Dazzling December...
Happy Holidays! We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving gathering with family and friends. As 2021 draws to a close, it is important to take time out of our busy schedules to pause and say "thank you" to those who are important to us. It is in this spirit, that we extend a personal thank you to you; our valued clients who are the heart and soul of Benutech. We are driven by our ongoing commitment to provide you with the products, experiences and services that earn your trust. On behalf of all of us at Benutech, we wish you and yours, much health, happiness and success in the coming year.
Now, let's take a look at the activity and circumstances that are creating "life event" changes in the news. Homes are selling at a "blistering" pace, bidding wars still creating a burden, it is "brutal" for 1st time buyers, boomers face challenges in downsizing, bankruptcies continue upward trend, home sales profit hit 10 year high, mortgaged homes that were equity-rich rose to 39.5%, builders say labor shortages at record highs and keep an eye on: family and larger homes are driving moves, foreign buyers to return to U.S. real estate en masse, millennials to keep housing strong for years to come and millennial-fueled baby boom appears on its way.
With a few clicks of a button Title Toolbox makes it extremely easy to share your data and research to your clients and prospects.
Enjoy!...
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This is what the news brought in November...
The big picture.... current life event circumstances, activity and highlights the news reported throughout October:
- ‘Quicker and Quicker’: Homes Selling at Blistering Pace. A new report from Redfin found that 33% of homes sell within a week of hitting the market (DSnews)
- Why Co-Working Spaces Are Betting on the Suburbs. Start-ups are betting that the pandemic has spawned a new kind of worker who wants an office space closer to home, without the long commute. (The New York Times)
- Cities and climate change: why low-rise buildings are the future – not skyscrapers. More than half of the world’s 7.8 billion people live in cities and urban areas. By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion will be living there. As that figure continues to climb and ever more people flock to metropolitan areas in the hope of a better life. (THE CONVERSATION)
- Zillow Seeks to Sell 7,000 Homes for $2.8 Billion After Flipping Halt. The company is seeking roughly $2.8 billion for the houses, which are being pitched to institutional investors, according to people familiar with the matter. (Bloomberg Wealth)
- Boomer Wealth Is Surging in Florida, Leaving Workers Behind. The state’s combination of aging population and lack of affordable housing makes it the “canary in the coal mine” for the rest of the U.S. (Bloomberg)
- Baby Boomers Face Challenges to Downsize. Older home buyers shopping for a smaller home that they will find easier to maintain are struggling to find enough selection in today’s housing market. It’s making downsizing increasingly difficult. (REALTOR Magazine)
- Millennials to Keep Housing Strong for Years to Come. Expanding wealth and growing families are prompting more millennials to become homeowners. Millennials have accounted for the largest share of home buyers over the past year—37%, reports Barron’s. (REALTOR Magazine)
- Bankruptcies Continue Upward Trend. Filings rose by 1.8% last month representing 31,471 filings of all types, up from the 30,920 seen is September. (DSnews)
- How Will Higher Mortgage Rates Impact Home Buying? Higher mortgage rates—pushing above 3% for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage—could help lessen the competition. “That could make home buying less expensive if buyers aren’t spending as much on their homes and engaging in crazy bidding wars—possibly a welcome lifeline for many first-time buyers who’ve been barred from homeownership by record-high prices,” realtor.com® reports. (REALTOR Magazine)
- Home Sale Profit Margins Hit 10-Year High. The latest U.S. Home Sales Report from ATTOM has shown that profit margins on median-priced single-family U.S. homes and condos jumped to 47.6% in Q3, hitting highs not seen since the close of the Great Recession nearly a decade ago. (DSNews)
- Bidding Wars Still Burden Unsuccessful Buyers. Forty-five percent of prospective buyers recently surveyed say they keep getting outbid by other offers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Home Builders. (REALTOR Magazine)
- The Housing Market for First-Time Buyers? It’s Brutal. Survey: For first-timers, it’s not just finding a house and putting in a winning bid, though that provides enough stress to deter some buyers from the market. 80% of first-timers lost at least two days off work, 39% faced down payment problems and 37% were outbid at least once. (Florida Realtors)
- Investors Are Returning to the Market in Big Ways. Investor purchases of homes was up 59% year-over-year when compared to 2020 and is also up by 21% from 2019. (MReport)
- Sales of pregnancy tests are on the rise. That's good news for retailers like Walmart and Target, Bank of America says. A millennial-fueled baby boom appears on its way. In a monthly survey by the company, 11.3% of respondents said they or their partner are expecting or trying to have a baby over the next 12 month period. (CNBC)
- Mortgage delinquency rate continues to shrink. However, some borrowers are still facing severe financial challenges. (Housingwire)
- Foreign buyers to return to U.S. real estate en masse. “We’re expecting a flood of buyers across all our markets in the U.S.,” a spokesperson for Knight Frank told CNBC. (REALTY BIZ NEWS)
- Shift to Cash-Out Refis Becoming Apparent. Black Knight, in its Mortgage Monitor Originations Report, said that the decline in rate/term activity drove the refinance share of the market down to just 45 percent lock volume, the lowest it's been since June of this year. (MORTGAGE News Daily)
- Home prices are now rising much faster than incomes, studies show. In the last decade, the median home price rose roughly 30% and incomes crept up just 11% over the same time period. (CNBC)
- Wall Street vs. Main Street: 10 Cities Where First-Time Buyers Are Battling Investors for the Best Homes. 1. Memphis, TN, 2. Birmingham, AL, 3. St. Louis, MO, 4. Charlotte, NC, 5. Jacksonville, FL, 6. Phoenix, AZ, 7. Oklahoma City, OK, 8. Indianapolis, IN, 9. Louisville, KY, 10. Las Vegas, NV. (realtor.com)
