(Orange County Register/SCNG) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a new rule last Monday requiring mortgage servicers to delay foreclosure proceedings on principal residences until after Dec. 31. The proposed rule would affect all servicing lenders, not just Fannie, Freddie, FHA and VA servicers that fell under the original CARES Act forbearance mandates. The CFPB […]
What’s in the Stimulus Plan
The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan passed the Senate on Saturday, March 6, with a few alterations to the House bill. It did, however, include additional funding for one month’s rent or mortgage payment to help prevent evictions, as well as a month’s utility payments to prevent service cut-offs. Below are a few of the plan’s […]
Is Real Estate Key to High Stakes Battle Over CA?
It looked like California might be turning a corner in the coronavirus recession, as unemployment leveled off at a jarring 16.3%, and thousands of waiters, bartenders and hair stylists were going back to work. Then came the surge in infections, and with it a new wave of business closures. Now a high-stakes battle is raging […]
Will COVID-19 Impact Real Estate Long Term?
by Matthew Gardner Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate There’s an overwhelming amount of data and headlines circulating, and this column is an attempt to make sense of it all for the real estate professional, from an economic standpoint. Many want to know, what might the long-term impact of COVID-19 be on various residential asset classes? […]
Housing Could Buoy the Economy in 2020
Fannie Mae economists have upgraded the economic outlook for the coming year, and a big reason behind that is expected growth in the housing market. Housing added to economic growth in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year and a half. That momentum will likely continue in the fourth quarter […]
CA Market & Troubling ‘B’ Word
In the California real estate market the “b” word is on the minds of many: Bubble. With reports of sharp declines in home sales, shrinking inventory and rising home prices, it might be an understatement to call California’s situation a puzzle, and one that may have implications for the entire country. June marked the slowest […]
Fed Raises Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week but left its rate outlook for the coming years unchanged even as policymakers projected a short-term jump in U.S. economic growth from the Trump administration’s proposed tax cuts. Fed policymakers judged it would boost the economy next year but leave no lasting impact, with the long-run potential […]