News Updates

Finance of America Sharpens Focus on Specialty Finance and Services Business, Plans to Discontinue Forward Mortgage Originations

Strategic pivot aimed at enabling greater investment in high-growth business including reverse mortgages, home improvement & commercial loans, and lender services Finance of America Companies Inc. (the “Company” or “FOA”), a leading specialty finance solutions platform, announced its decision to discontinue the operations of its forward mortgage originations segment across both retail and wholesale channels by the end of the year. The Finance of America Strategy FOA was created to provide pathways for consumers to achieve greater financial freedom through the use of the equity in their home. FOA has built many businesses that have become leaders in their areas, including Reverse, Commercial and Lender Services. Collectively, with Portfolio Management and the Home Improvement business, they comprise FOA’s Specialty Finance and Services (SF&S) solutions platform. FOA Interim Chief Executive Officer Graham Fleming, said: “The discontinuation of the forward mortgage originations segment will allow FOA to optimize its resources and prioritize businesses that have a distinct market opportunity and greater growth potential. In addition, the move will accelerate the company’s ability to partner with large mortgage lenders and other financial services companies to offer FOA’s SF&S solutions on their platforms. Our decision was made with careful consideration, and we understand the impact this action will have on many of our employees and their families. We are providing support and resources to assist our departing employees in their search for employment opportunities and are actively working to facilitate the transition of many of these employees to roles at other mortgage lenders. The impacted employees have long been valued members of our team and we recognize the many contributions they have made to the company.” Speaking about the strength of FOA’s SF&S business, Fleming noted that the reverse segment recently debuted its collaboration with Morningstar to educate 150,000 participating financial advisors on reverse mortgages and other home equity options available to customers aged 55 years or older. FOA has the leading reverse mortgage platform in an industry with strong structural tailwinds and it has been the backbone of FOA’s model since the inception of the enterprise. FOA’s commercial business, which provides fix-and-flip loans, rental portfolio loans, and other financing for residential investment properties, also has commanding market share in its vertical. FOA’s home improvement business continues to grow and serves as an efficient customer acquisition channel. FOA’s portfolio management and capital markets capabilities support the innovation of proprietary products and connect FOA’s originated loans to an expanding universe of large institutional investors. Additionally, the lender services business continues to rapidly grow the number of third-party lenders it serves by introducing new technology enabled products, including augmented reality solutions for virtual appraisals and a new tax solutions product to assist homeowners in lowering their property tax bills. About Finance of America CompaniesFinance of America (NYSE: FOA) is a specialty finance consumer lending platform that provides pathways to achieve greater financial freedom through home equity. Through FOA’s subsidiaries, customers have access to a diverse range of flexible, end-to-end home financing and home equity solutions including home improvement loans and reverse mortgages as well as loans to residential real estate investors distributed across retail, third-party network, and digital channels. In addition, FOA’s companies offer complementary lending services to enhance the customer experience, as well as capital markets and portfolio management capabilities to optimize distribution to investors. FOA is headquartered in Plano, TX. For more information, please visit www.financeofamerica.com. Contacts Media Relations: pr@financeofamerica.comInvestor Relations: ir@financeofamerica.com Author admin View all posts

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WORD OF THE DAY: Anaphora

[ə-NAF-ər-ə] Part of speech: noun Origin: Greek, late 16th century Definition: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. The use of a word referring back to a word used earlier in a text or conversation, to avoid repetition. Examples of anaphora in a sentence “I received high marks on my English paper thanks to the succesful use of anaphora.” “The poem employed anaphora with the use of the word snow at the beginning of every line.” About Anaphora Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the March on Washington in 1963 is one of the most famous occurences of anaphora. In it, he repeats the phrase “I have a dream” eight times to emphasize his point of ending discrimination. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.” Did you Know? As a rhetorical device, anaphora is the repetition of a word of phrase. But the same word is used in grammar circles to describe AVOIDING repetition. You can use a pronoun, such as he, she, it, or they, to avoid using a previously mentioned name or noun again. Author admin View all posts

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HOME-SELLER PROFITS DROP ACROSS U.S. IN THIRD QUARTER AS HOUSING MARKET BOOM EASES

