Mortgage servicers need to focus heavily on the digital space because it?s closely linked to customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study released July 27.

How Does 2017 Compare with Past Years?

The study showed mortgage servicer customer satisfaction is stagnant in 2017 for the first time in several years, due to the perception from customers that servicers are more concerned with making money than they are about them.
The average rating for all lenders was 754 based on a 1,000-point scale. However, customers who are provided with self-service tools on the servicers? websites to do things like pay their monthly mortgages were 43 points more satisfied.
The rating is calculated based on customer feedback in six areas: new customer orientation, billing and payment process, escrow account administration, interaction, mortgage fees and communications.
“The past few years have not been easy for mortgage servicers as they?ve struggled with regulatory and market pressures, but still managed to deliver on customer satisfaction. Now, as that trend starts to shift and customer satisfaction levels off, it is critical that mortgage servicers continue to balance the demands of this tough marketplace with the needs of their customers,? said Craig Martin, senior director, mortgage practice at J.D. Power.

3 Things Every Mortgage Servicer Should Have

According to the J.D. Power report, there are three things that mortgage servicers should have to optimize customer satisfaction:

• Effective onboarding – When onboarding satisfaction is high, customers are more likely to use the servicer?s website as their primary communications channel and submit their payments online.
• High-functioning self-service tools – Customers want to make the most use of their valuable time. Overall satisfaction drops 285 points when customers believe their time is being wasted.
• Call center best practices – Best practices need to be in place so customers are handled efficiently without having to wait long to be serviced. Among those who believe their time is wasted, 66% reported having to wait 5 minutes or more to speak with a customer service representative.

Acuity Real Estate Solutions

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce costs, streamline closings and increase compliance. If you?re a lender who would like more information, please contact us today!

Wondering what housing markets will be the hottest in 2018? Then you?re in luck. This week, Realtor.com released its predictions about which of the country?s top 100 real estate markets will soar to the top 10 next year.
We were pleased to see that five of the markets that we serve made the list. Here?s more about their rankings on the list and why each is predicted to be ?hot? next year:

• -Deltona, Florida #3

  Deltona came in third on the list, just behind Las Vegas, which was first, and Dallas, second. The median home price in the market is $275,050. But Realtor.com predicts sales growth of 5.5% next year and price growth of 6%. It reported that Deltona is a market that?s been heavily influenced by investors who took advantage of home prices when they were low, and flipped the homes for profit or converted them to rentals, some of which are now hitting the market because prices are up.

• -Lakeland, Florida #5

  Lakeland came in fifth on the list, behind Stockton, California. Lying between Tampa and Orlando, Lakeland is seeing healthy growth in the suburbs, and a lot of neighborhood and commercial revitalization as well. Its main draw is home prices that are much more affordable than its larger counterparts, while still being within a decent commuting distance to either one. The median home price is $224,950, with 3% sales growth and 7% price growth predicted for 2018.

• -Charlotte, North Carolina #7

  Charlotte came in seventh on the list, just after Salt Lake City, Utah in sixth place. Many of the new homebuyers in Charlotte are reportedly people moving from other states for jobs. Employment in the state is predicted to grow by 2.5% next year, and the population by a slightly lower rate of 2.2%. The median home price is $325,045 with sales growth predicted to go up by 6% and price growth by 3% in 2018.

• -Colorado Springs, Colorado #8

  Colorado Springs came in eighth place on the list. The median home price for the market was $375,000, with 3.1% predicted sales growth and 5.7% predicted price growth for 2018. The legalization of marijuana is believed to have something to do with the influx of people desiring to move to the area. Its proximity to Denver is also said to be a draw.

• -Nashville, Tennessee #9

  Nashville came in ninth, just ahead of Tulsa, Oklahoma in tenth, with the competition for housing especially stiff in the suburbs of this country music town. The median home price was $358,501, with sales growth expected to increase by 1% and price growth by a whopping 7.7% in 2018.

Acuity Real Estate Solutions

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce costs, streamline closings and increase compliance. If you?re a lender who would like more information, please contact us today!

Confidence in home sales among title agents and real estate professionals rose sharply by 9.1% in the second quarter of this year, according to the First American Financial Corp (FAF), which conducts the quarterly Real Estate Sentiment Index survey.
Mark Fleming, FAF?s chief economist said in a press release: “The increase was driven by the rise in expectations for both purchase transactions and refinance transactions amid persistent low mortgage rates.?

The Public Thinks Now Is Good Time to Buy

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey conducted in the second quarter of 2017, 70% of people believed that now is a good time to buy a home; however, those who believed that strongly decreased slightly from 47% in Q1 to 43% in Q2. On the contrary, only 30% believed that now is not a good time to buy a home.

