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Trust This.
By Joseph E. Seagle, Esq. ● Apr 15, 2022
Smart Brevity® count: 3 mins...839 words
🙌 Welcome Back! I hope this finds you having another great 🌷spring 🌹week and a Good Friday. Let’s get to it!
💁♂️ Two quick tips: Best Time to list a house for sale? The next two Thursdays. Worst time? First two weeks of November. Read why here.
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1 Big Thing: Mortgage delinquencies party like it’s 1999
In January, only 3.3% of U.S. mortgages were over 30 days past due. This is the 10th straight month of declines after pandemic-related highs. It’s the lowest overall delinquency rate since January 1999.
Why it matters: Early-stage delinquency rates are a thermometer, checking the temperature and health of the U.S. mortgage market.
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The lower the rates, the more healthy the markets.
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Strong mortgage markets reflect a strong housing market.
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Fewer borrowers paying late indicates that they’re earning enough to pay the mortgage and that homes’ values are high enough to produce equity the borrowers want to protect from foreclosure.
Yes, but: Many borrowers hardpressed by the pandemic have enjoyed up to 18 months of mortgage payment forbearances. These are coming to an end, so “distress sales” — where borrowers sell homes to avoid foreclosure — may see a slight uptick this year as those borrowers lose the protections of lender forbearance agreements. This, coupled with higher mortgage interest rates, could increase housing supply at a time when it’s needed, cooling price gains and bringing more equilibrium to the market.
Go deeper: Read the full CoreLogic report here.
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2. Cybercrime up 7% in 2021
The big picture: Cybercriminals in 2021 stole at least $6.9 billion from businesses and consumers according to 847,376 complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). This is an increase of 7% from the $4.2 billion of losses the year before.
Why it matters: Real estate transactions move large sums by wire, relying upon numerous e-mails among buyers, sellers, brokers, lenders, and title agents. Business Email Compromise was the most lucrative hacker scam, generating $2.4 billion. Diversion of real estate purchase funds, loan proceeds, and payoffs works well for crooks.
Case in Point:
In June 2021, the IC3 received a complaint filed by a victim law office regarding a wire transfer of more than $198k to a fraudulent U.S. domestic account. IC3 RAT [Recovery Asset Team] collaboration with the Memphis Field Office and the recipient financial institution resulted in learning the domestic account was a correspondent account for a fraudulent account in Nigeria. IC3 RAT immediately initiated the international FFKC [Financial Fraud Kill Chain] to FinCEN and LEGAT Abuja, which resulted in freezing the full wired amount. - FBI Internet Crime Report 2021
The bottom line: Call before wiring. Server firewalls mean nothing if the human firewall is weak. For this reason, PCS crewmembers train and test constantly to be aware of the latest cyber schemes. Online training services like Tampa’s KnowBe4 teach business users how to identify scams before they’re clicked.
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a little potpourri just like Mom keeps on her coffee table, end tables, television, toilet, closet shelf ....
1. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in certain circumstances, will now accept an attorney’s title opinion letter in lieu of a lender’s title policy.
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An opinion letter is worthless if the lawyer retires, dies, or drops malpractice coverage.
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A title policy is backed by state insurance regulations and reserve requirements.
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An attorney’s title opinion traditionally disclaims any coverage for fraud in the back chain of the title.
Our thought bubble: I’m a lawyer, and I would never advise a lender client to rely solely on an attorney’s opinion letter (even my own) when title insurance is available. Such opinions will rarely be used on certain conventional loan refinances.
2. Scams involving the sale of Florida vacant lots are on the rise again.
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If buying or listing vacant land, beware of sellers who won’t meet in person, insist on doing everything by e-mail, have foreign addresses, or suggest closing without a lawyer or title company being involved.
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Before taking a vacant land listing, or buying a vacant lot, contact PCS to run a search to vet the seller’s identity and title.
3. Canada, trying to cool overheating home prices there, has banned foreigners from buying homes for the next two years. ABC News
4. Meanwhile, in the USA, demand for second homes and investment properties is — without a Canadian-style ban — continuing a cooling trend that started in February. Redfin
5. Virginia REALTORs will provide a group health insurance plan this summer for its members. Will other state REALTORs follow their lead? Virginia REALTORs
6. Another Tampa condo sold this week via cryptocurrency being used to buy an NFT on the blockchain, and they promise to do it again, and again, and again ….. Propy
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Photo: Joe Seagle
Orlando Confederate Jasmine is blooming like crazy. Too bad e-mails aren’t scratch-n-sniff 👃
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We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.
Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋
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