Housing News
Details of $26B mortgage settlement now made public
America’s five largest mortgage servicers settled with the government in their largest civil suit, second only to the tobacco settlement decades ago. Details are now out as to what the settlement offers to underwater homeowners and victims of illegal foreclosure, outlined in over 300 pages per servicer.
Relief measures outlined in hundreds of pages
Last month, the historic $26 billion mortgage settlement was finalized between 49 states’ attorneys general, the federal government and America’s largest mortgage servicers Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Cigitroup and Ally Financial for illegal foreclosure practices.
Settlement details were not made completely public until today, as the U.S. Department of Justice filed agreements with all five servicers separately, each consisting of over 300 pages in which relief measures were outlined in detail that will go toward helping underwater borrowers and victims of illegal foreclosures. Until today, relief measures and details on how foreclosures would be handled in the future were only made public by statements to the press by officials and single page summaries.
The settlement that stalled repeatedly for over a year is pending final judicial approval, but is expected to be approved. Last week, details were released, outlining how service members illegally foreclosed upon or currently underwater would be given relief.
Related: visual breakdown of the multi-billion dollar mortgage settlement
Relief and oversight
Additionally, Bank of America had already released details confirming 200,000 of their borrowers would receive an average of $100,000 in relief, a reduction in principal much higher than the other four banks in the settlement would be offering their borrowers. Homeowners must qualify and any mortgage owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will not qualify for principal reduction from Bank of America.
The settlement details outline that homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure by any of these five banks or their acquired banks over the past three years may see checks up to $2,000. Many critics note that the most overlooked segment of homeowner in this settlement is the very homeowners who were illegally foreclosed upon, who may now find difficulty in pursuing civil action against these banks in light of this national settlement.
Federal and state agencies will now oversee the process more closely, according to the settlement, and more stringent standards will be in place for these banks. Bank of America, Ally Financial, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo have settled civilly, but all remain vulnerable to criminal charges which are being pursued by a task force recently formed by the Obama administration.
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
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