Those who were the most confident, the NAR said, were those who own homes, those 55 or older, and those with incomes over $50K. People in the Northeast, Midwest and South also were more likely to be confident than those in other regions. Least confident were renters, people younger than 34, and those living in urban areas.

Signs Show Real Estate Market Will Get Hotter

The real estate market is hot right now, with home sales up, and home prices on the rise and hitting record highs in some markets. In fact, the NAR reported in late June that home prices have been rising every month for five years. The median price for an existing home reached $252,800 in May, exceeding the peak from last of $247,600.

If you think this is good news, there?s more! According to the experts, there are a number of indicators that the market is only going to get better. Here are just a few:

• Mortgage Activity Is on the Rise: Purchases are up by 3% over last year, according to recent information from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
• Single-Family Home Completions Are Up: Even though single-family housing starts were slightly down this May, single-family housing completions were up by 14.6% over May of last year.
• Unemployment Is Low: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a low unemployment rate of 4.3% for May.

Acuity Real Estate Solutions

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce cost, streamline closings and increase compliance. For more information, please visit our?homepage?today!

What are the most significant homeownership barriers right now? Prepared by Rosen Consulting Group, ?Hurdles to Homeownership: Understanding the Barriers? was released by NAR and the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. This robust report explores a worrying trend and possible solutions.
Here is a summary of RCG?s findings:

1. Unaffordability of Single-Family Housing

There are many reasons why single-family homes are becoming more and more unaffordable. Low inventory and high housing prices are two examples. According to the NAR study, if these factors worsen or even just stay the same, affordability will decrease by an average of nine percent between 2016 to 2019 in the 75 major housing markets included in the report.

2. Stagnant Single-Family Home Construction

The supply shortage poses a significant homeownership barrier. Without new homes, the markets will continue to become increasingly competitive and unaffordable. According to Rosen Consulting Group, stagnant homebuilding has led to a deficit of 3.7 million new homes since the end of the Great Recession.

3. The Burden of Student Debt

Millennials have a heavy burden of student debt. Without significant policy changes and debt relief, this generation will continue to struggle to save up for a down payment, qualify for a mortgage, and be able to afford mortgage payments.

4. Inaccessibility of Mortgages

Surprisingly, lending standards have not normalized since the Great Recession, when it was exceedingly easy to get a loan. Now, borrowers with good-to-excellent credit aren?t getting approved at the same rate as they were in 2003. This poses a major homeownership barrier

5. Post-Foreclosure Behavior Changes

RCG also included in their analysis of homeownership barriers a psychological examination of the current homebuyer. Both Millennials and their parents have changed their financial decision-making when it comes to housing tenure, still reeling from an era of widespread foreclosure.

Acuity Real Estate Solutions Makes Ownership and Closings Easy

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce cost, streamline closings and increase compliance. For more information, please visit our?homepage?today!

Is a June rate hike around the corner? In today?s post we take a look at the state of the US economy and how it may influence the Fed.

June Rate Hike Around the Corner?

GDP growth was reported at a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent, well below the 1.2 percent in the Thomson Reuters consensus forecast. This is the weakest quarterly pace in three years. It also fell short of CNBC/Moody’s Analytics Rapid Update?tracking rate, which was updated Thursday to 0.8 percent, the same as this time last year. This bad news follows several reports on CPI, jobs, and retail sales that were weaker than expected. Economists do not believe, however, that this is necessarily indicative of trouble on the horizon. Many believe that the setbacks are temporary and that growth will catch up in the second quarter.

Inflation Picking Up Speed

Measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, the rate of inflation increased at a rate of 2.4 percent. This was the largest single jump since 2011. The employment cost index, another indicator for inflation, also increased 0.8 percent quarter over quarter. This was 0.2 point more than projected. “Bottom line, the ever elusive evidence of rising wages might finally be peaking its head above water,”?Lindsey Group Chief Market Analyst Peter Boockvar wrote to clients.

Economists Tell the Fed to Proceed

“The inflation numbers accelerated, but they still remain moderate. It supports the contention that the Fed is attaining its objective on the inflation side,” said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies. The Fed has targeted inflation at two percent, and forecasts two additional rate hikes in 2017. Many economists believe that the Fed should proceed as planned, as they are projecting improvement in GDP growth in the second quarter. Some forecast growth at 3 percent or more. There will be cause for concern, though, if growth does not improve but the Fed moves forward with a rate hike due to increasing inflation.

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce cost, streamline closings and increase compliance. For more information, please visit our?homepage?today!

• Entity status

Commercial real estate ownership is most commonly vested in a limited liability company, or LLC. In order for an LLC to be fully operational, it must be in compliance with the law of the state in which it operates. Tax returns must be current, taxes must be paid, annual filing fees must be paid, and a state of information must be on record. If all of the requirements are not met, the entity may be suspended.

