TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
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local edition S e c on da r y M a r k e t a na ly t ic s se r v ic i ng or ig i nat ion ANALYTICS Meanwhile, buyers paying with cash accounted for 33.8 percent of home sales, tying November's record. The most active lenders to Southland homebuyers in December were Wells Fargo (with 8.9 percent of the market), Prospect Mortgage (with 2.6 percent), and iMortgage.com (with 2.4 percent), according to DataQuick. Warren Group Reports Thriving Sales in Home State Touting a six-year high for home sales to end 2012, the real estate and financial information provider highlighted Massachusetts' housing gains. Massachusetts // Home sales in Massachusetts rose 18 percent in 2012 to their highest level since 2006, the Warren Group reported. Home sales statewide totaled 46,887, up from 39,594 in 2011. In December alone, single-family home sales were up 8 percent year-over-year. Fourth-quarter home sales also increased from a year ago. According to the Warren Group, a total of 11,305 sales were recorded in Q 4 2012, up 13 percent from 9,991 during the same period in 2011. The first quarter was the worst of the year, posting 8,018 sales, while the third quarter saw 13,950 sales. "I would characterize 2012 as the year of robust recovery in the real estate market," said Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren Jr. "It is clear we have turned the corner and are gaining ground rapidly. I contrast the 18 percent gain last year with the decline of 6 percent in 2011." The median price of single-family homes statewide rose more than 12 percent in December to $300,000, up from $267,250 a year before. It's the first time since August that median prices broke the $300,000 mark and the first December since 78 | 2007 to see median prices climb above that level. Condominium sales also increased last year, rising more than 25 percent to 19,061 from 15,191 in all of 2011. Condo sales were the highest statewide since 2008. The median condo price in December rose 8 percent yearover-year to $275,000, according to the Warren Group's data. The year-to-date median condo price was up 2.6 percent to $277,000. Ernst Publishing Touts Data and Technology Initiatives Announcing a newly patented system for mortgage documents and efforts to maximize open source software capabilities, the company elaborated on its 2013 objectives. New York // A widely relied upon source of technology and closing cost data in the mortgage industry for 24 years, Albany, New York-based Ernst Publishing Company announced it received a new patent for its latest system. Ernst's new system, which it calls "System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms," is a new way for industry participants to keep track of fees and calculate taxes. The new system is part of Ernst's Smart Query product suite. "We expect this patent will provide a high level of confidence to our clients, ensuring them that the technology they rely on for guaranteed accurate pricing is truly an Ernst innovation," said Gregory E. Teal, president and CEO of Ernst. While the company intends to "vigorously defend" its ideas and products, Teal said he is also open to working with other firms across the industry. Ernst's longstanding technology tools for providing closing costs and fees help users comply with GFE and HUD-1. "We're very proud of our technology and all of the intellectual property we have developed over our 24 years in this business," Teal said. Meanwhile, Ernest's technology development team has "begun leveraging the power and capabilities presented by the communities of open source software." to a release from the company, Ernst is already using open source software in some of its servers. Now, the company is giving back by contributing code to and documentation improvements to other projects. "The pursuit of constant innovation requires us to develop technology faster and more economically than ever before," Teal elaborated. "OSI has emerged as the most effective way to meet that mandate." "Our new technologies will make it to market faster, our tools will be more affordable, and our engineers will have the opportunity to give something back to their communities. Everybody wins," he concluded. Small Businesses Support Tougher Rules for Wall Street According to findings from Lake Research Partners, four of five small business owners are in favor of stricter regulation for financial industries. Pennsylvania // An Internet poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and released by Small Business Majority shows entrepreneurs overwhelmingly support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its mission to regulate the financial industries. According to the poll, 80 percent of small business owners believe Wall Street and financial companies should face tougher rules and enforcement following the financial crisis. The remainder believe those companies have showed enough evidence of change that further regulation is unnecessary. Additionally, a combined 66 percent of those surveyed expressed their opinion that the level of government oversight of financial companies should increase or is about right the way it is. Most notably, 84 percent of entrepreneurs support the CFPB and "believe it's needed to prevent predatory financial practices and ensure all financial institutions treat small businesses and consumers fairly." In addition, 58 percent of respondents agreed the CFPB was needed because "Wall Street banks and financial companies wrote their own rules and nobody was watching out for consumers and small businesses." "Small businesses, along with our economy, are getting stronger, but they're certainly not immune to the lingering effects of our financial meltdown," said John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority. "That's why they feel strongly that Wall Street banks and other financial institutions need to be held accountable with tougher regulations. Predatory lending practices are still a problem and small businesses support the government's and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's role in fixing that." Sixty percent of entrepreneurs agreed that the agency's funding should remain independent so as to prevent lobbyists from launching efforts in Congress to block regulation. "More work needs to be done to give small businesses the ability to push back against these unfair practices. A lot of small businesses don't have the power or the resources to fight against the big banks and financial companies," said Shaundell Newsome, president and CEO of Sumnu Marketing in Las Vegas. "These companies' practices haven't really changed since the recession, which is why I think it's incredibly important the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to keep these folks accountable. However, many of the protections that individuals are seeing should be afforded to small businesses, as well." The M Report MR