Posted On: March 15, 2019
The National Association of Realtors President, John Smaby, believes real estate firms should remain optimistic about the future. "To look optimistically toward the future, with a majority expecting profits to increase in the next two years. These trends are positive signs, particularly in our constantly evolving industry." This is a good look into the real estate business, which has seen low numbers for the past few years. However, the month of March seems to be bringing good news. The average rates have seen a decline since early November, leaving the average 30-year rate at 4.41 percent. This brings in the… 
Springtime invites many new home buyers into the market. However, this year seems to be taking a slow start due to higher prices. This is mainly hitting high economy areas, like California and other western states and cities and is part of a trend we've seen over the last five months. There are also too many homes and not enough buyers which has made homes more expensive. Danielle Hale, the chief economist for realtor.com, says "Sales have slowed. ... Affordability is a challenge." This is mostly because of a long-term housing shortage that pushed prices higher, on a monthly and… 
In 2017, House Financial Services leadership announced that the flood insurance reform would be a priority. The flood program was going to expire on September 30th, in 2017. However, several controversial reform bills were introduced that stalled in Congress. Once the 2017 hurricane season hit, Congress changed focus which led to multiple short term extensions of the flood program. 2018 saw many extensions which turned into program lapses and more week-long extensions. Just like 2017 and 2018, the year 2019 might not be any different. However, there is always hope for true reform. Late 2018 Congress voted on a standalone… 
Doing your taxes from 2018 could look slightly different than it did last year. There were more than 600 rule changes that took place by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which was passed by Congress in late 2017. Those changes also made industry experts concerned because of the government shutdown on December 22nd of 2018. However, this was resolved by President Trump announcing that the Government will partially be up and running on January 25th, making it possible for taxes to be filed as early as the 28th. Tax filers need to understand that it won't be the usual… 
The economy will experience ups, downs, and plateaus in 2019. After a well rounded 2018, how will 2019 fare against it? Well, professionals are saying not that great. This year will be slowed, not drastically, but we should expect numbers to go down. You can not expect numbers to stay high forever. This is just economic nature; like a roller coaster, it goes up and down. However, 2019 will have upsides. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 3.3 percent, whereas in 2018 it was 3.7 percent. Over 200,000 jobs were created last year, this year another 160,000 jobs… 
The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates a 4.2 percent increase in mortgage originations from 2018 to 2019. In addition to that, the refinance originations are expected to decrease by 12.4 percent to $395 billion. Overall, in 2019 there is predicted to be a significant decrease in mortgage originations from $1.64 trillion to $1.63 trillion. Setco is prepared to handle these changes with stride. These estimates allow us to be sure that we properly handle our client's closings to make it the best and easiest process of their lives. The unemployment rate is at the lowest it has been in 50 years,…