• Environment

In order to borrow money to buy a building, an environmental assessment must be done as part of the loan approval process. The assessment entails a review of current and previous uses of property, as well as local and regional conditions. If the property in questions has been flagged, soil samples will be collected and tested. Your deal may be delayed or cancelled if a problem is detected.

• Loan re-conveyance

A loan re-conveyance is a document signed by your lender formally giving up its right to your property as collateral. Once you have paid your mortgage in full, you must obtain a re-conveyance, or the loan balance will still be recorded against the property. Re-conveyances are easy tasks when done at the time that the loan is paid in full. It becomes a much more difficult process if attempted years later.

• Insurance

Purchasing property requires insurance. It is best to work on binding a policy early in your escrow. If you wait until you are closing the deal, everything will need to be suspended until you secure the appropriate insurance.

• Title Issue

There is a slew of title-related issues that can prevent a seller from transferring ownership of property – mechanics liens, tax liens, ?lis pendens,? to name a few. Sellers of commercial real estate may not even be aware of restrictions such as these. It is always wise to order a preliminary title report and consult with your title officer before you consider selling.

How Acuity National Real Estate Solutions can help

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce cost, streamline closings and increase compliance. For more information, please visit our?homepage?today!

Some consumers? credit scores are about to get a big boost. While this is good news theoretically for those with poor credit, lenders and others who depend on credit scores to evaluate their potential customers have good reason to be concerned.
Three national credit bureaus starting on July 1^st will stop collecting and reporting substantial amounts of tax lien information and civil judgments. Given the fact that civil judgments and tax liens can be extensive and significantly hamper a borrower?s ability to repay a mortgage, it comes as a surprise that Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will stop collecting these important public records. According to the Chicago Tribune, these liens and judgments currently affect millions of consumers? credit scores.

Civil Judgments and Tax Liens

Tax liens, which are levied against properties when the owner is delinquent on tax payments, have negative impacts on credit scores and remain in credit files for extended periods of time. Civil judgments, on the other hand, are ordered by the courts and represent debts owed by the losing party. The problem for mortgage lenders is that they rely on companies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to provide credit scores on prospective borrowers. Those borrowers who were previously ?on the edge? may now get the score increase they need to get a loan ? great for borrowers, but not so great for lenders who may be taking on more risk than they want.

Justification for the Change

In an effort to placate these fears, credit bureaus? trade agency Consumer Data Industry Association released a statement explaining that the changes were part of the ?National Consumer Assistance Plan,? a deal struck with 31 states attorneys general designed to increase credit reporting accuracy and make it easier to correct errors in credit reports. The main issue the ?National Consumer Assistance Plan? seeks to correct is when a credit file has one individual confused with another. These mistakes have caused severe interruptions to consumers with good credit. So, it remains to be seen whether these changes will be a net positive for consumers and to what extent they will affect mortgage lenders ability to use discretion in the lending process.

Partner with Acuity National Real Estate Solutions

Acuity National Real Estate Solutions is a national title agency offering cutting-edge tools to help lenders reduce cost, streamline closings and increase compliance. For more information, please visit our homepage today!

As mortgage interest rates continue to rise steadily, many lenders are taking a second look at the standards they use to qualify buyers. Some analysts believe that a general loosening of the income and credit requirements currently in place could promote a healthier housing market and increased opportunities for homeownership among families across the U.S.

Increased Opportunities for Lenders

Relaxing the underwriting guidelines for consumer mortgage loans could potentially open up new avenues of profits for banks and lending institutions hard hit by recent increases in mortgage rates and consequent reductions in refinances and new loans. Many economic analysts believe that current lending standards are too stringent, resulting in a tight money marketplace. By taking a measured approach to loosening the purse strings,?lenders?can potentially serve a larger percentage of mortgage applicants and increase profitability for their institutions.

Improved Chances of Success for Borrowers

By relaxing the standards used to determine whether a borrower is creditworthy, more prospective home buyers will be eligible for mortgage loans. This can provide a welcome boost to the economy and can allow families that would otherwise be stuck in the rental cycle to begin building equity and wealth by owning their own homes. While no one is advocating a return to the conditions in place prior to the housing market crisis, a thoughtful approach to relaxing some standards could provide added help for many potential home buyers.

Support for Modern Lenders

The title search and title insurance experts at?Acuity National Real Estate Solutions?can provide professional assistance in managing paperwork, ensuring that all encumbrances to the title are identified and helping your real estate transactions go more smoothly. We work with lenders across the U.S. to deliver the most comprehensive and dependable services in the real estate industry. Call us today at 502-238-7500 to learn more about how Acuity National Real Estate Solutions can help your lending institution achieve a higher degree of profitability and success.