Ben Caballero #1 Ranked Agent on 2018 ‘The Thousand’ List

Arlington, TX – June 29, 2018 (PRNewswire) Ben Caballero, broker-owner of HomesUSA.com, is the #1 ranked real estate agent in the U.S. on the REAL Trends 2018 “The Thousand” list for Transactions Sides and Sales Volume, it was announced today, and Ben had this reaction:

Ben Caballero

Ben Caballero

Ben Caballero of Addison, Texas, real estate’s first Guinness World Record holder, had 4,799 home sales, totaling $1.906 billion in volume last year. That put him at the top of the REAL Trends 2018 “The Thousand” list for both Transactions Sides and Sales Volume, it was announced today.

“Technology continues to enable us to improve how homes are bought and sold. The REAL Trends’ rankings aren’t just a measure of unit sales and dollar volume. Rather, they’re a gauge as to who is innovating and thinking creatively. As service professionals, we aim for new heights as we improve the way we do business and respond to the evolving needs of our clients. I am pleased to be ranked alongside so many forward-thinking agents.” – Ben Caballero

In 2017, Ben had 4799 home sales, totaling $1.906 billion in volume, topping his previous record set in 2016 by a wide margin. (That year, he had 3556 home sales totaling $1.444 billion in volume.) Between 2004 and 2017, Ben had 25,248 home sales totaling $8.621 billion in volume.

About Ben Caballero and HomesUSA.com

Ben Caballero is the world’s most productive real estate agent, as recognized by Guinness World Records. Top-ranked in America by REAL Trends since 2013, as published in the Wall Street Journal, he is also the only agent to exceed $1 billion in residential sales transactions in a single year; a feat he has achieved in each of the last 3 years. An award-winning innovator, Caballero is the founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com®, Inc., working with more than 60 home builders in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. Learn more at HomesUSA.com | Twitter: @bcaballero – @HomesUSA | Facebook: /HomesUSAdotcom.

Note for journalists: You may contact Ben Caballero directly on his cell at (214) 616-9222 or by email at ben@homesusa.com.

Media Contact:

Kevin Hawkins
(206) 866-1220
kevin@wavgroup.com

U.S. Home Prices At Least Affordable Level Since Q3 2008

Home Prices Less Affordable Than Historic Averages In 59 Percent of Local Markets; 75 Percent of Local Markets Not Affordable for Average Wage Earners

Irvine, CA – June 21, 2018 (PRNewswire) ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its Q2 2018 U.S. Home Affordability Report, which shows that the U.S. home prices in the first quarter were at the least affordable level since Q3 2008.

ATTOM Logo

The report calculates an affordability index based on percentage of income needed to buy a median-priced home relative to historic averages, with an index above 100 indicating median home prices are more affordable than the historic average, and an index below 100 indicating median home prices are less affordable than the historic average. (See full methodology below.)

Nationwide, the Q2 2018 home affordability index of 95 was down from an index of 102 in the previous quarter and an index of 103 in Q2 2017 to the lowest level since Q3 2008, when the index was 86.

“Slowing home price appreciation in the second quarter was not enough to counteract an 11 percent increase in mortgage rates compared to a year ago, resulting in the worst home affordability we’ve seen in nearly 10 years,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “Meanwhile home price appreciation continued to outpace wage growth, speeding up the affordability treadmill for prospective homebuyers even without the rise in mortgage rates.”

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Q2 2018 U.S. Home Affordability Heat Map by County

Home prices rising faster than wages in 64 percent of local markets
Nationwide the median home price of $245,000 in Q2 2018 was up 4.7 percent from a year, down from 7.4 percent appreciation in the first quarter but still above the average weekly wage growth of 3.3 percent. Since bottoming out in Q1 2012, median home prices nationwide have increased 75 percent while average weekly wages have increased 13 percent during the same period.

Annual growth in median home prices outpaced average wage growth in 275 of the 432 counties analyzed in the report (64 percent), including Los Angeles County, California; Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona; San Diego County, California; Orange County, California; and Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Lowest home affordability indexes in Flint, Denver, Santa Fe, Nashville
Counties with the lowest home affordability indexes in Q2 2018 were Genesee County (Flint), Michigan (70); Denver County, Colorado (72); Adams County (Denver area), Colorado (73); Santa Fe County, New Mexico (73); and Wilson County (Nashville area), Tennessee (75).

