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94 be examined, from planning to building to se- curing the proper permits and cutting through the red tape involved. One major step was a bill that removed significant fees required to set up utilities for a backyard home, championed by Mayor Garcetti, which took effect last year. LA isn't the only town experimenting with tiny homes as a solution to housing problems. San Jose, California, recently held meetings to discuss a possible "tiny homes" program as a means to combat homelessness. Tempe, Ari- zona, is building a community of 600-square- foot homes that will be available for $130,000 or less. Los Angeles' backyard home plan is think- ing big, with a goal of 10,000 units by 2021. While there is still a long way to go, 2,342 ADU permits were issued in 2017, according to Fast Company, up from only 120 in 2016. ey say the longest journey begins with a single step; maybe the resolution to California's hous- ing shortage will begin with a few thousand tiny backyard houses. UTAH Ellie Mae Inducts PRMI Into Hall of Fame 2018 For the second year in a row, Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. (PRMI), one of the nation's top mortgage lenders headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, was an honored recipient of Ellie Mae's 2018 Hall of Fame Award an- nounced at Ellie Mae's Experience Conference on March 21, in Las Vegas. PRMI was named the top company for Excellence in Compliance Automation and recognized as an honorable mention for Outstanding Efficiency and ROI. Ellie Mae provides software solutions and services for the residential mortgage industry. Its software helps to streamline the homebuy- ing process through its digital platform and has helped PRMI close nearly 25,000 home loans in 2017. "Our loan originators need an innovative software solution to help achieve their clients' dreams of homeownership," said A.J. Swope, SVP of Secondary Markets. "Ellie Mae's Encompass Program enhances our loan quality process, providing our borrowers a positive and smooth experience from beginning to end. As a result, our Branch Partners and clients are happy and the quality of PRMI's loan process benefits from the full power of Encompass." Ellie Mae inducts mortgage lenders and partners into its Hall of Fame for distinguish- ing themselves through industry leadership and innovative use of Ellie Mae technologies. "We are proud to recognize Primary Residential Mortgage and congratulate them for being a Hall of Fame award winner for two consecutive years," said Jonathan Corr, President and CEO of Ellie Mae. "PRMI represents some of the top innovators and leads the mortgage industry because of their innovative uses of Ellie Mae solutions to help close more loans faster, reduce costs and remain compliant." of homeownership," said Jim Madsen, EVP, Loan Administration at Guild Mortgage. "We are fortunate for the outstanding support they provide us and are grateful for this honor." A top-10 national lender by purchase loan volume, Guild offers first-time homebuyers a wide range of loan options and personalized service. Its mortgage loan officers can serve the needs of any homebuyer, from helping first-time homebuyers achieve homeowner- ship, often through government loan programs, to jumbo home loans. Guild also specializes in helping active duty and retired military personnel to secure VA loans, with 100 percent financing and flexible qualifying standards. Combating Housing Shortages With Backyard Homes Proposals to help address California's housing crisis—such as allowing more housing closer to busy transit hubs—are sometimes met with refrains of "not in my backyard!" However, Los Angeles aims to combat the housing shortages by looking exactly there—in residents' backyards. Like many parts of the country, Los Ange- les is facing the simultaneous stresses of too few homes and skyrocketing home prices. It's only going to get worse: city government estimates it will need to build 100,000 new housing units by 2021 to keep up with demand. For the past couple of years, the city's Innovation Team has been exploring an unorthodox solution: allow- ing residents to repurpose their backyards with the construction of smaller homes, or "acces- sory dwelling units" (ADU). With nearly half a million single-family homes located within the city of Los Angeles, that's a lot of potential untapped space. A Fast Company magazine post traces the recent history of Los Angeles' experiment in backyard housing. e magazine recently declared the Los Angeles Innovation Team's backyard home experiment the winner in the urban design category of their 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards. But the process began back in 2015 when the Innovation Team was born from a Bloomberg Philanthropies grant and directed by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti to "focus on the growing problem of displacement from rising rents." e Innovation Team partnered with architects from LA-Más, researchers from UCLA's CityLab, and one local LA family to set about trying to build a backyard home. Along the way, every step of the process would According to a Realtor.com report, a combination of low housing inventory, escalating real estate prices, and increasing demand have placed Salt Lake City as one of the hottest markets of 2018. The median list price registered at $394,000, with list prices up 8 percent in the metro. The report showed inventory down 35 percent from spring 2012 and active listings at an 8 percent decrease in a year-over-year analysis. Of the 60 metros surveyed, the top five showed supply at nearly three times lower than the rest of the country, and listings in those cities selling faster at higher prices. KNOW THIS

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