News Updates

Frontdoor Revolutionizes Home Maintenance and Repair

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The Frontdoor® app helps homeowners get things done smarter with a simple tap Frontdoor, Inc., the nation’s leading provider of home service plans with about two million members, unveiled Frontdoor®, a first-of-its-kind mobile app addressing the evolving needs of tech-savvy homeowners. “Frontdoor is an amazing app that will change how homeowners maintain and repair their most valuable asset. The video chat feature with one of our Experts is the heart of the experience,” said Bill Cobb, Frontdoor’s Chairman & CEO. “Homeowners can get help in real time. The Expert may be able to fix the problem right then and there, or if repairs are needed, we have a list of local, vetted professionals who can take care of the problem. Our Experts will guide homeowners through the process. All they have to do is open the Frontdoor.” There are 128 million homes in the U.S., and millennials (ages 23-41) comprise the largest portion of homebuyers at 43 percent, according to a National Association of Realtors 2022 Trends report. These millennial consumers differ greatly from previous generations as they rely heavily on social platforms, including TikTok and YouTube instructional videos, to find solutions for their home repair challenges. Powered by Frontdoor’s proprietary Streem video technology, Frontdoor is the ultimate tech solution to help homeowners tackle home repair and maintenance tasks with ease and convenience. Addressing a wide range of issues, including running toilets or glitchy washing machines, homeowners can use the app to video chat with pre-qualified Experts for real-time diagnosis and solutions. If a Frontdoor Expert is not able to fix the issue remotely, then Frontdoor can send a list of trusted and local professionals who can address your problem. Frontdoor offers nationwide membership plans for every homeowner. The Basic membership is free and includes one free video chat session with an Expert, followed by a list of local, fully vetted service Pros, and access to Frontdoor’s How-To Tips library. The Prime membership is an annual plan at $99 a year. It includes everything offered in the Basic package in addition to three total video chat sessions with Experts a year, exclusive discounts (up to 50% off retail pricing) for heating and A/C system replacements with financing options available, discounts and special pricing for home products and services that can be booked at any time. Later this summer, additional details will be unveiled regarding Frontdoor’s Premium monthly membership plan, which is ideal for those homeowners who want it all, including coverage for repairs, real-time advice, maintenance services, exclusive discounts, and more. “We know modern homeowners want an easy and convenient digital experience. That’s exactly what they get with Frontdoor,” Cobb added. “Open the app on their phone. Quickly video chat with one of our experts. Get their problem solved.” The Frontdoor app is available to download now on iPhone and Android. For more information, visit www.frontdoor.com. About Frontdoor Frontdoor is reimagining how homeowners maintain and repair their most valuable asset – their home. As the parent company of two leading brands, we bring over 50 years of experience in providing our members with comprehensive options to protect their homes from costly and unexpected breakdowns through our extensive network of pre-qualified professional contractors. American Home Shield, the category leader in home service plans with approximately two million members, gives homeowners budget protection and convenience, covering up to 23 essential home systems and appliances. Frontdoor is a cutting edge, one-stop-app for home repair and maintenance. Enabled by our Streem technology, the app empowers homeowners by connecting them in real time through video chat with pre-qualified experts to diagnose and solve their problems. The Frontdoor app also offers homeowners a range of other benefits including DIY tips, discounts and more. For more information about American Home Shield and Frontdoor, please visit www.frontdoorhome.com.