Among 40 counties with a population of at least 1 million, those with the lowest home affordability indexes in Q2 2018 were Travis County (Austin), Texas (77); Alameda County (San Francisco area), California (81); Santa Clara County (San Jose), California (82); Oakland County (Detroit area), Michigan (82); and San Francisco County, California (83).

Highest share of income needed to buy a home in Bay Area, Brooklyn
Nationwide an average wage earner would need to spend 31.2 percent of his or her income to buy a median-priced home in Q2 2018, above the historic average of 29.6 percent.

Counties with median home prices requiring the highest share of average wage earner income were Marin County (San Francisco area), California (133.2 percent); Kings County (Brooklyn), New York (123.1 percent); Santa Cruz County, California (121.5 percent); Monterey County (Salinas), California (100.3 percent); and San Francisco County, California (97.2 percent).

Counties with median home prices requiring the lowest share of average wage earner income were Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan (13.5 percent); Clayton County, Georgia (13.7 percent); Rock Island (Quad Cities), Illinois (15.8 percent); Saginaw County, Michigan (16.4 percent); and Richmond County (Augusta), Georgia (16.4 percent).

Median home prices not affordable for average wage earners in 75 percent of local markets
An average wage earner would not qualify to buy a median-priced home in 326 of the 432 counties (75 percent) analyzed in the report based on a 3 percent down payment and a maximum front-end debt-to-income ratio of 28 percent.

Counties where an average wage earner could not afford to buy a median-priced home in Q2 2018 included Los Angeles County, California; Cook County (Chicago), Illinois; Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona; San Diego County, California; and Orange County, California.

Report Methodology
The ATTOM Data Solutions U.S. Home Affordability Index analyzes median home prices derived from publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions and average wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 432 U.S. counties with a combined population of more than 217 million. The affordability index is based on the percentage of average wages needed to make monthly house payments on a median-priced home with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a 3 percent down payment, including property taxes, home insurance and mortgage insurance. Average 30-year fixed interest rates from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey were used to calculate the monthly house payments. Only counties with sufficient home price and wage data quarterly back to Q1 2005 were used in the analysis.

The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to make monthly house payments — including mortgage, property taxes and insurance — on a median-priced home with, assuming a 3 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. For instance, the nationwide median home price of $245,000 in the first second quarter of 2018 would require an annual gross income of $61,709 for a buyer putting 3 percent down and not exceeding the recommended “front-end” debt-to-income ratio of 28 percent — meaning the buyer would not be spending more than 28 percent of his or her income on the house payment, including mortgage, property taxes and insurance. That required income is higher than the $55,393 annual income earned by an average wage earner based on the most recent average weekly wage data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making a median-priced home nationwide not affordable for an average wage earner.

About ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation’s population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 9TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, APIs, market trends, marketing lists, match & append and more.

Media Contact:
Christine Stricker
(949) 748-8428
christine.stricker@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:
(949) 502-8313
datareports@attomdata.com

Quicken Loans Becomes Largest Home Lender in America

The nation’s leading home lender will debut a new campaign touting its Rocket Mortgage technology in Super Bowl LII

Detroit, MI – Feb. 1, 2018 (PRNewswire) Detroit-based Quicken Loans today announced it has become the nation’s largest residential mortgage lender in the 4th quarter of 2017– surpassing close to 30,000 lenders (commercial banks, savings and loans, credit unions, mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers) across the country.

The company, founded in 1985, was originally launched as a brick-and-mortar branch operation, with locations primarily based in the Midwest.

Quicken Loans Logo

In 2000, Quicken Loans shifted its fundamental business model to an online platform. This strategy was pivotal in catapulting the lender into a 50-state, centralized, consumer-direct mortgage lender with capacity to close large volumes of mortgage loans in all 3,000 counties across America. In essence, it was the defining moment that would eventually lead to Quicken Loans becoming the leader in the FinTech lending industry.

Quicken Loans’ philosophy of an obsessive focus on team member and client satisfaction, combined with its game-changing technology, was the formula that allowed the lender to make consistent market share gains nearly each year over the past two decades. This unique model finally culminated with Quicken Loans emerging as the largest overall home lender in the United States in the 4th quarter of last year.*

“I could not be more proud of each and every one of our 17,474 team members, who each day bring incredible passion and determination to deliver our clients the best possible experience, during the single biggest financial transaction in most of their lifetimes,” said Dan Gilbert, Founder and Chairman of Quicken Loans. “Achieving the #1 market share of all mortgage lenders is an exciting accomplishment, but we are even more inspired that we reached this significant milestone, while at the same time delivering the best client experience in the nation for the last 8 consecutive years and running.”

