Real Estate Finance Flashcards
Pre-Qualification
The first step in determining “how much house” the buyer can afford and which type of loan might be best; the buyer supplies information about their financial situation to the lender, who then provides a general estimate
Pre-Approval
Official process of being approved by a lender to borrow a specific amount at an interest rate within a small range; a mortgage application, credit report, and supporting financial documentation are required
Mortgage broker
Someone who brings together a borrower and a lender in order to create a mortgage
Mortgage banker
An entity or person who provides mortgage financing by using their own funds
Correspondent lender
A lender who offers loans using their own money at their own risk, generally on a smaller scale than mortgage brokers and bankers
Loan processing
When the lender collects information and an application from the buyer that will help determine the loan type and amount they will qualify for
Underwriting
The process of deciding the level of risk a lender would take on by offering a loan to a certain borrower for a specific property
Funding
The transferring of funds by the lender to a title company or escrow company so that they may be disbursed
Servicing
The ongoing collection of monthly payments and maintenance of records by a loan servicer
Employment opportunity is the biggest factor for
residential real estate demand.
A housing bubble is created when property values
increase too quickly.
Leverage
The use of a relatively small amount of money in order to get a much bigger loan for purchasing real estate
Cost approach
Method of estimating the value of a property by determining how much it would cost to completely replace it and then subtracting from that value to account for depreciation
Income approach
Method of estimating the value of a property based on the amount of income it could produce for its owner
Conforming loan
A loan that has been made according to the guidelines that will allow the loan to be sold on the secondary market
Non-conforming loans
A loan that does not meet the guidelines to be sold on the secondary market
Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP):
Required insurance to protect the lender in the event of borrower default on an FHA loan
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI):
Insurance that protects the lender in the event of borrower default on a conventional loan
In hypothecation, the borrower maintains their
ownership of the asset and has free reign to use and enjoy it.
The secondary market is made up of:
Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Ginnie Mae Federal Home Loan Bank Private investors Life insurance companies
A home mortgage gets passed on to a servicer for ongoing management. What exactly does that servicer do?
Collects the homeowner’s payments every month
Maintains the escrow account (if the borrower has to or chooses to have one) for annual expenses, like taxes and home insurance
Contacts the borrower about late payments or defaults
Answers questions the borrower may have about the loan
Mortgage servicing companies can even buy home insurance on the borrower’s behalf if they fail to attain or maintain coverage. This is called
force placed insurance, and it’s not ideal for the customer
FHA insurance requires an
upfront fee (called the Up-front Mortgage Insurance Premium, or UFMIP) in addition to a monthly fee.
The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) provides an addendum for the parties to negotiate seller
financing (the Seller Financing Addendum).
TREC provides an addendum to help the buyer and seller negotiate the terms of an
assumption (the Loan Assumption Addendum).
Private investors (lenders) may have higher interest rates or unusual terms compared to banks. This type of lending is called
“hard money” lending.
Types of credit lines include, but are not limited to:
Balloon Loans: Usually last for 3 to 15 years and are indexed against a Treasury index
Real Estate Loans: Secured by other real estate you own. Usually you can borrow up to 75% against the value of the property for a term of between 10 and 20 years
Short Term Loans: Secured loans for a term of one year or less
Asset Based Loans: Secured by your professional or perhaps your personal assets
Term Loans: Usually made by traditional lenders and secured for a fixed term that is at least partially determined by the investor’s income statements and projections
Equipment Loans: Secured by business equipment and against which you can usually borrow 60-80% of the value of the equipment for the projected life of the equipment
The purpose of the SAFE Act is to protect consumers across the country from
fraud by defining minimum licensing and registration standards for mortgage loan originators.
Expansion
The economic phase in which market activity really picks up (businesses start hiring again, people are investing in real estate)
Hyper supply
The economic phase in which supply catches up with (and then surpasses) demand; the first warning sign is an increase in vacant or unsold property
Recession
A period in which economic activity drastically declines and stays declined for more than six months
Economic bubble
Forms when the value of something (typically real estate or stocks) grows so much that its market value is higher than its actual value
Housing affordability
Compares median household income to the income needed to purchase a median-priced home
Inflation
A general rise in prices as the result of a decrease in the dollar’s purchasing power
the four major phases of the real estate market cycle. They are
recovery, expansion, hyper supply, and recession.
Recovery is the phase that follows
A recession
Distinguishing characteristics of a recovery phase include:
High unemployment (but it’s not getting any worse)
Lots of home foreclosures
People have seen the damage caused by recession and are afraid to buy homes (even though it’s arguably a good time to “buy low”)
Government lowers interest rates to encourage investments
With expansion, Businesses are
hiring more, and people tend to view real estate as a good investment again.
Signs of expansion include:
Most available properties have been bought or rented, driving vacancy rates down
Rent and home prices are rising
Construction for new homes and commercial buildings starts
hyper supply phase, in which supply catches up with (and eventually surpasses)
demand.
Hyper supply is marked by:
Crazy high prices
Lots of building projects going on
Vacancies start to rise
recession, starts when occupancy
falls below average (specifically, the long term average that evens out cycle changes).
