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[ad_1] Zillow CEO Rich Barton. When Zillow stunned the housing world last November by announcing a wind down of its iBuying program – and beginning the process of laying off a quarter of its workforce – the question became what’s next. Suspense built as Zillow has kept a low profile since. On Thursday, we got an answer – A super app. “We are focused on building the ‘housing super app’ – an integrated digital experience in which Zillow connects all the fragmented pieces of the moving process and brings them together into one transaction platform,” wrote CEO Rich Barton and Chief Financial Officer Allen Parker in a letter to shareholders. The ‘housing super app,’ according to investor slides filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will provide mortgage pre-approval, “immersive shopping,” facilitate in-person touring, and home financing. How Zillow would make money from the app was preliminarily discussed in an earnings call that captured a digital age company in transition. Zillow lost $528 million in 2021, the company reported, compared to losing $162 million in 2020. The loss came amid a historically robust year for U.S. real estate, where housing prices went up, and up and up, and “How to become a real estate agent” was one of the most frequent Google searches. Zillow did report $8.1 billion in revenue, more than double its $3.3 billion total in 2020. But 73% came from homes sold in the very iBuying program Zillow is shuttering. Of the over 18,000 homes in inventory when Barton announced the beginning of the end for iBuying, 8,353 are sold. Zillow has found a buyer for 85% of the remaining properties, the company said. Barton also declared Zillow would be “cash flow positive” after completing the sales. Presently, Zillow reports $3.1 billion in cash and investments and $4.8 billion in debt. For 2021, the company lost $881 million before taxes on iBuying. The company exited the business model because Barton said that home price forecasting models are too volatile. Despite 2021 being one of the best years in history for the mortgage industry, Zillow lost $52 million before taxes last year on its mortgage segment, Zillow Home Loans, which posted $246 million in revenue. The company’s silver lining is a division dubbed “Internet, marketing, and technology,” which generated $545 million in income before taxes and $1.9 billion in revenue. The lion’s share of this revenue came from Premier Agent, Zillow’s popular if polarizing advertising program for buyer’s agents. On the earnings call, Barton discussed a conundrum that has dogged him since replacing Spencer Rascoff as CEO in 2019 – the yawning gap between Zillow’s popularity and its ability to make money from that popularity. Of the 6.1 million U.S. home sales in 2021, Barton said, 4.1 million – or 67% — involved homebuyers who utilized Zillow at some point in the transaction process. However: Only 3% — or about 180,000 – of those purchases were monetized by Zillow. Barton expressed hope that the new app and Zillow’s October purchase of ShowingTime would open up opportunities to monetize more aspects of the home sale. Unclear is whether the company is on the right monetization track. Ryan McKeveny of Zelman & Associates asked whether Zillow increased the number of transactions it monetizes year-over-year. Parker replied that he did not have such figures, “But I have seen growth.” Barton added that part of the problem is that has not been diligently tracking those numbers. After McKeveny’s question, the call wrapped up, but not before Barton’s parting words. “This is a really fun and entertaining industry, real estate,” the CEO said. “Maybe not quite as entertaining as Netflix, but not too far off.” The post Licking its wounds, Zillow bets on a ‘housing super app’ appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] “Any tips for surviving having two littles? I have a 2 1/2 year-old and a 5-month-old and I’m struggling to keep on top of everything.” -A follower 1. Start Your Day with Jesus. Even if it means listening to the Bible on audio while you push your kids in the stroller, begin your day relying upon the Lord and filling yourself up with His word. You can do this on your own; lean on Him. I usually read a little bit of my current She Reads Truth study and write in my gratitude journal in the mornings either before the little ones get up or while they play nearby in the mornings. And then I pray over my day while walking on the treadmill (Kierstyn and Baby D play nearby while I do this or sometimes Jesse will have one of them out on errands with him or upstairs with him). 