Existing-home sales rebounded strongly in February, experiencing the largest month-over-month gain since December 2015, according to the National Association of Realtors. Three of the four major U.S. regions saw sales gains, while the Northeast remained unchanged from last month.

Total existing-home sales completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, shot up 11.8 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million in February. However, sales are down 1.8 percent from a year ago from 5.61 million in February 2018.

"A powerful combination of lower mortgage rates, more inventory, rising income and higher consumer confidence is driving the sales rebound," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

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The median existing-home price for all housing types in February was $249,500, up 3.6 percent from February 2018, or $240,800. February's price increase marks the 84^th  straight month of year-over-year gains. Housing inventory at the end of February increased to 1.63 million, up from 1.59 million existing homes available for sale in January, a 3.2 percent increase from 1.58 million a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 3.5-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 3.9 months in January but up from 3.4 months in February 2018.

"It is very welcoming to see more inventory showing up in the market," said Yun. "Consumer foot traffic is rising as measured by the opening rate of SentriLock key boxes." NAR's SentriLock data, for key access to unlock a home, was measurably higher in January and February compared to the second half of 2018.

[caption id="attachment_11200" align="alignleft" width="281"] At a Glance: 2019 Existing Home Sales[/caption]

Properties remained on the market for an average of 44 days in February, down from 49 days in January but up from 37 days a year ago. Forty-one percent of homes sold in February were on the market for less than a month.

Yun thinks the market would benefit in 2019 with additional new housing.

"For sustained growth, significant construction of moderately priced-homes is still needed. More construction will help boost local economies and more home sales will help lessen wealth inequality as more households can enjoy in housing wealth gains."

A typical homeowner accumulated an estimated $8,700 in housing equity over the past 12 months and $21,300 over the past 24 months.

First-time buyers were responsible for 32 percent of sales in February, up from last month and a year ago (both 29 percent). All-cash sales accounted for 23 percent of transactions in February, equal to January's percentage, but marginally down from a year ago (24 percent). Individual investors, who account for many cash sales, purchased 16 percent of homes in February, identical to January's 16 percent, but a tick up from a year ago (15 percent).

Distressed sales, foreclosures and short sales, represented 4 percent of sales in February, equal to both the 4 percent represented in January and at this time a year ago. One percent of February sales were short sales.

Single-family home sales sit at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million in February, up from 4.36 million in January and down 1.4 percent from 5.01 million a year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $251,400 in February, up 3.6 percent from February 2018.

Existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 570,000 units in February, unchanged from last month and down 5 percent from a year ago. The median existing condo price was $233,300 in February, which is up 3.1 percent from a year ago.

February existing-home sales numbers in the Northeast were identical to last month. The annual rate of 690,000 is 1.5 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $272,900, which is up 3.8 percent from February 2018.

In the Midwest, existing-home sales rose 9.5 percent from last month to an annual rate of 1.27 million, roughly even to February 2018 levels. The median price in the Midwest was $188,800, which is up 5.4 percent from last year.

Existing-home sales in the South grew 14.9 percent to an annual rate of 2.39 million in February, down 0.4 percent from last year. The median price in the South was $219,300, up 2.5 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West rocketed 16 percent to an annual rate of 1.16 million in February, 7.9 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $379,300, up 3 percent from February 2018.

KS StateBank has licensed the Total Expert Marketing Operating System to centralize marketing efforts and streamline the customer experience.

It provides the capability for originators to track interactions with customers, prospects and partners. KS StateBank has branches in Kansas and Arizona.

[caption id="attachment_11110" align="alignright" width="329"] Valencia: APIs and integrations allowed the bank to personalize customer engagement and marketing.[/caption]

“We needed a more robust solution to equip our teams with cohesive, on-demand marketing materials that met strict compliance requirements and allowed them to expand their co-marketing business,” said Jan Valencia, residential-mortgage systems project manager at KS StateBank. “It was critical to find a solution to automate the delivery of hyper-relevant messaging throughout the customer lifecycle. The open application-programming interface and integrations allowed us to maintain our current technology stack and empowered the flow of data, so we can personalize our customer engagement and marketing efforts.”

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The technology will empower the KS StateBank relationship managers to foster deeper relationships with their customers, prospects and co-marketing partners through the deployment of personalized, automated messaging, at scale. By leveraging consumer data paired with intelligent automation, they will be able to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.

