Over 50% of workers are 100% remote with another 20% sometimes working remotely due to the pandemic. Will this trend reverse this year with the rollout of the vaccine? How will this impact real estate in the short term and…
The Coronavirus has impacted businesses throughout the economy and real estate is not immune from the radical changes caused by social distancing and lockdowns. How will the real estate industry adapt to the changes? What does this mean for the…
I was amazed that there hasn’t been much fanfare about Costar’s recent purchase. Costar is the largest commercial property data company (Loopnet, Costar, Apartment.com, etc…) with a market cap of 35 billion dollars. The Homesnap purchase is an indicator of…
What a year 2020 has been! The pandemic struck, unemployment has hit records, there was a nice rebound in the summer, and recently a downward trend due to the spike in Coronavirus cases. What does 2021 hold for the economy,…
We are seeing interesting economic times; throughout the economy there is huge consolidation within industries as the big get even bigger. Real estate is following a similar trajectory to big technology companies. What is causing the huge changes in real…
There is a new legislative proposal to radically alter the appraisal industry. Should the use of comparables be arbitrary when establishing appraised value? Do appraisers need to better “appreciate” a neighborhood (what does this even mean?) Should an appraiser use…
FHA has placed a moratorium on foreclosures from mortgage loan defaults and offered any borrower that requests it an extension to not make payments for a year (HUD). This effectively kicks the can down the road and pushed out any…
If you have been tracking interest rates in the mortgage market, your head is likely spinning. Mortgage rates hit a record low of 3% less than a week later rates have risen again. What is causing the drastic swings? Is…
The mortgage market is an interesting animal. Long term mortgage rates traditionally track the 10 year treasury and historically trade in a very narrow band, approximately one percent higher than the 10 year treasuries. This would put mortgages today in…
When the shutdowns from the pandemic rippled through the economy, I saw statistics that up to a third of all mortgages could end in default. At the same time, home sales of previously owned homes just dropped to a 10…
