The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, said the department is going to significantly reduce the review time of proposed mergers, according to a report by Brent Kendall from the Wall Street Journal. According to data compiled by law firm Dechert LLP, the average duration of significant U.S. merger investigations has been about 10 months in recent years.
JPMorgan has expanded blockchain-based payments to more than 75 international financial institutions in an effort to ease processing times for non-traditional payments. According to reporting by Financial Times (paywall), more than 75 banks, including Société Générale and Santander, are now testing the Interbank Information Network, or IIN.
Have we reached a tipping point in the trend of massive real estate players beginning to buy homes directly from homeowners? It looks like that may be the case, as one of the nation’s biggest real estate brands is planning to launch its own direct buying business, and its siblings may not be far behind.
Plant Prefab, a sustainable construction company, recently announced it secured $6.7 million in funding from Obvious Ventures and Amazon’s Alexa Fund. The funding will go towards building investments, fueling the company’s growth and more.
It’s been a tough year for the reverse mortgage space. Next week marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of changes to the HECM program that shook the industry to its core, significantly slashing loan volume. But the latest report from analytics provider Reverse Market Insight shows that recovery is in the works, even if the pace is slow.
Multifamily investment firm Mill Creek Residential promoted Steve Prochnow to senior vice president of property management. As senior vice president, he will be responsible for the day-to-day operating performance of the company’s communities, assisting with community transactions and pursuing operational goals to bolster the value of the company’s assets.
How’s this for a mortgage lending tactic? Not only will Taylor Morrison cover the closing costs on a new mortgage for one of its homes, but it will throw in $5,000 to “spend your way.”
Nearly 50% of U.S. renters are cost burdened and spend 30% or more of their income on housing. According to Apartment List research, cost burden has been inching down for the last six years, but improvement has been incremental. In 2016, the percentage of cost-burdened renters was 49.7%. In 2017, that number fell just two tenths of percent to 49.5%, the lowest since 2007.
Finance of America Reverse released a new version of its proprietary reverse mortgage product, unveiling the HomeSafe Second – the first jumbo reverse mortgage to allow homeowners to retain an existing mortgage lien. The move is the next phase of FAR’s strategy to provide homeowners with more ways to tap their equity and help reverse mortgages seep into the mainstream.
Home prices annually increased once again, according to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index from S&P Dow Jones Indices and CoreLogic. S&P Dow Jones Indices Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee David Blitzer said rising homes prices are beginning to catch up with housing.
Karin Comeaux
Compass Realty & Management
8880 W Sunset Rd, Ste 290
Las Vegas, NV 89148
(702) 328-4114
(702) 586-1616
