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 Money Life Show - Interview with Joe Melendez

The Money Life Show - Interview with Joe Melendez

Hosted by Chuck Jaffe, Senior Columnist for MarketWatch with Joe Melendez, CEO ValueInsured

The CEO of ValueInsured, Joe Melendez, appeared on the daily talk show The Money Life Show to discuss findings from the ValueInsured Modern Homebuyer Survey.  Hosted by Senior Contributor for MarketWatch Chuck Jaffe, Joe was asked about today's homebuyers and their motivations.  

85% millennials compromised on buying their dream home

85% millennials compromised on buying their dream home

It is quite a conundrum for millennials in this housing market. Majority who wish to own cannot afford to buy. Of the few who could, over 8 in 10 wish they bought a different home and want to move. 74% of them say now would be a good time to sell, but they can’t because prices to buy another home is too high, so they wait and try to time the market. It appears that for millennials, once you finally achieve the American Dream, there’s an obstacle course right around the corner, just in case you thought you could catch a breath.

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.

MPA: Most people expect a housing price correction by 2020

MPA: Most people expect a housing price correction by 2020

Potential homebuyers are less convinced that now is the right time to take a step onto the property ladder despite strongly believing in homeownership.

While 79% of non-homeowners say they still desire owning their own home, 67% say the market is currently unhealthy; and only 52% believe that owning a home is a “secure and smart investment”.

,

Housing Confidence Bottoms Out

,
Housing Confidence Bottoms Out

High home prices, unaffordability cause confidence in housing health to drop to lowest levels in nine quarters since inception of ValueInsured’s Modern Homebuyer Survey

The desire to own a home remains high, currently at 79 percent among non-homeowners, however; 67 percent believe the American housing market is unhealthy, according to the latest ValueInsured quarterly Modern Homebuyer Survey. In addition, the number of people who believe buying a home today is a secure and smart investment dropped to 52 percent. Despite reports of a strong sellers’ market, the decline in confidence is significant across the board among homeowners and non-homeowners alike.

NMN: 6 homebuyer attitudes about affording a down payment

NMN: 6 homebuyer attitudes about affording a down payment

View the complete slideshow at National Mortgage News

Despite consumer demand for housing remaining high, homebuyers' confidence in their ability to save enough for a down payment fell in the first quarter, with some feeling less positive than others.

Millennials in particular saw declining confidence toward down payment affordability, with only 35% of millennial first-time homebuyers claiming they can afford a down payment, according to ValueInsured, a Dallas-based down payment insurance company. This is down nine percentage points from a year ago.

Cart (0)