Research

Refi is at 18-year low, but here’s your secret weapon

Refi is at 18-year low, but here’s your secret weapon

Homeowners now have a new reason to refinance, and it may just be the secret weapon the mortgage industry needs to survive this alarming refi drought. Home prices have reached record-high in many top metros, but if you have paid attention to any local realtors, to CoreLogic, or to housing experts and economists here, here, and here, many of these markets are overvalued and are expected to correct. In ValueInsured’s latest quarterly survey, 68% Americans believe a housing correction will happen within 2 years. Interestingly, the consumer survey was conducted before releases of the Zillow and Wall Street Journal economist panel reports, but their prediction timeline mirrors those of the experts’.
 
Historically, homeowners’ choice when faced with a potential correction is to sell (but then where would they live?), or to stay put and risk watching their home value depreciate in the near future. Those are hardly good options and the bottom line is, the homeowner themselves have little to no control.
 
Now, they have a third option…

The Jon Sanchez Show - Interview with Joe Melendez, CEO ValueInsured

The Jon Sanchez Show - Interview with Joe Melendez, CEO ValueInsured

This was an interview originally recorded on The Jon Sanchez Show - May 22, 2018 

Jon Sanchez:  All right. Let me tell you what we have lined up tonight. Got a great show lined up. We're, we're fascinated about having this guest on. His name is Joe Melendez. He's the CEO of a company called ValueInsured. If you want to look up more information before he joins us after the first break, ValueInsured.com. Now what his organization does is somewhat revolutionary. I am not aware of anybody else that does this. Maybe there's some other competitors out there, but as you will learn among many other things, but the primary reason we're having him on is, his company ValueInsured will insure your down payment.  Now, let me repeat that. His company will insure your down payment, so we all know of course, after the financial crisis, right? People said I had to short sell my house or foreclose on my house, got foreclosed on, etc. Cory, correct me if I'm wrong, as a real estate broker, you probably didn't get too many people saying "geez, you know, my house was worth X at the peak and I had a short sale" or you know lost it and it's then worth Y. They're saying, "hey, you know what? It's that down payment that I put into that house that's gone." That seems to be the part of it that hurts people the most from a psychological standpoint. 

Cory Edge:  Well I think so. And if you remember back to those days, that was one of those quirks, there were zero down loans. There were loans that not only were the zero down but you got money at closing. Yes. So nobody had skin in the game and so they felt that hurt a little bit but not enough. So now they're back to the down payment. Exactly. which is a perfect. And you know, we have a million questions for how you insure people's down payments. Yes. But if it works and if it's a good system, it makes sense because that is the pain that people feel. That's right because that's real money that they used.

Banking Exchange - Housing confidence drops

Banking Exchange - Housing confidence drops

A different picture of the housing market is presented by data from an April survey of just over 1,000 Americans. In contrast to more upbeat recent reports, including from Freddie Mac as reported here last week, the ValueInsured Housing Confidence Index for the second quarter dropped almost five points to its lowest level since the inception of the index in Q1 2016.

Growing obsession with timing the market

Growing obsession with timing the market

Anyone who has come across a “Home Buying for Dummies” or “Investment 101” type book or website should be able to recite this golden rule: don’t try to time the market. While applicable to most investors, this is likely truer for homebuyers, who need a place to live and probably shouldn’t wait. Increasingly, however, they appear to be deviating from the advice.

Perhaps the real surprise – homebuyers are not alone. Homeowners are also growing concerned with timing the market, according to ValueInsured’s latest Modern Homebuyer Survey…

Housing affordability crisis does not spare homeowners

Housing affordability crisis does not spare homeowners

According to ValueInsured’s Q1 2018 Modern Homebuyer Survey, 62% of interested first-time homebuyers – including 65% of Millennials – who plan to buy “in the near future” are concerned they cannot afford a down payment on a home they would like to live in.

But if you think the affordability challenge is exclusive to non-homeowners who wish to enter the elusive homeownership rank, think again. According to ValueInsured’s latest survey on American homebuyers’ confidence and sentiments, even existing homeowners are not immune.

Are 1 in 3 homebuyers in America now buying blind?

Are 1 in 3 homebuyers in America now buying blind?

We admit it, this headline may be a bit sensational; but if you consider the latest homebuyer reports, it may not be that far-fetched after all. 

In 2017, 35% of all homebuyers made an offer on a home sight unseen, according to a Redfin report. The fear of missing out in some hot housing markets seem to have turned more otherwise rational, responsible Americans into risky homebuyers. Throw in sales contracts that also waive home inspections in order to win bidding wars, then yes, in essence, a sizeable number of desperate homebuyers have now been reduced to pretty much buying blind.

But that’s not the whole story. The latest ValueInsured Modern Homebuyer Survey revealed that some homebuyers are also planning a purchase without having basic understanding of new tax laws, interest rate trends and how home value in the areas where they are shopping could potentially be affected.

Why aren’t homeowners tapping into all-time high equity?

Why aren’t homeowners tapping into all-time high equity?

The MBA forecasts refinance volume will decline by 30% in 2018. In other words, while homeowners have a lot more equity at their disposal, fewer will be accessing that available cash. Why?

Amid CoreLogic’s monthly reminders that nearly half of the nation’s top housing markets are overvalued, Fannie Mae’s latest HPSI continues to report housing sentiment “volatility”. According to Fannie Mae’s survey, the net share of respondents who believe home prices will go up in the next 12 months decreased 3 percentage points in March. The latest ValueInsured Modern Homebuyer Survey echoes the same cautiousness in home price sustainability, particularly among homeowners.

 

Women more pessimistic about housing market

Women more pessimistic about housing market

Gender disparity in homeownership is not news. Latest available reports in 2016 showed female-owned homes are on average valued less than male-owned homes, and appreciate at a lower rate. Some suggested income disparity correlates with homeownership disparity – makes sense.

The latest ValueInsured Modern Homebuyer Survey found a gender gap might exist not only where home values and ownership are concerned, but in homebuyer psychology and housing confidence as well - with female homebuyers’ pessimism jarring in some measures

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