Eliminate real estate appraisers?

Excerpt: When I ask people what they think the market is going to do I get quite a few, “I’m really not sure” answers. It seems like many people are floating the idea the market could be flat or experience something very modest – whether up or down.

Lots of topics: concessions, relocating to another state, cannabis, creative financing, etc. Plus, lots of appraiser comments, of course!!

My comment: If I knew what the real estate market was going to do I would be Very, Very  Rich!!

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 Excerpt from company press release:

Bowery’s Co-CEO Noah Isaacs said, “Before starting Bowery, John and I spent several years appraising at one of the largest independent appraisal firms in the country. We were spending 50-60% of our time on busy work-manual data entry and copying and pasting.” John Meadows, Co-CEO went on to say, “We knew that there was a better way to appraise and set out to build a unique toolset for appraisers. With this round of funding, we can’t wait to continue our mission of creating efficiency throughout the appraisal process and offering our clients best in class service.”

Link to press release: https://boweryres.com/press

Web site: https://boweryres.com/

You can post a comment here: https://therealdeal.com/2019/01/04/appraisal-startup-bowery-valuation-raises-12m-in-series-a/  Scroll down the page.

My comment: I wondered when someone would do something techie for commercial appraisals. I was surprised that venture capitalists were interested. But, in the past, some companies invested in residential appraisal firms. It did not go well.

If you know anything about what this company is doing tech-wise or otherwise, please hit the reply button. I ran out of time to do any research and am very curious!!

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Excerpt: In his Economic Outlook for January, Nothaft says he expects mortgage rates to reach their highest levels in a decade this year, affecting home buyers’ monthly payments and lessening the impact of new conforming loan limits. But the larger effect will be on refinancing. Millions of homeowners have already refinanced into the record low rates over the last few years, and they, as well as those who have purchased during the same period, are unlikely to refinance unless they need to cash out some of their home equity.

My comment: Well written with good graphs. Worth reading. Is Nothaft correct? No one knows, of course… waaay to many unknown and uncertain factors…

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Excerpt: Housing prices rise and fall, buyers come and go, decor comes in and goes out of fashion, but one constant remains throughout the real estate industry.  Photographic ineptitude and a lack of attention to detail.  This blog is a tribute to an important and unrecognised photographic genre, and to the artists who contribute to it so regularly, and with such low-quality offerings.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 9, 2019) – Mortgage applications increased 23.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 4, 2019. This week’s results include an adjustment for the New Year’s Day holiday.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 23.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 68 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 35 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 17 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 59 percent compared with the previous week and was 4 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“Mortgage rates fell across the board last week and applications rebounded sharply, after what was a slower than usual holiday period. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined 10 basis points to 4.74 percent, the lowest since April 2018, and other loan types saw rate decreases of between 9 and 20 basis points,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “This drop in rates spurred a flurry of refinance activity – particularly for borrowers with larger loans – and pushed the average loan size on refinance applications to the highest in the survey (at $339,800). The surge in refinance activity also brought the refinance index to its highest level since last July.”

Added Kan, “Purchase applications had their strongest week in a month, finishing over 4 percent higher than a year ago, as both conventional and government purchase activity bounced back with solid gains after a sluggish holiday season.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to its highest level since February 2018, 45.8 percent of total applications, from 42.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 8.4 percent of total applications. The average loan size for refinance applications reached a survey high at $339,800.

The FHA share of total applications increased to 10.3 percent from 10.0 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to its highest level since March 2017, 11.6 percent, from 11.0 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.6 percent from the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) decreased to its lowest level since April 2018, 4.74 percent, from 4.84 percent, with points increasing to 0.47 from 0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $484,350) decreased to its lowest level since February 2018, 4.52 percent, from 4.72 percent, with points decreasing to 0.28 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to its lowest level since April 2018, 4.70 percent, from 4.86 percent, with points decreasing to 0.47 from 0.54 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to its lowest level since April 2018, 4.16 percent, from 4.25 percent, with points decreasing to 0.35 from 0.60 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to its lowest level since August 2018, 4.05 percent, from 4.16 percent, with points decreasing to 0.32 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased 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.