Plot thickens on Benzie County land-fraud attempt
"I just had two last week where people own a condo up here, live downstate and didn't want to drive up for the closing," Pyciak said. "We send a closing package to them and they go to their bank, for example, and sign it in front of a notary." The fake seller used a Cayman Islands passport for ID, and said the notarized documents they had were signed at the U.S. Embassy there.
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Mortgage refinance demand jumps to a 2-year high, as interest rates drop
Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level since March last week, sparking swift demand in refinancing. Homebuyers, however, seemed unimpressed. Applications to refinance a home loan jumped 15% last week, compared with the previous week, to the highest level since August 2022, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. Demand was 37% higher than the same week one year ago when mortgage rates were exactly the same.
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Average rate on a 30-year mortgage drops to 6.77%, sliding to lowest level since March
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped this week to a four-month low, a welcome decline in borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers grappling with the challenge of record-high home prices and a dearth of properties on the market. The rate fell to 6.77% from 6.89% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.78%.
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In Swing States, Typical Homebuyer's Monthly Payment Has Nearly Doubled Since The Last Presidential Election
The median monthly housing payment for homebuyers in swing states has nearly doubled since the 2020 presidential election, rising 92% to an all-time high of $2,161, as both home prices and mortgage rates have soared. This is according to a new report from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Housing costs have also skyrocketed in red and blue states since 2020: Homebuyers' median housing payment has risen 95% to a record $2,066 in red states and 83% to a record $3,311 in blue states.
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Scammers Who Commit Title Fraud Steal Your Identity - Then Your Home
"Title theft is the perfect real estate crime," says Cronkright, CEO of CertifID, a wire fraud prevention firm, and Sun Title, a residential and commercial title company in Grand Rapids, Mich. Unlike other forms of identity theft that require access to victims' online accounts, Cronkright notes, "everything that the fraudster would need to [perpetrate title theft] is publicly available."
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The vast majority of title professionals use AI: Qualia
Despite having a 100-plus-year history, the title industry is now embracing some of the newest technologies on the market, including artificial intelligence. An overwhelming 88.3% of title and escrow professionals surveyed have already adopted generative AI solutions, according to the State of AI in Title and Escrow published this week by Qualia.
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