2. Create a Simple Routine. Plan a few things to do in the same order every morning, after lunch, and in the evenings. This makes a world of difference in how my days run. Without a simple plan, I just run around putting out fires. This could just look something like: Wake up Get Dressed Have Breakfast Quick Clean Up/Laundry Figure Out Dinner Go Out on a Walk Lunch Time Read Aloud Nap Time/Quiet Time Play Outside Toddler Watch a Show (Make Dinner) Quick Clean Up/Laundry Dinner Time Bath Time Bed Time 3. Simplify Wherever You Can. How can you make things easier? What can you simplify and cut back on in this season of life? Maybe you use paper plates, or stick with quick meals that use some pre-made ingredients, use your crock pot or Instant Pot, or double any cooking you do to stick in the freezer. 4. Get Out of the House. Even if it’s just to go on a walk or to the library, get out of the house. A change of scenery can do wonders for your sanity. We will sometimes go out for a drive (not to go anywhere, though you could go through a drive-thru for a little treat!), just to change things up — especially if the little ones are being quite fussy. I also love to meet a friend at the park to talk and walk our little ones in the stroller or to let them play at the park (a fenced in park is the best option!) 5. Have Daily Quiet Time. Have an afternoon nap time/quiet time every day. This is time for you to put your feet up, eat some chocolate (or a healthy snack!), and do something to refresh your spirit. If your 2 1/2 year old is no longer taking a nap, you could put together some tubs with special things to play with that your toddler only gets to play with during quiet time. Start with 10 minutes and gradually work up to 20 and then 30 and maybe all the way up to an hour. When our older three were little, we had quiet time for quite a few years — even as the kids got older. I think it’s good for all of us to have a little quiet! What advice and practical tips would you have for this mom who is struggling? Share in the comments! [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Jerry Harris from U.S. reality TV show 'Cheer' pleads guilty in child sex case [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] By Saugata Bhattacharya We had expected the MPC to continue with its accommodative stance and RBI to hold the reverse repo rate, although the latter was a close call given the evolution of the ‘growth vs inflation’ dynamics. This didn’t turn out to be the case. The surprise was the continuing dovish guidance and communication (even as one MPC member continued with a dissent on the stance). What might be the reasoning? The economic forecasts suggest that MPC assesses that the output gap is still negative and that aggregate demand still needs policy support. FY23 GDP growth is projected to be 7.8%—on the lower side of analysts’ forecast band and lower than our own 8.3%, the Economic Survey’s 8-8.5% and certainly the IMF’s late-January estimate of 9%. Yet, this is consistent with the Budget’s 11% nominal growth assumption. One of India’s growth engines—exports—is likely to record a moderate showing compared to FY22, given an expected slowdown in global growth and especially trade, as per both IMF and WTO forecasts. China’s growth is expected to slow even more. But, this might get somewhat offset by the higher capex planned by the Centre and possibly, due to the incentives and funds offered, by the states as well. As the public health situation improves, pent up demand might also result in higher spends, particularly in contact services. The resultant revival in activity and capacity utilisation might also spur private capex. The release of RBI survey results will provide more clarity. In addition, due to the restrictions-led deceleration of economic activity in Q4FY22, it is likely that growth will come off slightly from the first official Advance Estimate of 9.2%, boosting FY23 growth a little. On the other hand, RBI’s 4.5% FY23 CPI inflation forecast seems slightly conservative, considering the risks, both domestic and global. Even if crude oil prices fall from the current levels, they are likely to average higher than in FY22. Prices of some metals—copper, aluminium, etc—are rising. China’s policy stimulus is likely to add to the recovery-led demand in many developed markets. So will, as noted above, India’s own domestic demand. Preliminary forecasts suggest La Nina conditions likely to persist in the southern hemisphere, which is usually good for a normal monsoon, but it is still too early. Another consideration underlying the dovish guidance is probably an implicit support for the Centre’s (and likely states’) large borrowing programmes. Benchmark government securities’ yields have risen sharply since the October review’s withdrawal of the GSAP purchases, and recently, the Centre’s higher than expected borrowing programme. Although yields have fallen with the cancellation of an auction, the underlying concerns of a demand-supply mismatch is still likely to push yields higher when the borrowing calendar resumes in Q1 FY23. The worry is the hypothesis that RBI might be “falling behind the curve” in