Isaacs.

Isaacs and his childhood pal John Meadows, founded Bowery back in 2015 after the duo worked together at the same appraisal firm in New York. Bowery is based on the vast experience the two gleaned from working in the business, and improvements the founders knew would make a difference for appraisers. Joining the co-founders, Princeton economics wiz, Cesar Devers came aboard as CTO before the three got accepted to the startup accelerator MetaProp NYC.

In the past year alone, Bowery has raised a total of $17 million, tripled its client base, revenue, and headcount, and valued more than $3 billion in commercial real estate. Bowery is now working extensively with top-tier lenders and operating in New York, New Jersey, 

Phil Butler is a former engineer, contractor, and telecommunications professional who is editor of several influential online media outlets including part owner of Pamil Visions with wife Mihaela. Phil began his digital ramblings via several of the world’s most noted tech blogs, at the advent of blogging as a form of journalistic license. Phil is currently top interviewer, and journalist at Realty Biz News.

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Source: realtybiznews.com