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Limited new listings are making it feel like a seller’s market in some parts of the U.S. even though sales are down by double digits. Some markets still feel cool. Although elevated mortgage rates continue to dampen homebuying demand, low inventory means home are selling fast in some parts of the country, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The pool of homes available to buyers is shrinking quickly. That’s mainly because new listings are scarce. New listings fell 21.8% from a year earlier nationwide during the four weeks ending April 2, one of the biggest drops since the start of the pandemic, contributing to an unseasonal early-spring decline in the total number of homes for sale. Many homeowners are staying put because they’re unwilling to give up their low mortgage rate. Although average 30-year mortgage rates posted their fourth-straight decline this week, dropping to 6.28%, that’s more than double the sub-3% rates common in 2021. Buyers are snapping up the homes that do hit the market fast. Of the homes going under contract, nearly half are doing so within two weeks. That’s up from about one-quarter at the start of the year, an unusually quick winter increase. It would take 2.8 months for today’s supply of for-sale homes to sell at homebuyers’ current consumption rate, the shortest time since September. That’s a sharp drop from the three-year high of 4.5 months in late January and it marks the fastest winter decline in months of supply since at least 2015, in percentage terms. It’s up from a near-record-low of 1.9 months a year ago. Still, pending home sales are down 19% year over year, nearly as much as new listings. That’s partly because homebuying demand is lower than it was last year and partly because so few homes are hitting the market. “Elevated mortgage rates are perhaps an even bigger deterrent for would-be sellers than for would-be buyers. Giving up a 3% mortgage rate for one in the 6% range is a tough pill to swallow,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “Today’s serious homebuyers have grown accustomed to the idea of a 5% or 6% rate and have adjusted their budgets accordingly. The lack of homes hitting the market explains why the market is moving fast even though sales are still down. The lack of new listings is also one reason why sales are down: Buyers can’t buy if sellers don’t want to sell.” While new listings are down in every major U.S. metro, the trend is more drastic in some areas. In Denver, where new listings are declining at roughly the same pace as the national drop and there are just 1.6 months of supply, Redfin agent Stephanie Collins said sellers have the upper hand as long as their home isn’t overpriced. “Shiny new listings are getting multiple offers and selling fast. The caveat is that they have to be priced correctly from the beginning,” Collins said. “One of my buyers recently made an offer on a move-in ready home in a popular area. The home was priced right in line with the market at $520,000; it received eight offers and went for $560,000 to a competing buyer. That same client just had an offer $35,000 over asking price accepted in the same neighborhood. Sellers are hesitant, partly because it’s not spring 2022 anymore. I’m reminding potential sellers that buyers are out there, and some homes have bidding wars—they just need to price a bit lower than they would have a year ago.” In Austin, a pandemic homebuying hotspot, buyers can take their time and they have a better chance of getting a home under list price. Inventory is piling up—Austin has 4.4 months of supply, more than almost anywhere in the country—and prices are down nearly 15% year over year, more than any other metro. “Buyers have more power right now. The silver lining of high rates and the slow market we’ve been experiencing here is that some locals are able to buy in neighborhoods they couldn’t have gotten into last year and get contingent offers with small down payments accepted,” said Austin Redfin agent Andrew Vallejo. “But attractive homes that are priced competitively are selling quickly. Sellers are starting to notice, and they’re prepping and pricing their homes accordingly. I think we’ll start to see more listings over the next several months.” Home Prices Falling in Many Metros, Rising in Others Home prices dropped in more than half (28) of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, with the biggest drop in Austin, TX (-14.7% YoY). Next come four West Coast metros: Sacramento (-11.7%), Oakland, CA (-10.4%), San Jose, CA (-10.2%) and Seattle (-9.6%). That’s the biggest annual decline since at least 2015 for Seattle. On the other end of the spectrum, sale prices increased most in Milwaukee, where they rose 11.4% year over year. Next come Fort Lauderdale, FL (8.9%), West Palm Beach, FL (8.2%), Miami (7.9%) and Columbus, OH (6.3%). On a national level, the median U.S. home-sale price fell 2.1% year over year to roughly $362,000, marking the seventh straight week of declines after more than a decade of increases. Leading indicators of homebuying activity: Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas: Unless otherwise noted, this data covers the four-week period ending April 2. Redfin’s weekly housing market data goes back through 2015. To view the full report, including charts, please visit:https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-scarce-new-listings-fast-market

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CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, released the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for February 2023. While annual U.S home price growth rose for the 133rd straight month in February, the 4.4% increase was the lowest recorded since 2019. Eight states and districts recorded annual home price losses, with much of the depreciation seen in the relatively expensive Western U.S., including California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Utah. Tech company layoffs have likely affected housing demand on the West Coast, However, as noted in the latest CoreLogic S&P Case-Shiller Index, home prices gains are holding steady in some large East Coast metros, as workers return to offices and buyer demand renews in areas that saw relatively less appreciation during the pandemic. Areas in the Southern U.S. are also holding up well given current market conditions. “The divergence in home price changes across the U.S. reflects a tale of two housing markets,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Declines in the West are due to the tech industry slowdown and a severe lack of affordability after decades of undersupply. The consistent gains in the Southeast and South reflect strong job markets, in-migration patterns and relative affordability due to new home construction.” “But while housing market challenges remain, particularly in light of mortgage rate volatility and the ongoing banking turmoil,” Hepp continued, “pent-up homebuyer demand is responding favorably to lower rates in many markets. This trend holds true even in the West, leading to a solid monthly gain in home prices in February. U.S. home prices rose by 0.8% in February, double the month-over-month increase historically seen and indicating that prices in most markets have already bottomed out.” Top Takeaways: The next CoreLogic HPI press release, featuring March 2023 data, will be issued on May 2, 2023, at 8 a.m. EDT. About CoreLogic CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company’s combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

