News

North Carolina's economy appears to back on the move, according to a recently released study performed by the Wells Fargo Economics Group. Labor market conditions are improving, with job growth outpacing the nation and home sales finally recovering from a period of dormancy.

The Department of Labor reported 192,000 new jobs in March, down slightly from February’s revised growth of 197,000 (from 175,000 originally reported). Despite last month’s apparent strength, the overall unemployment rate stubbornly stayed at 6.7 percent, unchanged from February (which was a slight step up from January’s 6.6 percent).

A look into 35 major markets by Zillow reveals that buyers making the median income in Southern California, the Bay Area, Portland (Oregon), Denver, and Miami face markets where more than half the available homes are beyond their price range—which could mean the beginning of a new housing bubble.

The recent technological attack on Ellie Mae could have been carried out by individuals with mortgage industry experience, the vendor says. The attacks occurred over a two-day span from March 31 to April 1, overwhelming the company’s servers with data requests that appeared to be legitimate communications.

A slow week for economic news led to relative flatness in mortgage rates to kick off April. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey revealed the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) came up to 4.41 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending April 3—a minor increase from 4.40 percent last week.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Federal Reserve System released an executive summary outlining an audit performed on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to assess the bureau’s operational efficiency and effectiveness. The OIG noted the difficult task associated with the creation and implementation of the new agency; however, the OIG found that improvements could be made.

Poppi Metaxas, former president and CEO of Gateway Bank of Oakland, California, was charged with bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, and perjury in relation to a sham "round trip" transaction. The scheme, initiated by Metaxas, caused Gateway to execute a false transaction in which the bank self-funded a down payment to make it appear that Gateway had sold toxic, non-performing mortgage loans.

Associa announced the appointment of Tom Larkin as a SVP of information technology and interim CIO. Associa is a community association management firm based out of Dallas, Texas.

CoreLogic released its National Foreclosure Report for February, 2014, reporting 43,000 completed foreclosures for the month, a 13.1 percent decrease from January, 2014. Yearly, foreclosures declined 15 percent from February, 2013.

Vacation home sales rose in 2013, while investment purchases fell below the higher levels seen in previous years, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR’s 2014 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey found vacation-home sales jumped 29.7 percent to an estimated 717,000, while investment-home sales fell 8.5 percent to an estimated 1.1 million in 2013.