the normalisation cycle. What exactly does this mean? Most of the G-10 global central banks have announced, with different degrees of emphasis, a tightening of their respective monetary policies. The Federal Reserve in particular—given the tightness of labour markets in the US—has been aggressive in signalling the pace of rate increases and subsequent Quantitative Tightening (QT) by extracting the liquidity overhang. Even the most dovish ones are signaling an eventual hiking of their policy rates later in 2022. This will likely have spillover effects into emerging markets, including India, particularly through the portfolio capital flows channels, as investors re-balance their portfolios. It is in this context that RBI’s de facto tightening of money markets assumes significance. The “the effective reverse repo rate (ERR rate)”—the weighted average of the fixed rate reverse repo (RR) and the variable rate reverse repo (VRRRs)—has increased from 3.37% at end-August 2021 to 3.87% in early-February 2022 in a remarkably smooth move, conducted over a series of VRRR auctions. In addition, the move up in the ERR rate, combined with calibrated liquidity management operations, has also pushed shorter term funding rates (T-bills, Commercial Paper, bank Certificates of Deposits, etc.) up, close to the positive real rates territory. To paraphrase the RBI Governor, since the RR rate represents the continuing accommodative stance, why change the actual rate when the intended de facto normalisation signal has been convincingly delivered? Added to this is the diminishing importance of the fixed rate RR operations, with a move towards VRRR auctions. So, why care about the RR rate at all The problem is that a significant amount of the overall liquidity still resides with non-bank financial intermediaries like mutual funds, which have to use other channels like Treps and market repo to manage their positions. The rates in these markets are still at or below the actual reverse repo rate, and continue to be volatile. This has the potential to create some distortions in overnight and short-term rates while also creating ambiguities in RBI policy rate signaling.This, in itself, need not create larger spillover risks from the likely divergence in policy rates trajectories of central banks, if India’s underlying growth, fiscal and external fundamentals remain robust. To an extent, they are; but there are still potential risks. RBI, in coordination with the government, has demonstrated the ability to manage the trade-off and maintain stability in financial markets during the last couple of years of severe stress. Yet, over the course of this year, divergences in both domestic and offshore policy actions are likely to accentuate, presenting challenges in managing the multiple, often conflicting, objectives. Finally, credit from banks and other intermediaries will be a key pillar for supporting durable growth, particularly for MSMEs.As the cost of funds rise, there will be some transmission into lending rates. This will need to be managed, and the Budget backstop initiatives will play an important role. The author is Executive vice-president and chief economist, Axis Bank Views are personal [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Just like other “Big Four” member Old Republic last week, First American Financial announced record breaking earnings during its fourth quarter earnings call on Thursday. The company’s total revenue for 2021 was up 30% from 2020 to a record of $9.2 billion, with $2.4 billion earned during the fourth quarter. However, the firm’s net income dropped to $260 million during Q4 compared to $280 million a year ago, which can be attributed to an uptick in operating costs. During the fourth quarter of 2021, First American saw personnel costs rise 19% year-over-year to $612 million, which the company attributed to higher salary expenses due to an increase in the number of employees, higher incentive compensation driven by growth in revenues and profitability, and higher employee benefit costs. Non-payroll related expenses were also up during the fourth quarter, rising 12% year over year to $337 million, due to increase software expenses, production-related costs, and professional services. Despite this increase, First American’s newly appointed CEO, Ken DeGiorgio, said on an earnings call with investors that everyone at the company is proud of these achievements. “Our focus continues to be on the things that will drive future growth,” DeGiorgio said during the call. “At the beginning of 2021, we announced our intention to expand our title plant footprint from 500 counties to 1500 by the end of that year. Leveraging our proprietary data extraction technology, we are currently maintaining more than 1,600 title plants covering nearly 80% of the U.S. population. This data is critical as it fuels our operational efficiency initiatives are title automation