“We’ve seen a huge push in the financial services industry to personalize the customer experience and maximize the lifetime value of existing customers,” said Sue Woodard, chief customer officer at Total Expert. “We are thrilled to empower KS StateBank relationship managers to be the trusted advisor their customers turn to time and time again, cultivating customers for life.”

ZestFinance, a developer of artificial intelligence software for consumer credit, launched ZAML Fair, a new  tool designed to reduce bias and discrimination in lending.

Several mortgage lenders have already tested the ZAML Fair algorithm, and based on those results, ZAML Fair would eliminate 70 percent of the gap in mortgage approval rates between Hispanic and white borrowers, according to the company. Also, ZAML would cut the even larger gap between black and white borrowers by more than 40 percent. And that is just by using the technology to tune up traditional credit models. This would put more than 172,000 minority families into new homes.

"The way lenders take bias out of their models today is by simply tossing out offending credit signals. That leaves a lot of performance on the table," said Douglas Merrill, founder and CEO of ZestFinance. "Banks

[caption id="attachment_11100" align="alignleft" width="299"] Douglas Merrill, CEO of ZestFinance[/caption]

shouldn't have to choose between fairness and accuracy, and ZAML Fair helps them optimize for both."

ZAML Fair is a new algorithm that lenders can use to tune models for maximum fairness by automatically reducing the impact of discriminatory credit data. ZAML Fair uses the transparency tools built into ZAML to rank credit signals by how much they lead to biased outcomes and then produces a new model with maximum fairness and accuracy.

ZAML Fair carefully reduces the influence of factors that drive disparity, including some common credit signals such as income and the traditional credit score. Lenders get a series of better models they can choose from at a fraction of the time and effort required by legacy techniques. ZestFinance was founded in 2009 by Merrill, a former CIO of Google, and a team of former Google employees.

The Money Store Launches New Ops Center

The Money Store announced the opening of the Western Division Operations Center located in the heart of Central Phoenix, Arizona.  Led by Operations Manager, Tracy Brooks, the center will support the West Coast based sales teams with processing, underwriting and closing functions. Brooks has been in the mortgage industry for 30 years, having held management positions in Operations, Sales, and Credit Risk for such companies as Movement Mortgage, Quicken Loans, and even The Money Store back in the late 90s. Her experience coupled with her skillful team will provide even better service to the homebuyers and real estate professionals on the West Coast.

"I am extremely excited to be a part of The Money Store's expansion to the west coast.  We have assembled a best-in-class operations team here in Phoenix, working alongside some of the industry's top sales leaders to deliver amazing customer experiences.  Having the chance to open this Operations Center for a forward-thinking company that is dedicated to becoming the best in the business is a breath of fresh air for someone who has been in this business as long as I have.  The energy and excitement to grow the Western Division is felt by every member of my team. The potential is amazing and we are ready for what lies ahead!"

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Angel Oak Home Loans Continues Expansion in Georgia

Angel Oak Home Loans, a full-service residential mortgage lender, brings new mortgage options to Warner Robins homebuyers with its newest branch in The Peach State.

“We take great pride in ensuring that our customers get the best mortgage product to meet their needs,” says Sierra Hudson, Warner Robins Branch Manager. “Customer service is our top priority and we are looking forward to giving Warner Robins homebuyers a seamless mortgage experience. Whether it is your first or third home, it is an important moment and every homebuyer should make sure they work with a lender who can assist on all levels of the experience.”

Angel Oak Home Loans, in addition to traditional products, offers non-QM options for borrowers who do not meet today’s tight bank-lending standards. Alongside Angel Oak’s ability to close loans quickly, borrowers can also use the Angel Oak “MyHomeLoan” mobile app, which gives users streamlined, 24/7 access to their application, loan process and other features.

“Angel Oak’s commitment to bringing speed and expert service to each borrower has been a key growth factor,” says Mac Cregger, SVP Regional Manager of Angel Oak Home Loans. “The Warner Robins branch has an expert team and we look forward to seeing them meet the high standards borrowers have come to expect from us.”

The Warner Robins branch is the 10th Angel Oak Home Loans office in Georgia. The company’s expanding presence shows that there is a demand for flexible products to better serve the growing number of homebuyers. Angel Oak now services borrowers in 18 states. In 2018, Angel Oak saw record-breaking volume in non-QM lending across the company.