Photo Source: Instagram via @landschute

Housing Starts and Permits were down last month, missing expectations but not as big a disappointment as one might immediately think. Coming off a 10-year high for Permits in January and a 10% rise in January Starts that was revised even higher, a drop was expected. Multi-family homes can be attributed for the miss, with single-family Starts actually rising and Permits holding strong.

A common trend at Hall Financial that’s a cornerstone to our More Personal Attention motto is now being recommended. Seems like common sense to us but apparently it needed to have an article dedicated to the topic: borrowers tend to be less satisfied when loan officers don’t attend the closing. While it’s true a loan officer might not be able to attend every closing, it’s extremely important they go over the fine detail with the client prior to closing. It’s all about communication and a borrower’s misperception of rate or fees or escrow when going over the paperwork at closing could completely ruin their perception of the loan officer and the experience. Bottom line: loan officers need to attend their closings.

Also trending: most millennials are buying in suburban areas, not in the city as it’s commonly assumed. Why the favoritism? Schooling. They want to enroll their kids in good public schools rather than the expensive private schools common in the city.