efforts and our ongoing efforts to digitize the real estate closing experience. You can’t automate unless you have data and we are the industry undisputed leader in title data.” During the fourth quarter, First American generated a total of $2.3 billion in revenue from its title insurance and services segments, a 13% year-over-year increase. Most notably, commercial title revenue was up 66% to $377 million, contributing to a record of $1 billion in commercial title revenue for all of 2021. The average revenue generated per direct title order rose to $3,339, primarily due to an increase in the average deal size in the firm’s commercial business and the impact of strong home price appreciation on residential purchase transactions. The shift in the order type from lower-premium residential refinance transactions to higher-premium commercial and purchase transactions also played a role in the increase in the average revenue per order. Just as with Stewart’s earnings call earlier in the day, these record breaking numbers were somewhat overshadowed by discussions of the impact rising mortgage rates will have on the volume of title insurance premiums written. First American reported that its purchase revenue was up 2% during the fourth quarter due to a 7% increase in the average revenue per order partially offset by a 3% decline in the number of orders closed. Meanwhile refinance revenue decline 46% relative to the previous. “In January 2021, we opened 2,000 purchase orders per day, a 9% increase relative to January of 2020,” DeGiorgio said during the call. “Our refinance orders were 1200 per day steady with what we experienced in December. Mortgage rates are still relatively low and we’ve got some demographic benefits, millennials, for example, coming into the market. But of course, there is low inventory, but I think we remain hopeful and expect to see some inventory coming on to the market which is good for our purchase business. Refinances have a strong correlation with rates. So, we expect it to wane as rates go up, but we are in a great position to offset that with investment income.” In the third quarter, First American generated headlines for its investments in proptech companies, most notable Offerpad, Orchard and Pacaso. During Q4, First American’s investment in come was $49 million, down 8% from a year prior. The company attributed this decrease to lower interest income from its warehouse lending business and escrow and other cash balances, significantly offset by an increase in interest income from higher balances in the company’s investment portfolio. According to DeGiorgio, a positive outlook on the commercial market is another source of optimism for the firm as we enter into 2022. “2022 will be a year of transition we are well positioned for,” DeGiorgio said during the call. “We expect market conditions in our purchase and commercial businesses, which account for approximately 80% of our direct revenue, to remain favorable. Refinance volumes will continue to wane as mortgage rates pick up, but we believe increased investment income due to a rise in short-term rates will help offset the decline.” In early January, First American announced that it had acquired California-based title insurance, underwriting and escrow services provider Mother Lode Holding Company. During the call, company executives said that the deal was still subject to regulatory approval. The post First American reports record breaking year appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Investigators Find Gaps in White House Logs of Trump’s Jan. 6 Calls  The New York Times White House records obtained so far by January 6 committee show no record of calls to and from Trump during riot  CNN Records obtained by Jan. 6 panel don’t list Trump’s calls  Associated Press Trump, Inflation, Olympics: Your Thursday Evening Briefing  The New York Times Trump’s call records during Jan. 6 riot have gaps in them  CNN View Full Coverage on Google News [ad_2]

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[ad_1] By Rajeshwar Burla The construction sector in India is facing a major challenge in the form of heightened competition, resulting in aggressive bidding. Given the limited fiscal bandwidth that the states have, new tendering activity has remained muted in the last two years. Similarly, real estate and the industrial segments, too, have witnessed moderate new order inflows. Limited investments across these segments have driven many of the EPC players towards infrastructure projects that are funded by the central government, especially railways and roads, which have seen several new players competing over the last two years. Why state capex is importantState governments will play a critical role in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). Almost 40% of the Rs 111 trillion investments targeted under the NIP is expected to be implemented by the states, followed