Trust This. Listings and Mortgage Rates Up and FaceTime Spam

Hey 🐥 peeps 🐥 ! Welcome to another edition of this week’s top real estate news with a law and title spin in a shorter format than usual … because I’m a little behind.

1. Central Florida listings up 10.5%

Orlando Regional REALTOR Association released its March State of the Market this week. Listings increased from 3,959 in March 2021, to 4,375 last month. The average price likewise increased 18.2% while the average days on market decreased 43.8%

It’s a mixed bag of data:

What they're saying:

The bottom line: The average mortgage rate in March 2021: 3.07%. Average mortgage rate last month: 4.20%. Expected to exceed 5% by the end of the year. Do the math.

2. Seller financing is risky for … buyers?

NPR last week ran a story about the pitfalls for buyers using wrap-around mortgages and other creative financing methods to buy homes when other credit sources are unavailable.

Why it matters: Real estate investors who sell homes, using such methods, should read or listen to the story so they’re aware of what not to do when working with buyers in creative financing.

The reporter focuses on “land contracts” which are also known as agreements for deed or contracts for deed, pointing out unethical investor-sellers who failed to pay the underlying mortgage, leading to foreclosure, or who encouraged defaults so they could serially re-sell the property to new buyers again and again.

The big picture: Florida, unlike other states, doesn’t regulate agreements for deed, wrap-around mortgages, or leases coupled with options to purchase. Other states, like North Carolina and Texas, have passed laws that require disclosures, recording of documents, and strict compliance with rules, or the seller’s hands are tied when trying to default the buyer.

Our thought bubble: If investors police themselves, act ethically with their buyers, and educate buyers and sellers on how to structure these deals for everyone, Florida can avoid the regulations that others have felt the need to create.

3. Catch up quick

Mortgage applications dropped 68% from what they were a year ago this week as interest rates climbed to the highest level since 2010. CNBC.

Mortgage servicers for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosures for another 60 days if the borrower has applied for assistance under the Housing Assistance Fund. Dodd-Frank Update

About a third of people say they expect to be working at least part-time from home by the end of the year. Fannie Mae Q3 2022 National Housing Survey

Watch out for group spam Facetime calls in the middle of the night. It’s a thing now. Ars Technica

4. Pic du jour

Orchids are blooming all over Orlando this time of year. Here’s one of my favorites, growing on the side of a palm tree, in our backyard.

5. When you login

🇺🇦 Looking for something charitable and related to housing to do for Ukraine? Login to ukraine.welcome.us on Monday where, among other things, you can house Ukrainian refugees through AirBnB.org. 🇺🇦💪 H/t to Axios.

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Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