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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 9 VALUE ADDED SERVICES Property Maintenance Cleaning Services Landscaping Pools: Service/Repair Rehabs Tree Removal Remodels Plumbing Services Electrical Garage Doors Repair Services Eviction/Re-Key Services Foundations Interior & Exterior Painting Flooring Sales & Installation Roofing A/C & Heat Pest Control Appliances Investor Services Property MGMT Services Builder's Warranty Services Emergency Services Board Up/Roof Tarp Insurance Restoration Water Mitigation/Fire Demo's Service areas inclusive of, but not limited to: TX, OK, TN, GA, MS, LA, AR, AL, Truly Noble Services, Inc. | www.trulynobleservices.com | (855) 898-2455 We've honed our skills for over 25 + years as a leading services provider in property preservation, rehabs, and repairs. Our commitment to bringing quality and consistency of services to the forefront shows in our dedication to training and constant technology updates to ensure our customers that we will be there for future support in services. All this commitment has laid the foundation for our long term success. From real estate agents to corporate clients who need anything from property maintenance to remodeling, we will show you why Truly Noble Services has earned the reputation as the service provider of choice. Where Servicing and Property Services Meet PROUD TO BE A VETERAN OWNED AND OPERATED BUSINESS American Mortgage Diversity Council Where Diverse Groups Share Common Goals. BORROWER EQUITY HITS 11-YEAR HIGH, BUT REFIS DROP Continued increases in home prices are driving the strongest equity market in a decade, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report by Black Knight Financial Services. e report, looking at February numbers, found that appreciation nationally has generated $4.7 trillion in equity available to borrowers, the highest it's been since 2006. Appreciation is also having a profound effect on the number of underwater borrowers, Black Knight reported. An annual home price appreciation of 5.5 percent in 2016 helped raise the number of U.S. mortgage holders with tappable equity to 39.5 million. Two-thirds of that equity belongs to borrowers with current interest rates below today's 30-year interest rate, and 78 percent belongs to borrowers with credit scores of 720 or higher. Overall, Black Knight reported, the total U.S. loan delinquency rate in February was 4.21 percent, a 1 percent drop from January. Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, and New Jersey had the highest rates of delinquency; Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Colorado, and North Dakota had the lowest. Ben Graboske, EVP for Black Knight's Data & Analytics division, said that the current equity landscape, in conjunction with a higher interest rate environment, will likely affect mortgage lending trends over the coming year. "December 2016 marked 56 consecutive months of annual home price appreciation," Graboske said. "at served to not only lift an additional 1 million formerly underwater homeowners back into positive equity throughout the year but also increased the amount of tappable equity available to U.S. mortgage holders by an additional $568 billion." e nearly 40 million homeowners with tappable equity have current combined loan- to-value ratios of less than 80 percent, Black Knight reported. And cash-out refinance data suggests they have been increasingly tapping that equity, though perhaps more conservatively than homeowners of the past. In Q 4, $31 billion in equity was extracted from the market via first-lien refinances. While that was the most equity drawn in more than eight years, borrowers are still tapping equity at less than a third of the rate they were back in 2005, and they're doing so more prudently. Post-cash- out loan-to-value-ratio was 65.6 percent, the lowest on record. However, Graboske said, prepayment speeds, historically a good indicator of refinance activity, have dropped by nearly 40 percent since January 1 in the face of today's higher interest rate environment. "e last time interest rates rose as much as they have over the past few months, we saw cash- out refinances decline by 50 percent, but rate-term refinances decline by 75 percent," he said. "Based on past behavior, we may see a decline in first-lien cash-out refinance volume, but it's still likely that cash-out refinances—and purchase loans—will drive the lion's share of prepayment activity over the coming year in any case."