Profit Margins on Typical Home Sales Dip Three Points Quarterly Amid Decline in National Median Price; Investment Returns Remain Near Record Levels, But Decrease at Fastest Pace in 11 Years; Median U.S. Home Value Down 3 Percent Quarterly During Peak Selling Season ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, released its third-quarter 2022 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that profit margins on median-priced single-family home and condo sales across the United States decreased to 54.6 percent as home prices declined for the first time in almost three years. The drop-off in typical profit margins, from 57.6 percent in the second quarter, came as the median national home value went down 3 percent quarterly, to roughly $340,000. “Rapidly-rising mortgage rates have not only resulted in fewer home sales, but have begun to impact home prices as well,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “With rates the highest they’ve been in over 20 years, homebuyers face serious affordability challenges, with monthly payments in some markets up 50 percent year-over-year. It’s very likely that home prices will continue to weaken in many markets in the coming months.” Typical investment returns for home sellers did remain up from 48.8 percent in the third quarter of 2021 and were still at near-record levels for this century – some 20 points higher than just two years earlier. The national median home price also stayed near its all-time high – more than double where it stood a decade earlier. But the investment-return decline during this year’s summertime home-selling season marked the largest quarterly downturn since 2011, when the nation was mired in the aftereffects of the Great Recession that hit in the late 2000s. The third-quarter reversal also represented the first time since 2010 that seller returns went down from a second quarter to a third quarter period. Gross profits also decreased from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2022, dropping 6 percent on the typical single-family home and condo sale across the country to $120,100. That quarterly decrease was the largest since early 2017. The third-quarter profit and price trends emerged amid growing headwinds that threaten to end or significantly cool down the nation’s decade-long housing market boom. Average mortgage rates have doubled this year, passing 6 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, while the stock market has slumped and consumer price inflation is at a 40-year high. Foreclosure activity by lenders also has more than doubled over the past year. Those forces have raised home-ownership costs for buyers, cut into resources available for down payments on purchases and eaten into overall household budgets. They also have boosted the supply of homes for sale, putting further downward pressure on prices. Profit margins drop quarterly while still up annually across most of U.S. Typical profit margins – the percent change between median purchase and resale prices – decreased from the second quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2022 in 127 (68 percent) of the 186 metropolitan statistical areas around the U.S. with sufficient data to analyze. They declined by at least three percentage points in about half of those metro areas, although returns were still up annually in 145 of them (78 percent). The biggest quarterly decreases in typical profit margins came in the metro areas of Claremont-Lebanon, NH (margin down from 72.8 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to 52.4 percent in the third quarter of 2022); San Francisco, CA (down from 85.1 percent to 65.4 percent); Prescott, AZ (down from 86.3 percent to 70.8 percent); Barnstable, MA (down from 74.5 percent to 59.6 percent) and Trenton, NJ (down from 74.5 percent to 61 percent). Aside from San Francisco, the biggest quarterly profit-margin decreases in metro areas with a population of at least 1 million in the third quarter of 2022 were in Seattle, WA (return down from 87.2 percent to 73.7 percent); San Jose, CA (down from 87.5 percent to 76.7 percent); Raleigh, NC (down from 65.6 percent to 56 percent) and Birmingham, AL (down from 40.5 percent to 31.3 percent). Typical profit margins increased quarterly in just 59 of the 186 metro areas analyzed (32 percent). The biggest quarterly increases were in Macon, GA (margin up from 44.7 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to 82.4 percent in the third quarter of 2022); Rockford, IL (up from 29.9 percent to 41.8 percent); Davenport, IA (up from 29.2 percent to 40 percent); Akron, OH (up from 52.8 percent to 60.3 percent) and Hilo, HI (up from 103.3 percent to 110.9 percent). The largest quarterly increases in profit margins among metro areas with a population of at least 1 million came in Milwaukee, WI (up from 51.4 percent to 54.9 percent); Miami, FL (up from 68 percent to 70.9 percent); Cincinnati, OH (up from 50.6 percent to 53.4 percent); Nashville, TN (up from 56.4 percent to 58.7 percent) and Grand Rapids, MI (up from 73 percent to 75.3 percent). Prices flat or down in half the metro areas around the U.S. Median home prices in the third quarter of 2022 decreased from the prior quarter or stayed the same in 98 (53 percent) of the 186 metro areas with enough data to analyze, although they were still up annually in 180 of those metros (97 percent). Nationally, the median price of $339,815 in the third quarter was down 2.7 percent from $349,266 in the second quarter of 2022, but still up 9.4 percent from $310,500 in the third quarter of last year. “If the Federal Reserve’s objective was to slow down the housing market, it has succeeded spectacularly,” noted Sharga. “The market has gone from double digit annual home price appreciation to below 3 percent, and declining quarter-over-quarter prices. But the impact of 6 and 7 percent mortgage rates means that many homes are still out of the reach of prospective buyers, even with prices declining slightly.” The biggest decreases in median home prices from the second to

