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Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

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Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#361

Post by bombcar »

AviationAtom wrote: post #292
coredog64 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something to note about your local bank/CU. They might originate the loan, but as sure as water is wet they’re going to sell it to someone else for service. If you have a good working relationship that you can used for good terms, then go for it. But don’t go with a local bank because you think you’ll continue to work with them.

Our bank sold our loan before the first payment even came due. That said, they were phenomenal during the whole origination process, and they gave us a rock bottom rate (2.375%). My only fear is servicing being transferred multiple times, rapidly, then having to decipher who to pay now.

The banks are really surprisingly good about forwarding payments, I found that a mortgage had been sold months before but the autopay from my bank kept working; it wasn't until I went to login that I realized it had been sold off.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#362

Post by itsmejerry »

jimbob45 wrote: post #74
alexb_ wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Cracking down on Airbnb"... you say this as if Airbnb is a horrible thing or something LOL

Think about a hypothetical city where 100% of the properties are AirBNBs. There will be no source of employees for any local businesses because there are no long-term residents. There is no vested interest to improve the city via taxes and volunteerism, because no one truly lives there. No one will move to that city because the property rates are so absurdly inflated thanks to AirBNB rates. It’s an absurd example but…

Other than perhaps zoning restrictions, how does this differ from traditional hotels/motels in extreme tourist areas, like Niagara Falls. If people don't want to live permanently in a city for whatever reason, of course the city will suffer.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#363

Post by IMSAI8080 »

jjav wrote: post #314
IMSAI8080 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're often called "lifetime fixes" or "fixed for term" in the UK. You can easily get them. The term customers choose is typically 25 years rather than 30. However they are currently running at an interest rate of a little under 4% which is much higher than the rate offered on a typical 5 year year fix. This makes them unattractive when you can just perpetually keep re-mortgaging on 5 year fixes.

> However they are currently running at an interest rate of a little under 4% which is much higher than the rate offered on a typical 5 year year fix. This makes them unattractive when you can just perpetually keep re-mortgaging on 5 year fixes. Renewing after 5 years will presumably get you whatever rate is then? Which might be much higher. It's always better to get a fixed rate (for the life of the loan) mortgage.…

Well it's an unknowable gamble. You might also be locking in an excessively high rate. The flexible approach of continuously re-mortgaging would have been the better strategy for the last 10 years with interest rates that went down. In the next 10 years, who knows.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#364

Post by bombcar »

neaanopri wrote: post #350
mrep wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, when I was shopping for a condo 2 years ago, basically every place I looked at was selling for the same price as when they were brand new 10 years ago. Good thing though is it is way more affordable than the west coast.

These are the same thing! Property can't BOTH be affordable AND a good investment!

It can if you count it from a cost-savings viewpoint.

E.g, if buying costs $x, you pay $y a year for loan, insurance, maintenance, etc, and sell for $x later, and $y per year was less than the cost of renting, you win.

But most people would call that a "good deal" vs a "good investment".

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#365

Post by bombcar »

reg_dunlop wrote: post #334
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How soon? If trends continue, prices will start falling. You might be able to offer under asking, too. I bought 15% under asking in October of last year. Chicago didn't really go crazy like Phoenix or Palm Springs...

15% under asking?! That is a wild revelation to someone comparing greater Denver housing market, where adding 30% is required just to be considered.... I've been watching Zillow pretty consistently over the past few weeks, and have noticed price drops as well as longer days on the market in the Chicago area. Knowing values don't increase much isn't really a deterrent considering the desirability of the location.

Different areas have vastly different "cultures" around house buying. Some regions they've always gone for "more than asking" for decades, it's just how the game is played.

And other places consistently go for "less than asking" - but the end result is the same, really.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#366

Post by bogomipz »

xadhominemx wrote: post #207
hans1729 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's not really a burst, we're just hearing the hissing noise of the obvious leak. The true demand from people with the intend to actually live in the estates has been constantly decreasing since around 2000; the real salarys dropped since then, so did the buying power. The only reasons people found buyers at x3-x10 (!) prices were a) that there is a class of people wealthy enough to still afford the purchase…

> The true demand from people with the intend to actually live in the estates has been constantly decreasing since around 2000; the real salarys dropped since then, so did the buying power. > When 90 (?) percent of people simply lack the buying power to participate in the real estate market, but the other 10% happily sell each other estates, that's not a bubble, the real estate market just stopped interfacing with th…

The Baby-Boomer generation in the US is increasingly deciding to "age in place" rather than downsize and/or move to assisted living facilities. This is certainly a factor in the ownership figure you are quoting. There has been lots of coverage in this trend the last few years as well. See:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/realestate/baby-boomers-r...

and

https://archive.ph/0LXQu

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#367

Post by ClumsyPilot »

xadhominemx wrote: post #332
mirntyfirty wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d disagree in the sense that the home ownership population differs from those that have been buying or selling in the last few years.

If millennials were not buying homes at similar rates to their parents, the home ownership rate would be declining

There is no need for hypotheticals, we know for a fact they are not buying homws at a similar rate as their parents

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#368

Post by bombcar »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #305
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard Denver is extremely popular because you have all the amenities of a big city (They even have a Six Flags!), yet is right next to beautiful mountains and nature. Some parts even still have a small town feel. Of course, I've also heard that a significant fraction of those moving in are single men, to the point where the city has gotten the nickname "Menver".

Aside from Six Flags, how is this different from the west of the US?

Denver has an international airport of some prominence, and since that became "active" it has become a bit of a westish-coast city.

Some areas around it had a very "Portland" or "Seattle" feel a few decades ago, and for a time they were a "well-kept secret". Not so much now, so the next big city may be somewhere else soon.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#369

Post by bilbo0s »

hnuser847 wrote: post #333
bilbo0s wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out why a sane housing market is a "bad" thing?

There are a lot of reasons. Buying and selling real estate involves high transaction costs - there are closing costs and transfer taxes on the buy side, and 6% commissions and transfer taxes on the sell side - which means in order to break even, you need to have some amount of appreciation. Then there's the opportunity cost of living in a home that doesn't appreciate while literally everyone else in the country is ge…

First, you would lose money anyway, because most places have property tax.

Secondly, only the people who can afford to live in those high cost of living areas would get rich off of these increasing property values you're talking about. The worst thing a person can do is move somewhere to live beyond their means because "when I sell I'll be making a killing!" Out here in flyover country, unless you live in Chicago or Minneapolis, you're probably not seeing 30% per annum increases in your property values.

Finally, yeah, we in the midwest already know Chicago is not cheap. You buy there because you're well off, and you're going to make those ridiculous returns you were talking about. But the rest of us just deal with the areas we can afford. Which is probably not Tribune Tower.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#370

Post by meatsauce »

mbesto wrote: post #191
doctoboggan wrote: post #170

My wife and I will be moving to Chicago soon and we intend on buying a house when we get there. How screwed are we by the current housing situation and interest rates?

I grew up in Chicago and love Chicago, so I'll try to say this as politely as possible - don't expect your property to hold any value in IL. Anecdata - I have friends that lived there for 8+ years, then moved to the south in the last 2 years and their property value barely budged.

What are some nice neighborhoods around Chicago?
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