Classic symptoms of recession include:
High unemployment
Decreased spending by consumers and businesses
Less investment in new buildings, factories, and equipment
Land prices are at their lowest
Decreased interest rates
there is a handy tool called the Housing Affordability Index that allows us to gauge
the affordability (and therefore demand) of housing in the real estate market.
Housing Affordability Index compares
median household income to the income needed to purchase a median-priced home. One is published monthly by the National Association of REALTORS.
Market
A theoretical construct that isolates the selling and purchasing of any one particular commodity from the economy as a whole
Demand
Consumers’ ability and willingness to buy a good or service at a certain price
Supply
An amount of a commodity that is available based on the willingness and ability of sellers in a given market to sell that commodity
Legal tender
United States coins and currency good for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues
The federal reserve act
The 1913 act that created the Federal Reserve
The federal reserve
Centralized United States bank created to conduct monetary policy and stabilize the U.S. economy
Monetary policy
A term used to refer to the actions of central banks to achieve big, macroeconomic policy objectives
The purpose of the bank is fourfold:
Conduct the monetary policy of the United States
Supervise and regulate financial institutions for the protection of the consumer
Maintain the financial system’s stability
Provide services to the government, to financial institutions, and to the public
The President of the United States nominates seven people to serve on the
Board of Governors for 14-year terms, and the Senate confirms the president’s nominations.
the president appoints a chairman and vice chairman of the board from the
Seven nominees
The job of the Board of Governors is to set the
discount rate and the reserve requirement for member banks. Additionally, the board forms a proper part of the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).
The FOMC is in charge of the Fed’s
open-market operations, such as the purchase and sale of government securities.
Congress established maximum employment and price stability as the macroeconomic objectives for the Federal Reserve; they are sometimes referred to as the
Federal Reserve’s dual mandate.
Fiscal policy decisions are determined by the
Congress and the Administration; the Federal Reserve plays no role in determining fiscal policy.
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC):
The Federal Reserve’s policy-making body, which is charged with overseeing the federal government’s open market operations
Open Market Operations:
Adjustments to the supply of money implemented by the Federal Reserve to influence the interest rate
Discount Rate:
The interest rate at which the Fed lends money to its member banks
The reserve requirement
Requirement that all depository institutions (not just member banks) keep a certain percentage of their funds in the regional Reserve bank
Securities
Any financial asset that can be traded, including futures, stocks, mortgage loans, and options
The top monetary policy-making body for the Federal Reserve is the
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is charged with overseeing the federal government’s open market operations.
Liquidity describes cash or assets that can be converted to
Cash quickly
Fed’s three instruments for implementing its monetary policy by influencing the money supply:
The discount rate
The reserve requirement
Open-market operations
The Fed typically has one of two goals in mind when buying and selling securities:
Reach a targeted amount of reserve balances held at the Reserve
Reach a targeted federal funds rate
Money laundering
Financial transaction in which criminals, including terrorist organizations, attempt to disguise the proceeds, sources, or nature of their illicit activities by funneling the money through otherwise legitimate business transactions
Shell companies
Companies that don’t have any real operation, but exist as vehicles for business transactions
In 1789, Congress established the United States Department of the Treasury to manage
The governments revenue
The Treasury Department maintains systems that are critical to the nation’s financial infrastructure, such as:
Borrowing the necessary funds to run the federal government
Collecting revenue
Producing coins and currency
Disbursing payments to the American public
Through the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), the Treasury tracks
crimes such as money laundering.
Illegal financing red flags
Geographic risk
Customer risk
Transaction risk
As part of this broad response to the housing crisis, Treasury, under TARP, established two central programs,
Making Home Affordable® (MHA) and the Hardest Hit Fund® (HHF).
MHA helped over 1.8 million families obtain mortgage
relief and avoid foreclosure.
MHA expired in December 2016.
The Hardest Hit Fund® was created to provide targeted aid to families in states hit hard by the
economic and housing market downturn.
The participating states were chosen either because they are struggling with unemployment rates at or above the national average or steep home price declines greater than 20 percent since the housing market downturn.
Where’s the Mint?
U.S. Mint branches are located in:
Washington D.C. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Denver, Colorado West Point, New York Fort Knox, Kentucky
1933 Banking Act:
Depression-era federal act that created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Glass-Steagall Act:
Part of the 1933 Banking Act that prevents investment banks from taking deposits and preventing commercial Federal Reserve members banks from various risky behaviors
Dodd frank
Federal Act passed as a result of the housing bubble and financial crisis that resulted in the most significant financial reforms to the American banking system since the post-Great Depression legislation
Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932:
Extended $125 million in credit to savings and loan institutions and created the Federal Home Loan Bank System, setting up the twelve regional banks
Community Investment Program (CIP):
Program operated by each FHLBank that offers below-market-rate loans to members for long-term financing for housing and economic development that benefits low- and moderate-income families and neighborhoods
The purpose of the Federal Home Loan Bank System is to
The System provides members with access to:
support residential mortgage lending and related community investment through its member financial institutions.
Reliable, economical funding and technical assistance
Special affordable housing programs
the Federal Home Loan Bank System is composed of
11 Federal Home Loan Bank Districts.
LDP
Limited Denial of Participation
Public Housing
Housing provided for people with low incomes, subsidized by public funds
Subsidized housing
Government sponsored economic assistance programs aimed at alleviating housing costs and expenses for people with low to moderate incomes