Chenoa Fund Blog

Minority homeownership has been a trending topic in the mortgage industry for some time now. Two factors play a large role in this: wealth inequality and intergenerational wealth. These topics rise to the top because it is generally believed that improving homeownership rates will help to reduce wealth inequality between racial groups and grow intergenerational … Continue reading "How Lenders and Realtors Can Increase Minority Homeownership"

Rates are rising. Home prices are skyrocketing. Rent is blowing up. Inflation is tightening the budget of nearly everyone in the USA. Homebuyers are still out there, looking for a great deal, but the deluge of yesteryear has come and gone, leaving some lenders and realtors scrambling to snap up the buyers on the market. … Continue reading "Tips for Lenders and Realtors to Discover New Homebuyer Opportunities"

After two years of record-low, mortgage interest rates, today’s future homebuyers are moving into a rapidly increasing interest rate market. Home price appreciation remains high and inventory is still low. But where there is a challenge, there is opportunity, and educated and prepared future homeowners can position themselves to jump the hurdles in their way. … Continue reading "5 Tips for Buying a Home in a Competitive Market "

The housing market is an enormous market and absolutely brimming with opportunity and a lot of competition. It takes a creative, prepared, and industrious real estate agent to pull ahead of the pack! Here are some tips to help you stay on your A-game. Team up with other real estate agents. Work together for a … Continue reading "Tips to Help You Become a More Successful Real Estate Agent"

In 2010, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development released the article “Barriers to Minority Homeownership.” The top three barriers detailed in this article were the down payment and closing costs, lack of access to credit and poor credit history, and a lack of understanding and information. Unfortunately, over a decade later, many reports … Continue reading "Overcoming Barriers to Minority Homeownership"

With interest rates rising along with home prices, there may be no better time to get started financially preparing to buy a home than now. Here are a few financial challenges common to would-be homebuyers for you to be aware of. Down payment and closing costs. The down payment on a mortgage is the minimum … Continue reading "5 Financial Challenges for First-time Homebuyers"

“Transitory inflation” has proven to have much more staying power than the word transitory might suggest, and as a result many borrowers are seeing the purchase of a home grow ever more difficult—specifically, more expensive. For borrowers familiar with the unprecedentedly low rates of yesteryear, this can be extremely frustrating, or even feel unfair. However, … Continue reading "How Inflation May Impact Lenders"

There are a variety of reasons that future homebuyers across the nation are looking into down payment and closing cost assistance programs right now. With the recent rise in interest rates, along with home prices that have been rising for a while, many borrowers need down payment assistance (DPA) just to afford the home in … Continue reading "Guide to Qualifying for Down Payment Assistance"

With the unpredictable housing market many lenders and real estate agents are looking for additional ways to grow their business. Buyers are still turning out in droves to get a new home making the home buying market extremely competitive. For lenders and real estate agents, this could lead to opportunity within the market if you’re … Continue reading "Tips for Lenders and Real Estate Agents to Grow Business with Chenoa Fund Down Payment Assistance"

The refinance market has been extremely hot during recent years. Specifically, not long after COVID lockdowns started many lenders found themselves doing so many refinances that it became difficult to make the time to originate a mortgage, much to the frustration of some borrowers looking to take advantage of low rates. But in recent months … Continue reading "Why Mortgage Lenders are Pivoting to Home Purchases Rather Than Refinances"