Deborah Kearns

Homebuyers are continuing to turn to new construction as the antidote for a continued lack of existing homes for sale.
Mortgage applications for newly built homes jumped 15.7% in February from a year ago, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Builder Application Survey.
While new-home mortgage applications only rose 1% from January, it’s clear that competition is spurring homebuyers to consider new homes even as mortgage rates fluctuate.
“New home purchase act...

Mortgage industry analysts have been watching and waiting to see what the Federal Reserve will do—or say—next about rate cuts. They’re hedging their bets that the Fed will cut rates this year and, as an indirect result, mortgage rates will fall, too, and help revive the housing market.
Watch for coverage of today’s Fed meeting in RISMedia’s Daily News tomorrow.
Economic data plays a key role in the Fed’s timing, though. A key performance metric Fed officials and economists watch is the person...

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 27 to decide whether a New York state law that requires mortgage lenders to pay homeowners interest earned on mortgage escrow accounts should be enforced. That’s according to Supreme Court docket files and reporting from the Consumer Finance Group of Ballard Spahr, a national law firm.
A split circuit court decision on the issue landed the case in front of the Supreme Court. In all, 13 states have passed similar laws requiring mortgage l...

In a mixed bag for housing, mortgage applications for new homes jumped in March, while new-construction sales simultaneously fell amid affordability woes, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
Mortgage applications for new-home purchases rose 6.2% in March compared to the same period last year, according to data from the MBA’s Builder Application Survey (BAS). Meanwhile, March saw a 1% bump in new-home loan applications compared to February.
Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and d...

Ask anyone in the housing industry and they’ll agree that 2023 was one of the most brutal years in the industry since the Great Recession.
While some of the same headwinds—high mortgage rates, low housing inventory and lower mortgage demand—that stifled business growth last year have carried into this year, there’s reason for optimism. Executives at a handful of the nation’s top mortgage lenders say they’re confident about a market turnaround in 2024 and their company’s position to emerge str...

You may be wondering why current mortgage interest rates seem so high. The short answer: Rates are influenced by broad and complex economic conditions, including rampant inflation that the U.S. economy had long forgotten.
Fortunately, it’s possible to lower your current mortgage rate — by pulling levers you can actually reach, such as saving up for a larger down payment, buying a less expensive home or paying down existing debt.
After taking a snapshot of today’s home loan rates, we’ll review...

For small business owners and self-employed workers, there is an instant feeling of relief when a client’s payment hits their bank account. But if you’re constantly chasing invoices, it can be a financial nightmare that could have a wide-ranging impact on your business.
There has been a 20% increase in companies reporting average payment times of more than 80 days for payments made between 1 March 2023 and 1 January 2024, according to research by Good Business Pays, which campaigns on behalf ...

Navigating day-to-day life with a disability or a serious illness such as cancer can be overwhelming. Add a lack of support from your employer, and it’s an even bigger mountain to climb.
In the UK, 10.21 million people of working age (16 to 64) reported that they had a disability between October and December 2023. That’s nearly a quarter of the working-age population, according to the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey. And 5.53 million working-age people with a disability rep...

Credit scores can change daily, with numerous factors driving your score up or down. If you like to keep close tabs on your credit, seeing an unexpected drop in your score can be alarming — but it’s not always cause for concern. And it isn’t the main thing consumers with a lot of debt should focus on first, says Cathy Plowman, a certified credit counselor with Credit Canada, a non-profit debt relief and credit counseling agency.
“They’re so focused on the score [that] they’re forgetting the f...

Building your credit score takes time and consistent effort. And if you’re starting from scratch as a young adult or a newcomer to Canada, you might wonder if getting a credit card is the only way to unlock your credit health.
The short answer: Credit cards aren’t the only way to build credit, but they’re definitely a popular one.
Credit cards remain a common credit-building tool
An all-time high of 31.2 million Canadians had at least one credit product — often a credit card or personal loan ...

Editor’s Note: What follows is the cover story in the January issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine.
Real estate moves fast, and how quickly you respond to prospective clients can make or break your chances of getting their business. Mortgage lenders, on the other hand, have a captive audience and don’t always feel the same urgency.
At Quicken Loans, though, that’s not the case.
Emails and phone calls are answered quickly, typically within minutes. And it’s not just borrowers who are viewe...

As the sluggish 2023 housing market retreats farther from view, new industry data points to reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the upcoming spring home-buying season.
Thanks to lower mortgage rates as of late, affordability pressures have eased. The share of income needed to buy a median home in the U.S. decreased by nearly 5 percentage points in December from October’s 28-year high, according to the February 2024 ICE Mortgage Monitor Report released Monday.
Mortgage rates, which hit n...

New construction is having its time in the sun.
Applications for new-home purchases jumped 22.2% in December 2023 compared to a year ago, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) released this past Thursday.
This marks the 11th consecutive year-over-year lift in new-home purchase applications.
“The low level of existing homes for sale continues to divert prospective buyers to newly built homes,” Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy ch...

Editor’s Note: This was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. See what else is cookin’ now at blog.rismedia.com:
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In this second article of a three-part series, learn all about how real estate agents can utilize predictive analytics to make positive changes and predictions in their business.
You’re always loo...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday signaled that rate cuts are coming this year, sticking to the Fed’s cautious script about slashing rates too quickly before it has a sustained handle on inflation.
“In our pursuit of our dual mandate, the Federal Reserve remains steadfast in promoting maximum employment and stable prices for the American people,” Powell said Wednesday morning in prepared remarks during his semi-annual testimony before lawmakers on the House Financial Services C...