Quicken Loans has surpassed Wells Fargo as the number one mortgage lender in the country, the company announced. In the fourth quarter of 2017, Quicken Loans garnered $25.1 billion in originations compared to Wells Fargo’s $22.9 billion, according to data from Inside Mortgage Finance. But for the entire year, Wells Fargo was still the leader, with $94.7 billion in originations compared to Quicken Loans’ $86 billion.Still, Quicken Loans may be
Asking questions of your customers can help you learn more about them, but there’s an art to phrasing your queries. Mark Roberge, a Harvard Business school lecturer and author of The Sales Acceleration Formula, says salespeople too often use a “show up and throw up” strategy, rattling off a bunch of random questions to buyers. Instead, employing empathy is the key to asking the right questions. “Selling is about understanding the perspec
Salt Lake City is quickly becoming one of the hottest housing markets in the country, and researchers note that home prices there are following a similar growth pattern as in Denver, where rapid increases began in early 2015. Realtor.com® projects that Salt Lake City will have one of the strongest housing markets in the nation this year. Home prices and sales are expected to surge 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.Why is Salt Lake City b
The Federal Housing Administration is expanding mortgage relief to FHA-insured homeowners who live or work in areas that were affected last year by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as wildfires and mudslides in California. Mortgage servicers in those areas will offer additional payment options to help disaster victims remain in their homes.The FHA is launching a “Disaster Standalone Partial Claim” option, which covers up to 12 mont
Because millennials, Generation X members, and baby boomers are in different stages of their lives, they are seeking different types of real estate markets that meet their specific needs. Realtor.com® found the hottest locations for each age cohort based on migration data for each of the major U.S. metros, home-search activity on realtor.com®, and the percentage of positive change in homeownership for each city from 2016 to 2018. The research s
As students return to class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., more than a week after a gunman opened fire in the hallways, killing 17 people, two young girls who won’t reunite with their friends and teachers are the daughters of local REALTORS®.Jaime Guttenberg, 14, and Meadow Pollack, 17, were among the dead in the Valentine’s Day shooting. Guttenberg’s father, Fred Guttenberg, a sales associate at Charles Rutenb
Forty-eight percent of the country has recently been covered in snow, according to the National Weather Service. If the cloudy skies and muted winter landscape have your listing looking ho-hum, try some greenery to get potential buyers thinking about spring.According to a Harvard University study, seeing flowers first thing in the morning provides people with a boost of energy. Flowers can be used as a design tool to inspire emotion and connect
5G’s lightning-fast network speeds are coming, and many cities are hoping to be the first in line. Dallas; Waco, Texas; and Atlanta will be among the first cities to receive AT&T’s 5G mobile network, while Sacramento, Calif., is slated to be Verizon’s first pick to get the fifth-generation wireless technology.Just how fast is 5G? It’s said to be 100 times faster and five times more responsive than the current 4G and 4G LTE, the techno
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage shows little signs of stopping its gradual move upwards week to week. This marks the seventh consecutive week for higher mortgage rates, and rates continue to be at a four-year high.“Fixed mortgage rates increased for the seventh consecutive week, with the 30-year fixed mortgage rate reaching 4.40 percent in this week’s survey; the highest since April of 2014,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s chief economist
Home prices in ZIP codes with the highest environmental hazard risk are appreciating at a faster pace than the overall housing market in the past year and over the last decade, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2017 Environmental Hazards Housing Risk Index.Researchers analyzed more than 8,600 ZIP codes in the U.S. looking for four environmental risks: Superfund sites, brownfields, polluters, and poor air quality. They found that median home pr
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