by the Centre (39%) and the private sector (21%). With the decline in revenues, many state governments resorted to a lower-than-required infrastructure spending over the last two years. In this context, the increase in assistance in the form of the central loan to states for capital expenditure—to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore in FY23, from Rs 15,000 crore in FY22 RE—is a major positive. This is expected to provide more head-room to the state governments for increasing the capex. It not only arrests the widening gap in NIP due to lower spending by states but also provides broad-based opportunities to the contractors, resulting in a much-needed ‘cooling’ of aggression evident in the bidding/competitive intensity. Robust infra allocations to support contractorsThe gross budgetary support towards capital expenditure has been increased significantly,with the infrastructure sector being the key beneficiary. The capital expenditure is budgeted to increase to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in FY23, which is 24.4% higher than the Rs 6 lakh crore in FY22 RE (35.4% higher than the Rs 5.5 lakh crore in FY22 BE). The overall capex, including grants and aids for creation of capital assets, is budgeted to increase by 27%—from Rs 8.4 lakh crore in FY22 RE to Rs 10.7 lakh crore in FY23 BE, which is estimated at 4.1% of GDP. This is expected to support the order inflow for contractors. Major focus areas: Transport and drinking waterThe capital expenditure in key infrastructure segments like the railways has been budgeted to increase to Rs 2.45 lakh crore in FY23 (rising by 14% over the FY22 BE); for roads and highways, it will rise to Rs 2.08 lakh crore (marginally higher, by 4.8%, than the FY22 BE). That for metro and the MRTS projects remained stagnant at Rs 19,100 crore. Drinking water supply is another major segment which witnessed good growth in allocation under Jal Jeevan Mission; the allocation for this has been increased to Rs 60,000 crore in FY23, from Rs 45,000 crore in FY22 (RE). Cashflow support to contractorsWith the aim to provide succour to the contractors during the pandemic, the Union government had initiated a slew of relief measures such as shift from milestone-based billing (typically ranging between 45-75 days) to monthly billing and release of retention money/performance security in proportion to the work already executed, among others. These measures have supported the contractors significantly—their cash-conversion cycle has reduced while they have also started getting the performance guarantees and associated margin monies released for the executed portion of the projects. Given most of these relief measures are set to expire by March 2022, the budget—with a view to continue supporting the cash flows of contractors—made two major announcements: (1) on the mandatory release of 75% of running bills within 10 days, which will support the cash-conversion cycle significantly, and (2) pertaining to allowing the use of surety bonds from insurance companies as a substitute for bank guarantees in government procurements. Currently, the margin money/collateral requirement for mid-sized contractors ranges between 45-75% of what is availed from the banks. This high collateral requirement limits their ability to secure additional funding. With the relief measures expiring in March 2022, challenges for the contractors, with relation to funding their growth, would have continued. In this regard, though more expensive, surety bonds will reduce the collateral requirements drastically. However, the shift from bank guarantees to surety bonds, though a step in the right direction, is unlikely to happen anytime soon and may take a couple of years to roll out.To conclude, the budget addresses core issues faced by the construction sector and is a big positive for the construction contractors. The author is Vice-president and group head (corporate ratings), ICRA Limited [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] It is no secret that 2021 posed a variety of challenges for the title insurance industry. High demand for housing coupled with low mortgage rates led to an increase in both purchase and refinance transactions, pushing many firms to expand their capacity. Stewart Information Services Corporation was no exception. “2020 and 2021 were two of the best, as well as most challenging years in the title industry as a whole given tremendous changes in the market historically low rates and an ongoing impact and uncertainty caused by COVID,” Stewart chief executive officer Fred Eppinger said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Thursday. During Q4, Stewart recorded net income of $85.5 million, compared to $59.