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Innovations build on multi-year effort to drive equity in the housing industry Fannie Mae released its annual update to the 2022-2024 Equitable Housing Finance Plan. This plan is focused on knocking down barriers faced by underserved communities and further driving our mission of facilitating equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and quality affordable rental housing across America in a safe and sound manner. Fannie Mae’s Equitable Housing Finance Plan focuses on two objectives that address common obstacles faced by many Black and Latino renters and homeowners: The Equitable Housing Finance Plan for 2023 includes 25 separate actions that advance these objectives. These actions include: “Since the launch of our Plan in 2022, we have made considerable progress in identifying meaningful ways to address historical challenges faced by underserved communities, particularly for Black and Latino people,” said Katrina Jones, Vice President of Racial Equity Strategy & Impact. “When you add the present-day challenges of inadequate affordable housing supply and high housing costs, overcoming barriers to housing can seem harder than ever. But we are committed to making a fundamentally fairer and more equitable future for housing.” The plan is rooted in Fannie Mae’s Consumer Housing Journey, an evidence-based, consumer-centric framework for understanding housing barriers at each stage of a consumer’s life, particularly Black and Latino consumers. The Consumer Housing Journey has been an essential tool to help Fannie Mae prioritize its equity initiatives and has helped our partners in the housing and mortgage finance industry build on their own initiatives as well. Details on the new actions and initiatives Fannie Mae incorporated into the Plan’s update are outlined in Katrina Jones’ Perspectives blog. Additional resources are available to learn more about Fannie Mae’s updated Equitable Housing Finance Plan. SOURCE Fannie Mae

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Endpoint, the digital title and settlement company on a mission to make the home closing process easy for all, announced it has promoted Shawna Hernandez to chief operating officer, a newly created role. As COO, Hernandez will lead the teams implementing Endpoint’s digital closing solutions and guide the company’s strategy to optimize and scale its operations. “Shawna has spent her career focused on improving the home closing experience, the final step in a consumer’s homeownership journey,” said Endpoint Chief Executive Officer Scott Martino. “Over the past three years, Shawna has been instrumental in Endpoint’s growth and progress toward delivering the first end-to-end digital closing platform. Her deep settlement industry expertise complements our digital transformation culture, helping us to unlock a home closing experience that combines best-in-class processes with people and technology in a meaningful way.” Hernandez brings more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of the settlement industry, most recently as senior vice president of operations at Endpoint. Since joining Endpoint in 2020, she has overseen the development of the company’s proprietary closing software that automates many of the tasks associated with the settlement process. Hernandez also led Endpoint’s shift to a centralized operations team, giving the company the capability to service transactions for proptech companies and investors on a national scale. “I’m honored to be named COO at Endpoint. We have such a talented and fantastic group of folks here at Endpoint, making it a joy to collaborate with great people and drive meaningful change in our industry,” said Hernandez. “I am thrilled about the opportunity and could not be more optimistic about the future.” Prior to joining Endpoint, Hernandez was on the founding team of a tech-enabled title and settlement company. Earlier in her career, she held senior operations roles at prominent title companies in Washington and began her career as an escrow closer. Hernandez earned her bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Humboldt and is a member of Chief, an exclusive network for female executives. About Endpoint Endpoint is a digital title and settlement company built from the ground up to make closing real estate transactions easy for all. Founded in 2018 with a diverse group of tech and real estate veterans, Endpoint develops technology that streamlines the closing process for real estate agents, buyers and sellers, and empowers proptech companies and investors looking to scale their closing operations. Through the combination of people, process and technology, Endpoint delivers a closing experience that is simple, secure and consistent at scale. Backed by First American Financial Corporation, Endpoint has secured $220 million in funding and has operations across the U.S. To learn more and explore open career opportunities, visit www.endpoint.com. About First American First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a premier provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions. With its combination of financial strength and stability built over more than 130 years, innovative proprietary technologies, and unmatched data assets, the company is leading the digital transformation of its industry. First American also provides data products to the title industry and other third parties; valuation products and services; mortgage subservicing; home warranty products; banking, trust and wealth management services; and other related products and services. With total revenue of $7.6 billion in 2022, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents throughout the United States and abroad. In 2022, First American was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work® and Fortune Magazine for the seventh consecutive year. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com.

