Forget the Open Floor Plan--It's Time to Bring Back Walls

Redfin  announced it would be reducing its number of employees by approximately 7%, according to the company’s filing with the  Securities and Exchange Commission  Tuesday morning. “Due to the impact of COVID-19 on our business, on April 5, 2020, we decided to reduce our number of employees by approximately seven percent,”  the filing said . “We expect to complete this workforce reduction by the end of April 2020.” Just  three weeks ago , the iBuyer announced it would be pausing its iBuying services, as one of  many iBuyers  temporarily stopping home purchases due to coronavirus. According to a  blog post  from Redfin Chief Executive Officer Glenn Kelman, 41% of its agents, along with the coordinators, recruiters, renovators and others that support those agents, will go on furlough until September 1. The furlough includes a transition bonus and health-care benefits throughout the summer months. Meanwhile, those who build technology a...

The $1.6 trillion real estate industry is a tempting target for disruptors. Hundreds of companies have developed thousands of solutions to automate different parts of the process, making the experience better and faster in many ways. But these are mostly incremental improvements — streamlining valuations or verifications, or creating mobile ways to apply for a loan. All worthy endeavors, but not truly disruptive. That’s because it’s really hard to disrupt something so local, so regulated and so consequential in people’s lives. Something like ride-sharing is a breeze in comparison.  One of the most recent efforts to overhaul the business of residential real estate is iBuying, spearheaded by  Opendoor . What iBuyers provide, first and foremost, is certainty. Instead of listing their homes with an agent and hoping for the best, sellers can input property information and get an instant cash offer within 24 hours. If a seller accepts that offer, they can skip making repairs an...

In a rare television interview,  Federal Reserve  Chairman Jerome Powell told Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie the U.S. economy can’t reopen until the coronavirus pandemic is under control. “The virus is going to set the timeline,” a grim-looking Powell said on the NBC morning show on Thursday. Powell’s comments contradict President Donald Trump’s calls for “packed churches” on Easter, just over two weeks away. Easter Sunday would be a “beautiful timeline” for reopening the economy, Trump said at a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday. The Fed chairman had a different outlook. “The sooner we get the spread of the virus under control, people will regain confidence,” Powell said in the interview. “When they become confident that is the case, they will very willingly open their businesses up, go back to work, the consumer will be spending. So I think the first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control and then resume economic act...

Mortgage forbearance opportunities, while beneficial to borrowers impacted by COVID-19, are putting an  enormous strain  on mortgage servicers of all sizes. Within the last couple of weeks,   Fannie Mae  and  Freddie Mac , along with other  lending institutions , quickly stepped up to respond to the millions of people the COVID-19 pandemic has financially impacted. The White House and the  Federal Housing Finance Agency   even called for  up to 12 months of mortgage forbearance for Americans who can’t pay their bills because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the challenge with mortgage forbearance is that someone has to pay the bill. According to  Ginnie Mae , which currently holds  29.6% of the outstanding securities  in the agency market, the cornerstone of their MBS Guaranty program “has been and will always be that the investors who support access to affordable mortgage credit for the  U.S. Department of Housing ...

1. Upgrade your lighting You'll need good light since you'll be inside for a while, so consider replacing old bulbs in your living room lamps with energy-efficient LED bulbs, suggests  Ana Cummings  of the eponymous design firm. LED bulbs have a longer life and don't heat up as much as incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, making them safer if accidentally touched. And since you're in the lamp department, take a hard look at the shades on each of your lights. If you have a similar size lamp in another room, swap the shades to give your living room a new look. 2. Hang (or rehang) a gallery wall Photo by Brittany Stiles Design Redoing your wall design is a fast way to upgrade your living room's look—and it costs just about nothing except your time and a few picture hooks and nails. If you've always wanted to try a gallery wall, go for it! If you already have one, it might be time to change it up. Either way, lay your frames on the floor to pl...

A recent report from  Goldman Sachs   suggested  that a record-shattering number of people are filing for unemployment as the coronavirus cripples the nation’s economy. That’s why there’s likely going to be a giant surge in delinquent mortgages as many borrowers are unable to make their next mortgage payment. That’s also why the mortgage industry is  asking  the government to allow mortgage servicers to be able to provide affected borrowers with a 90-day break on their payments. While that solution would require some serious legwork (more on that  here ), the two biggest sources of mortgage financing are giving some leeway to borrowers who’ve fallen behind.  Fannie Mae  and  Freddie Mac  unveiled today a new “payment deferral” option that will allow borrowers facing a hardship to defer two months of their mortgage payments until the end of their mortgage. The program was set to be announced later this year, but with the coronaviru...

This year’s spring home-buying market looks drastically different than what was  originally predicted . The early forecasts for a hot purchase market were instead met with never-before-seen  refinance levels , as  COVID-19  changed the course of the real estate market. Despite these changes, the industry not only remains operational, but it’s  working in overdrive  to meet demand and adjust to the challenges that city lockdowns and social distancing are causing.  One part of the mortgage transaction that’s always been face-to-face is title. Industry demand for  remote online notarizations  and eClosings has moved the needle quite a bit toward automating or digitizing this process, especially over the last month as a bipartisan push to legalize RON nationwide has grown to help business continue during lockdowns. However, the challenges that COVID-19 is creating shows that there are still plenty of business operations that are not comple...