Author: Brad Beckett

Black Knight Financial Services is reporting the their “first look” at September 2015 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database which represents a majority of the national mortgage market. Delinquency rate up 1.7% in September, still 14% below last year’s level Overall non-current inventory (all loans 30 or more days past due or in foreclosure) now 3.2 million Despite delinquency rate rise, 90-day delinquent and foreclosure inventories continue to improve Prepayment activity (single month mortality rate) continues to slow; down to 1.07% in September Click here to read the full report, Loan Delinquency Rate Rises for Second Consecutive…

HousingWire is reporting that Ocwen Financial failed four metrics in the second half of 2014, according to a new report filed by Joseph Smith, monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. These deemed failures are part of Ocwen’s Global Corrective Action Plan to address previously reported issues with incorrect dates on correspondence to borrowers. Click here to read the full story on HousingWire. Click here for information about Joint State-Federal National Mortgage Servicing Settlements.

Citing data from several reliable sources, a recent infographic in HousingWire reports that 89% of renters think owning a home is part of the American Dream and 32% of homebuyers plan to buy in the next two years.  Another interesting take-away, from the technology side, is that Facebook is the most used social platform among renters. Click here to read the full story.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that existing-home sales rebounded strongly in September following August’s decline and have now increased year–over–year for 12 consecutive months.   All four major regions experienced sales gains in September. “September home sales bounced back solidly after slowing in August and are now at their second highest pace since February 2007 (5.79 million),” he said. “While current price growth around 6 percent is still roughly double the pace of wages, affordability has slightly improved since the spring and is helping to keep demand at a strong and sustained pace,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief…

As Travel becomes more and more routine in people’s lives so do the opportunities for criminals to ply their trade.  Recently there has been a new scam going around targeting hotel guests.  It’s referred to as the “Front Desk Scam” and it’s being used by criminals who call your hotel room and pretend to be from the front desk.  They then say there is something wrong with your credit card or they need to verify some other sensitive personal information.  Knoxville’s WBIR TV reported on this issue last summer when scammers called the wrong room – the one with the…

The U.S. Dept. of Commerce is reporting that housing starts rose 6.5% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million in September.  An 18.3% surge in multifamilies led the increase.  This number represents the sixth straight month that starts were above 1 million and suggests a sustainable housing recovery.  Some takeaways: Multi-family starts rose 18.3% Housing starts increase 6.5% in September Single-family starts gain 0.3% While building permits fell 5%, their pace is above 1 million In addition, the an index of home builder confidence released this week by the National Association of Home Builders rose to…

Realtor.com, using 2015 data from the EPA, ranked the 100 largest metropolitan areas by their percentage of days with good air quality to come up with a list of the nation’s top 10 cities with the best and worst air quality conditions. The best: The worst: Click here to read the full report at Realtor.com

Internet rental-search-site Rent.Com recently released their 7th annual “Property Owner and Manager Market Report” that captures trends in the rental market directly from over 500 apartment property managers nationwide. Highlights from the report: 34% reported that renters are holding on tight to their apartments and renewing their leases (up from 29% in 2014). More than half reported seeing an increase in the number of former homeowners seeking rental apartments, thus adding to the already crowded rental space. Increased demand and low inventory were the primary reasons for increasing rental rates over the last year. 88% raised their rent in the…

Over on Inman, a former records manager for a local government shares her insights on the importance and often overlooked value of using records centers & permit desks when preparing to buy real estate. “Real estate is about planning for the future, and no one wants to buy a home only to learn that the zoning requirements prohibit them from making alterations they desire….Taking just a few minutes to check any of these sources might save you and your client a big headache in the long-run.” Read the full story here.  (subscription may be required)

Note: Infographics are a great way to sift through aggregated data and make sense of market current trends.  While we might not fully agree with the conclusions drawn from such illustrations, the data within are often highly valuable to real estate investors – especially footnoted from reliable sources. Case in point;  According to AffordableOnlineColleges.net there is a “rental housing crisis” in the United States resulting from the recent housing crisis, economic recession and stagnant wages.  There findings show that nearly half of all renters spend more than 30% of their monthly incomes on rent, with one in four paying more…