Housing News
FHA to expand acceptance of electronic signatures
FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens recently announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) intends to expand its acceptance of electronic signatures on certain documents.
In April, FHA began accepting electronic signatures on third party documents like sales contracts. With this announcement, FHA will begin to accept e-signatures on lender originated documents (e.g. the Uniform Residential Loan Application) and loan disclosures that are signed by borrowers. FHA also stated that they may, in the future, begin to accept electronic signatures on lender originated documents to be signed by lenders’ representatives (underwriter certifications.)
A memo detailing the announcement and FAQs can be found here.
What do you think? Does this help modernize the real estate transaction process? What hurdles still remain?
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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.
Click here to continue reading this story…
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.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Jim Duncan
June 7, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Now, if we can just get the processors, the underwriters, the lenders … to accept them. They are the hold up. I’ve sent the FHA memorandum to lenders who send them to the underwriters who return the answer, “No.”
Progress is a difficult thing.
Melanie Wyne
June 8, 2010 at 11:05 am
Jim,
“Progress is a difficult thing.” Amen.
Joe
June 8, 2010 at 9:32 pm
One step closer to paperless, eh! That’s what we like about DocuSign. We are eliminating paper, now if we can make money without having to deal with clients… [grins]
An Bui, DocuSign Social Media
June 8, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Melanie, Thanks for helping spread the word about FHA’s policy on eSignatures.
Jim, we’re working with the lenders & other third parties about eSignature acceptance. Please let us know if you want us to talk with your lenders.
Best,
An
Nick Sweeney, DotLoop Social Media
June 9, 2010 at 8:25 am
This, of course, is great news.
I find it odd, however, that the FHA is a full decade behind the times. The ESIGN and UETA Acts of 2000 made electronic signatures as legally valid as “wet” signatures – this is how you are able to buy items off of eBay or Amazon without having to put a Bic pen to your screen.
By the way, any lender not “accepting” electronic signatures is in violation of the law.
Thanks for reminding us of the new FHA acceptance.
Doug Francis
June 9, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Hey, isn’t that a DocuSign ad on the right sidebar?
Kidding aside, I am glad that the FHA is issuing guidance since this is a good service.
Fred Romano
June 11, 2010 at 1:12 pm
DocuSign is amazing! I could not run my business as smoothly without it 🙂