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Nation’s Longest Home Price Boom Ends with Prices Declining from Peaks in Almost All of the Nation’s 60 Largest Metros

The Nation’s longest home price boom has ended after a run-up lasting 10½ years. Since prices peaked in June, we have had Month-on-Month declines of 0.5%, 0.4%, & 0.2% in September, August, & July respectively, according to data from the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center. Out of the 60 largest metros, 51 have had a decline from their respective peak home price levels, and only 2 are still growing. San Jose, San Francisco, & Seattle had the biggest declines from their peaks at -10.7%, -8.5%, and -8.2% respectively (see #1 in graphic).   September’s Year-on-Year HPA was 10.3%, down from 11.6% a month ago, a YoY peak of 17.2% in March 2022 and 15.8% a year ago. Based on Optimal Blue rate lock data, YoY HPA is projected to decline to further 9.2% in October 2022 and 7.4% in November and YoY HPA is expected to slow to 4%-6% for December 2022. YoY HPA varied significantly among the 60 largest metros. It ranged from 2.6% and 3.4% in San Francisco and San Jose to 21.2% and 20.6% in Cape Coral and North Port (see #2 in graphic).    Historically, HPA in the low price tier outpaced HPA in the upper price tiers. This trend continues to hold true. Although home prices were down across all four price tiers, the high end and low end of the market were hit differently. In September, high price tier was down 3.7% from its peak in May 2022, while low price tier was down 0.5% from its peak in July. September months’ supply & active listings both increased above seasonal trends, but remain at historically low levels. Months’ supply stood at 1.9 months in September 2022, down from 2.8 months in September 2019, but up from 1.7 months in August 2022, and 0.7 months in April 2022 (see #3 in graphic).  Link to National Home Price Appreciation (HPA) Index – September 2022 SOURCE:  AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH Author admin View all posts

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American Homes 4 Rent Donates $50,000 to Florida Hurricane Ian Relief Efforts

Company teams deployed to provide on-the-ground assistance and clean-up throughout the Southeast American Homes 4 Rent announced that it has donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations to support the communities in Florida and South Carolina affected by Hurricane Ian. Employee volunteers from the Company also organized events across the region to assist with the clean-up efforts and provide material donations to households in need through various nonprofit agencies. “Our residents and those in the Southeast are suffering in the wake of Hurricane Ian,” said David Singelyn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of American Homes 4 Rent. “While the hurricane has passed and home repairs are underway, you can never underestimate the emotional and financial toll a disaster takes on those impacted. As an organization that cares about people, we are committed to rolling up our sleeves and demonstrating what it means to be a responsible corporate partner to our residents and neighbors.” In addition to its donations to nonprofit organizations, more than 100 American Homes 4 Rent volunteers led the following relief efforts: Charleston, S.C.Collected and delivered supplies to Low Country Orphan Relief, a nonprofit organization that provides goods and services to children who have been abused or neglected.  Jacksonville, Fla.Partnered with St. John’s County and CleanSweep StA to clean up Vilano Beach, while also collecting supplies for donation to the Red Cross. Orlando, Fla.Gathered and delivered food and supplies for Elyon House of Bread Food Pantry & Shelter, a nonprofit organization bridging the gap between hunger and homelessness. Tampa, Fla.Secured and delivered supplies to Dawning Family Services, a nonprofit organization that embraces diverse families with children impacted by housing instability or homelessness, and supports their transition to safe and stable homes. Additional information about American Homes 4 Rent is available at www.americanhomes4rent.com Author admin View all posts

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WORD OF THE DAY: Confrere

[KAN-frehr] Part of speech: noun Origin: French, mid-18th century Definition: A fellow member of a profession; a colleague. Examples of confrere in a sentence “Since I don’t know the answer to that question, I’ll refer you to my confrere.” “The meetup was the perfect opportunity for Reyna to meet confreres in her field.” About Confrere This noun was introduced into French via the medieval Latin word “confrater,” a combination of the words “con” (together with) and “frater” (brother). Did you Know? Taking time to rub shoulders with your confreres is important not just for the sake of making friends — a recent study found that around 80% of jobs are gained through networking. Building connections can be a vital way to transition into a new career. Author admin View all posts

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