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Portion of Average Wages Consumed by Major Home-Ownership Costs Ticks Down to 30 Percent; Affordability Improves as Nationwide Median Home Price Stays Flat; Historic Affordability Still Weak Throughout U.S. ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, released its first-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos are less affordable in the first quarter of 2023 compared to historical averages in 94 percent of counties across the nation with enough data to analyze – far above the 62 percent of counties that were historically less affordable in the first quarter of 2022. However, the report also shows that buying conditions for house hunters may be improving as the portion of average wages nationwide required for typical major home-ownership expenses has fallen slightly to 30 percent this quarter. The latest percentage is still considered unaffordable by common lending standards, which call for a 28 percent debt- to-income ratio. It also remains well above the 25 percent level in the first quarter of 2022. But the portion has inched downward from 31 percent in the final months of last year. The mixed picture facing home buyers – prices that remain a financial stretch but are getting a bit more affordable – reflects a softening of the U.S. housing market combined with rising wages at a time when home-mortgage rates have stabilized following a year of increases. The nationwide median single-family home and condo price is up less than 1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023 – now sitting at $320,000 – while three quarters of local markets continue to see prices slip this year. Those trends have followed an 8 percent decrease in the nationwide median during the second half of 2022. The drop-off has come as rising interest rates, high consumer-price inflation and stock market declines have cut into what home seekers can afford or the resources they have for down payments. At the same time, wages have risen 6 percent nationwide over the past year, with increases continuing into the second half of 2022 in most of country. “The soaring housing market has finally come back down in much of the U.S., at least for now, while worker pay is growing. That’s produced some benefits for home seekers in the form of slightly better affordability, especially as lending rates have flattened out,” said Rob Barber, chief executive office for ATTOM. “Things certainly haven’t swung way back into friendly territory. Price drops and wage gains haven’t yet translated into equal improvements in affordability. And the trend could go back the other way if interest rates go up again, as expected. But the scenario is becoming more favorable for buyers.” With multiple uncertain economic forces at work, the market could continue sliding or turn back upward this Spring and Summer. That, along with the path of wages, will dictate whether home ownership continues to grow more affordable after a gradual path the other way over the past few years. ATTOM’s latest report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet major monthly home ownership expenses — including mortgage, property taxes and insurance — on a median-priced single-family home and condo, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. That required income was then compared to annualized average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to historical levels, median home prices in 537 of the 572 counties analyzed in the first quarter of 2023 are less affordable than in the past. The latest number is down from 565 of the same group of counties in the fourth quarter of 2022. But it remains far more than 356 in the first quarter of 2022 and just 91, or less than one-fifth, that were less affordable historically two years ago. Meanwhile, major home-ownership expenses on typical homes are considered unaffordable to average local wage earners during the first quarter of 2023 in 373, or about two-thirds, of the 572 counties in the report, based on the 28 percent guideline. Counties with the largest populations that are unaffordable in the first quarter are Los Angeles County, CA; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ; San Diego County, CA; Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) and Kings County (Brooklyn), NY. The most populous of the 199 counties where major expenses on median-priced homes remain affordable for average local workers in the first quarter of 2023 are Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Wayne County (Detroit), MI; Philadelphia County, PA, and Franklin County (Columbus), OH. Home prices up slightly nationwide, but down in three-quarters of local marketsThe recent slowdown in the U.S. housing market after 10 years of increases has flattened the national median single-family home and condo value, while pushing prices down in most counties so far this year. Nationwide, the median single-family home, and condo value of $320,000 in the first quarter of 2023 is virtually the same as the typical $318,000 price in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is up just 1.3 percent from $316,000 in the first quarter of last year. At the local level, median home prices in the first quarter of 2023 remain up from the first quarter of last year in 371, or 65 percent, of those counties. Data was analyzed for counties with a population of at least 100,000 and at least 50 single-family home and condo sales in the first quarter of 2023. Among the 46 counties in the report with a population of at least 1 million, the biggest year-over-year increase in median sale prices during the first quarter of 2023 are in St. Louis County, MO (up 38 percent); Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach), FL (up 11 percent); Collin County (Plano), TX (up 10 percent); Franklin County (Columbus), OH (up 7 percent) and Miami-Dade County, FL (up 6 percent). Counties with a population of at least 1 million where median prices have dropped most from the first quarter of 2022 to the same period this year are Alameda County (Oakland), CA (down 16 percent); Santa Clara County (San Jose), CA (down 12 percent); Contra Costa County, CA (outside San Francisco) (down 12 percent); Philadelphia County, PA (down 11 percent) and King County (Seattle), WA