- Equity-Rich Properties Increase in Q3. In the third quarter, the portion of mortgaged homes that were equity-rich rose to 39.5%, up from 34.4% in the second quarter and 28.3% year-over-year. (DSnews)
- Fed’s Bostic sees interest rate hike coming next year as inflation lingers. The central bank official told CNBC that he has “penciled in” a rate increase in “late third, maybe early fourth” quarter of 2022.(CNBC)
- Looking to buy your first home? Good luck: You've got about one week. Even as home prices surge to record highs, properties across the U.S. are selling faster than ever, typically getting snatched up after only one week on the market. (CBS News)
- Family, Larger Homes Driving Moves. Eighteen percent of buyers said they wanted to move closer to family, friends, and relatives, and 17% of repeat buyers also desired a larger home, according to the report. (REALTOR Magazine)
- Retirees Spend a Lot of Time and Money to Buy Their ‘Forever Home.’ Then They Sell It. It doesn’t take long for people to discover that what’s perfect now is far from perfect before too long. And it costs them. (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
- Home Auctions Growing in Popularity. Of the various age groups, millennials (ages 25-40) were more open to buying at an auction than their older counterparts, with 75% stating that they would consider buying a home at auction, compared to 65% of those in Generation X (ages 41-56), and the number dips even lower to just 54% of baby boomers (ages 57-75). (DSnews)
- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Back Home Loans of Nearly $1 Million as Prices Soar. The federal government is about to back mortgages of nearly $1 million for the first time. (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
- Is The ‘Great Resignation’ Actually A Mass Retirement? Fully two-thirds of the folks leaving jobs this past August weren’t actually ‘quitting.’ They were retiring. One million were ‘normal’ retirements, an additional 1.5 million opted for early retirement. (Forbes)
- Builders Say Labor Shortages at Record Highs. The share of builders reporting a shortage of labor reached a record high of 76% in October, well above the previous peak of 67% that was set at the end of the 1990s, the NAHB reports. (REALTOR Magazine)
- Mortgage refinance demand continues its free fall, as interest rates rise again. (CNBC)
- Data’s Role in the Mortgage Industry. Data is a key factor in understanding the customer. Data also helps lenders and servicers determine the loss risk on loans. An area where data and analytics tools are used often is fraud detection. (DSnews)
- US home builders can’t get houses up fast enough to meet demand. Labor and material shortages are now the bottleneck in the housing market. The gap between housing demand and construction capacity is widening due to supply chain and labor constraints kicked off during the pandemic. (QUARTZ)
- Where Early Retirees Are Relocating. Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Georgia, Maine, Louisiana. (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS)
- Tracking the Nation’s FSBO Sales. A new study by Zillow has found that, over the past three years, advertised and sold directly by owners without enlisting the services of an agent—For Sale By Owner—made up 4% to 6% of all home listings nationally. Zillow also found that FSBOs were found mostly in more rural pockets of the nation than busier cities and suburbs. (MReport)
- How Austin Became One of the Least Affordable Cities in America. But with an average of 180 new residents a day arriving, its popularity has created a brewing housing crisis that is reshaping the city. (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
- Growing Old in High Style. A new crop of luxury senior housing is turning retirement into a five-star resort stay. (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
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3 Powerful Farming Lead Types |
Not sure which leads to farm? Click on the video image (left) and you will learn how to use Title Toolbox to farm a few of our most popular FREE lead types: Empty Nesters, Possible Next Sellers, and Out of State Owners. |
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In this video (click on image to the right) you will learn how to use Title Toolbox to access the Premier Data tab to get email addresses and phone numbers for specific lead types. You can then email a "Lead Sheet" to your customers containing life events in their farming areas. |
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Trainers Tips
DuBois Discusses Data
Happy Holidays and the Data Doc is still at it - no rest when I have patients to tend!
This roller coaster of a year is quickly speeding to its demise.
I had a lot of questions in November:
Title Rep Ms. Z’s client wanted to know:
· How can there be more email contacts than physical addresses unless it's providing multiple emails (No.) at the same home. This is an estimate for BOTH phones and emails.
· What happens if the email address or phone number are invalid? We have virtually no complaints about quality.
· Do I still pay for those? Typically, we do not refund for a few inaccurate emails or phone numbers. If it is a significant amount than that is a case-by-case scenario we would address. BTW, you only are charged for the matches. The initial amount is an estimate, but average 75% phones and 35% email captures.
· If so, how often is the list scrubbed? We clearly state these are NOT scrubbed against the DNC registry.
· Are years in home available as a column? I see the sold date and can do the math manually but would be easier if it was just another column. Sorry, no you would have to “do the math.”
· Are there any demographics available about the homeowner? There is no demographic information in our platform.
· For those listed as "non-owner" (likely renter) is the name shown the actual owner of the property or the person living at the property? No renter information, owner only.
· And can we get the mailing/email/phone of the actual owner, even if out of state? Yes, for this one.
Please be safe and send in your 2022(!) resolutions for our next column discussion. If we receive enough, it might be a double column and I know you all want that!
Regards,
Jim
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