Quicken Loans’ success can be attributed to the company’s strong culture, built on an uncompromised dedication to putting clients first. As a result, the company has earned an unprecedented 12 J.D. Power awards including an unprecedented eight consecutive years Quicken Loans was ranked #1 in client satisfaction in the country – a recognition based entirely on client feedback collected by the independent research firm.

The company’s investment of capital along with its culture of encouraging team member innovation has created a steady stream of disruptive technologies that simplify and speed up the lending process.

In early 2016, Quicken Loans launched Rocket Mortgage, via its first ever Super Bowl commercial. Rocket Mortgage is the first completely online and fully personalized mortgage experience and was built with proprietary technology created by the national home lender. Rocket Mortgage, which gives customers the power to get approved for a mortgage in as few as 8 minutes, forever changed the lending landscape.

Quicken Loans’ Rocket Mortgage will again bring its message to more than 100 million Americans during Super Bowl LII, on February 4, 2018. Now that millions of Americans have accessed Rocket Mortgage technology, Quicken Loans will coincide this year’s Super Bowl spot by releasing an even better, and deeper, version of Rocket Mortgage with numerous additional features and further enhanced visibility.

Contrary to the historic trend, the company will not release its ad prior to its airing scheduled for the second quarter of Super Bowl LII.

In addition to its mission of leading the home financing world in both market share and client satisfaction, QL has also taken on the revitalization of downtown Detroit and the city’s neighborhoods as an additional company mission as important as its business goals.

“We view Quicken Loans as a ‘for-more-than-profit’ company. Our successes have allowed us to invest in every aspect of our hometown community, including education, housing stability and mentoring budding entrepreneurs,” said Jay Farner, Quicken Loans CEO. “By reinvesting our resources into the neighborhoods where we live, work and play, we ensure everyone has the chance to unlock their fullest potential. This approach attracts the best and brightest in today’s world to work for our company. It creates an environment that allows each and every team member to feel they are contributing to both the business and the betterment of the communities where we are located. It’s an equation that works for the advancement of both of our primary missions.”

Since 2010, Quicken Loans team members have volunteered 375,000 hours with community organizations, and the company has directly contributed nearly $130 million to numerous charities and community groups in its hometown of Detroit. Quicken Loans’ persistent, powerful voice for the future of Detroit is matched only by its actions and initiatives to continue transforming the city – from company-funded blight removal and tax foreclosure mitigation, to creating productive business and civic partnerships to funding experiential learning programs for public school students and more.

“I want to extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped us achieve this incredible milestone. While this is exciting, it is nothing more than a landmark which will motivate us to continue innovating and executing, urgently. We still have so much to achieve, both with our business and our hometowns of Detroit, Cleveland and everywhere our team members call home,” Farner added.

*4th quarter 2017 lender volumes and market share were acquired from information gathered from public company disclosures, industry publications, and other highly-credible sources known to Rock Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Quicken Loans. Calculations of closed loan volume and market share do not include closed loans purchased from other lenders who originated, handled all consumer communication and interaction, processed, closed and funded the loan. The originating lender would include that loan in its market share. Including that same loan and double counting it by also including it in the company’s market share who is purchasing the loan would be misleading and inaccurate.

About Quicken Loans

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation’s largest home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $400 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states from 2013 through 2017. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 17,000 team members from Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies work in the city’s urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination” in the United States by J.D. Power for the past eight consecutive years, 2010 – 2017, and highest in customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four years, 2014 – 2017.

Quicken Loans was ranked No. 10 on FORTUNE magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 2017, and has been among the top 30 companies for the past 14 consecutive years. The company has been recognized as one of Computerworld magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT” the past 13 years, ranking No. 1 for eight of the past 12 years, including 2017. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rock Holdings, Inc., the parent company of several FinTech and related businesses. Quicken Loans is also the flagship business of Dan Gilbert’s Family of Companies comprising nearly 100 affiliated businesses spanning multiple industries. For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room.