5-24-18 Newz//UAD and Fannie Form Changes. Floating Island. Refis dropping

Excerpt: There’s no way it’s going to sell that high. Have you ever thought that in real estate? Well, let’s talk about a property that many said would never sell at $4.1M, but then it did. I definitely have some takeaways about this lofty condo in Downtown Sacramento (CA), and I hope non-locals will relate to the commentary. (My note: median home sale price is $367,500)

Details and lots of graphs at:

My comment: The median home sale price is $367,500. This is definitely an outlier for the area.

Excerpts: The Floating Island Project plans to create off-shore housing that uses its own currency and operates outside of government regulations.

– The project is a pilot program in partnership with the government of French Polynesia.

– A long-term vision for the project is hundreds of new countries floating on the ocean.

As well as offering a home for the displaced, the self-contained islands are designed to function as business centers that are beyond the influence of government regulation.

Check out the video and lots more details at:

Excerpts: In Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court made a significant change in independent contractor law, adopting an “ABC” test for determining whether an individual is an employee under the Wage Orders.1   Although other states use the ABC test, its wording varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.  Here, the Court adopted a version that tracks Massachusetts’ ABC test.  The net effect is that it makes it significantly more difficult for California employers to show workers qualify as independent contractors.  Employers should now re-assess their workers’ classification and decide whether they should reclassify their workers as employees…

B) the worker performs work outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.  For example, a plumber providing plumbing services to a bakery is outside the usual course of the bakery’s business; but a cake decorator hired to decorate the bakery’s cakes is not outside the usual course of business…

Discusses other states’ laws

—————-

Excerpt: While the full effect of the decision may take some time to settle in, and while the decision also doesn’t resolve employee/contractor determination for every purpose (such as reimbursement of expenses), I expect that we will soon see something of a wave of litigation against appraisal firms that treat staff appraisers as independent contractors in California.

Copy of the opinion plus more details on the case and how it affects appraisal firms and AMCs who have staff appraisers classified as ICs.

——————————————————

Excerpt: The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted in favor of S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. The bill seeks to evolve and streamline regulations put in place by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The final vote in the House was 258-159.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 23, 2018) – Mortgage applications decreased 2.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 18, 2018.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 4 percent from the previous week to its lowest level since December 2000. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 3 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 35.7 percent of total applications from 35.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.8 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications remained unchanged at 10.3 percent from the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 9.8 percent from 10.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.8 percent from the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($453,100 or less) increased to its highest level since April 2011, 4.86 percent, from 4.77 percent, with points increasing to 0.52 from 0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $453,100) increased to its highest level since September 2013, 4.81 percent from 4.73 percent, with points increasing to 0.42 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to its highest level since May 2011, 4.90 percent from 4.78 percent, with points increasing to 0.85 from 0.76 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to its highest level since February 2011, 4.31 percent from 4.20 percent, with points increasing to 0.56 from 0.53 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to its highest level in the history of the survey, 4.12 percent from 4.09 percent, with points decreasing to 0.46 from 0.56 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.

The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.