HomeLight’s newest acquisition will allow it to lend in Texas, we have second-quarter housing reports from Texas Realtors, and pending home sales are up for the second month, all in this week’s roundup of real estate news.

HomeLight Acquisition Spurs Lending Expansion Into Texas

With its purchase of digital mortgage lender Eave, agent-referral site HomeLight can now offer loans to home buyers in six states, including Texas, Inman reported.

HomeLight takes buyer or seller preferences and compares them with agents, basing their matches on benchmarks like the time it takes an agent to sell a home, the average difference between list price and sales price (as well as how often they do price reductions), and more. They also factor in an agent’s past responsiveness to HomeLight referrals, as well as reviews.

“With our mortgage and escrow services, consumers and their agents can focus on the home, and not worry about the painful details,” Saro Vasudevan, co-founder and COO of Eave, said. “The frictionless real estate transaction is a reality for HomeLight and Eave. And every real estate agent is included.”

Eave says its service can fully underwrite a home loan in 24 hours, and guarantees a 21-day close, backed with a guarantee to reimburse up to $100,000 in lost earnest money if it can’t.

The acquisition is on the heels of HomeLight’s decision to allow consumers to request bids from multiple iBuyers like Opendoor, Zillow Offers, and others. It’s expected the transaction speed of Eave will be attractive to buyers who want to better compete with cash buyers.

Source: Inman

Texas Realtors Releases 2Q 2019 Housing Report

Pending Home Sales Up for Second Month, NAR Says

June pending home sales rose once again, marking the second straight month of growth, the National Association of Realtors said.

The Pending Home Sales Index moved from 105.4 in May to 108.3 in June, an increase of 2.8 percent. Year-over-year pending sales rose 1.6 percent, effectively ending a nearly year-and-a-half-long string of decreases.

In the southern region (which includes Texas), pending sales increased to 125.7 in June, an increase of 1.4 percent YOY.

“Job growth is doing well, the stock market is near an all-time high, and home values are consistently increasing. When you combine that with the incredibly low mortgage rates, it is not surprising to now see two straight months of increases,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said.

Source: NAR