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. For all of 2021, the company saw net income of $323.2 million compared to $154.9 million a year prior. In the title sector, pretax income increased 25% year over year. Total direct title revenue grew 24% from a year prior to $423.1 million. Non-commercial domestic title revenue was responsible for $282.3 million of the direct title revenue, which Stewart primarily attributed to increased residential purchase transactions and scale. Commercial domestic revenue came in at $93.1 million due to improved commercial transaction size and volume compared to the prior year quarter. Contributing to this increase in revenue was a 28% year-over-year decrease in title loss expense to $13.1 million, which the company attributed to favorable claims experience which was partially offset by higher title revenues. As a percentage of title revenues, the title loss expense in the fourth quarter 2021 was 3.9 percent compared to 6.8 percent in the prior year quarter. A hot topic of conversation during the call was the decrease of refinance volume due to rising mortgage rates, which are nearing 4%. While company executives acknowledged this concern, they stated that they feel that Stewart is in a good position to pivot into a more purchase transaction heavy market. “I think it is back to normal, so it’ll be a little choppy probably in the first quarter, but returning to what the normal cycle is,” Stewart CFO David Hisey said during the call. “I think it’s going to be fine, but we’re going back to more seasonal outlook and that’s why I look at the whole year and I feel really good.” Eppinger added: “The long term outlook for the residential real estate market remains encouraging as purchasing and trends are projected to continue to be strong and demographic realities such as first-time Millennial home buying add to the opportunity of an increasing favorable mixture. As Stewart is preparing for this market transition, a title company that is better able to stay in the ups and downs of our real estate cycle, the key part of building the resilient foundation is the work we continue to do to gain adequate local scale and priority markets.” To help expand its coverage of purchase (and refinance) transactions, Stewart spent much of the fourth quarter on an acquisition spree. In November and December of 2021, Stewart acquired Michigan-based Devon Title Agency, New Mexico-based Las Cruces Abstract and Title, Washington-based Rainier Title and Chicago-based Greater Illinois Title Co. “Consistent with our strategy here, we are focused on the areas that we’ll have the most meaningful and durable impact on our long-term operating performance gaining scale in attractive direct markets and scaling geographic focus at our agency and commercial operations,” Hisey said during the call. However, due to these acquisitions, the firm’s operating expenses increased. Consolidated employee costs in the fourth quarter 2021 increased 20% from the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily due to increased salaries and employee benefits, thanks to a 22% higher average employee count drive by acquisitions, and higher incentive compensation on improved overall operating results, but employee costs, as a percentage of total operating revenues decreased from 25.3% in Q4 of 2020 to 23.3% in Q4 2021. Non-employee cost related operating expenses increased 62% year over year during the fourth quarter to $80.7 million, due to increased service expenses tied to higher ancillary services revenues, higher outside title search and premium tax expenses on improved title revenues, state sales tax assessments and office consolidation costs. As a percentage of total operating revenues, non-employee cost-based operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2021 to 22.2% compared to 17.9% a year prior, primarily due to the increased size of our ancillary and other real estate services operations, driven by the many acquisitions the company made during Q4 2021. Looking ahead to 2022, Eppinger said on the call that he hopes they are able to take advantage of what looks to be a “positive commercial market” and he stated that as part of Stewart’s look ahead to the future, the company is working to expand its technological offerings. “We understand that the real estate transaction will continue to evolve becoming less paper intensive more remote and more digital,” Eppinger said. “As we have done with many of our recent transactions, we will continue to invest when appropriate and technology and services that help facilitate this change and therefore improving the customer ease of use and experience.” In December 2021, Stewart announced its acquisition of PropStream, a real estate data and analytics aggregator, for $175 million. This comes just a little over two months after the company announced its acquisition of Informative Research, a mortgage-focused data and analytics tech company based in Houston, for $192 million. The post Stewart says business is getting back to normal appeared first on HousingWire. [ad_2] Source link