We all are obviously aware that the world record for most simultaneous snow angels is held by North Dakota, but we don’t generally think of them when it comes to changes in our industry. A new request from the governor’s office could see North Dakota leading a change in our industry, just as they lead the nation in honey production. I’ll spare you more North Dakota trivia (enjoy more facts here), but Governor Doug Burgum has requested that limits on appraisal requirements be

The FHA was created in 1934 to get the housing industry off its feet. According to the FHA, mortgages were tough to come by for most homeowners, requiring 50%+ down payments and short-term notes with balloon payments, and only 40% of households owned their home. This new program allowed more Americans to buy homes in the post-war boom and made the housing industry a cornerstone of the economy. The catch? Homeownership levels are now over 64% (according to the census burea

Last week, we posted about the $5.5 trillion in equity that homeowners are sitting on and pondered when and how homeowners would start to tap into this equity. According to the census bureau, the current average sales price of a home in the US is $376,700 but just 5 years ago it was $312,500. That is an increase of $64,200 (or 20%) in just 5 years! With a surge in housing prices, most homeowners are probably unaware that their assets have appreciated so quickly and may be i

In my previous blog post, I discussed how home prices were outpacing the average US wage. A short housing supply and an ever-increasing demand for home purchases seemed to be the catalyst for all this. This week we received more data to confirm this general market trend. Applications for mortgages jumped 4.8 percent last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted report. This happened as interest rates rose again last week

The weather in Pittsburgh today is keeping in line with what Punxsutawney Phil predicted last week… 6 more weeks of winter. The icy roads and fear of tunnels make commuting to work in these conditions stressful and time consuming, but are we stuck doing this forever? This article from Bloomberg the other day brings up some interesting points as we rush to grab the next driverless Uber and makes you consider…will location be the most important thing for real estate in the fu

In this day and age, data is everything. Accessing specific data allows companies to create strategic marketing plans and target customer groups that are flying under the radar. Mortgage loans are a commoditized product, so lenders are constantly looking for ways to create competitive advantages to increase their market share. With the expansion of HMDA data collection starting January 1, 2018 , certain lenders are seeing this as an opportunity rather than a burden. According