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Tag: mortgage

Virginia Housing CEO to retire

Virginia Housing CEO Susan Dewey will retire Dec. 31, after 24 years heading the Richmond-based authority.

“Under Susan’s leadership, Virginia Housing made critical and timely strategic changes over the years to position us for success,” Bill Shelton, chairman of the Virginia Housing Board of Commissioners, said in a statement released Tuesday. “We thank her for her dedication and wish her only the best in retirement.”

Prior to leading Virginia Housing, Dewey served as state treasurer from 1996 to 1999 and was also an ex-officio member of the Virginia Housing Commission.

“A lot has changed since I first began working in state government more than four decades ago, but my commitment to serving Virginians, especially related to safe, affordable housing, has remained a guiding force throughout my career,” Dewey said in a statement. “It’s been my greatest professional honor to work with Virginia Housing leaders and dedicated employees, and with our private and public sector partners, to fulfill our mission of helping all Virginians attain quality, affordable housing.”

Dewey received her undergraduate degree and MBA from William & Mary and is a certified public accountant. Dewey serves on the boards of the nonprofit HousingForward Virginia and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. In June, Dewey was one of three recipients of the National Housing Conference’s Housing Visionary Award.

The Virginia Housing board will begin the process of identifying Dewey’s successor, Virginia Housing Public Relations Manager Adrian Robinett said in an emailed statement. The board plans to conduct a national search but has not finalized details.

Founded in 1972 as the Virginia Housing Development Authority, Virginia Housing works to help low- and moderate-income Virginians secure affordable housing. The nonprofit, which does not receive state taxpayer funding, provides mortgages to first-time homebuyers and financing for rental developments and neighborhood revitalization projects.

Primis Bank selling minority interest back to Southern Trust Mortgage

Glen Allen-based Primis Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of McLean-based Primis Financial Corp., entered into an agreement to sell its minority interest back to Virginia Beach-based Southern Trust Mortgage LLC (STM), it announced Thursday. Primis Financial Corp. expects to record a pre-tax charge of about $2.9 million in the third quarter.

STM will repurchase all of Primis Bank’s common membership interests and a portion of the bank’s preferred interests in STM. At closing, STM will continue to be a borrower of Primis Bank, but the bank will no longer be a minority owner of STM. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Primis Bank was known as Sonabank until March, and Primis Financial Corp. as Southern National Bancorp of Virginia Inc. As of June 30, Primis Financial Corp. had $3.4 billion in total assets, $2.49 billion in total loans and $2.75 billion in total deposits. Primis Bank has 41 branches in Virginia and Maryland.

Trustar Bank announces first acquisition

Great Falls-based Trustar Bank announced its first-ever acquisition Wednesday, taking control of Fairfax-based Granite Mortgage LLC. 

The acquisition will add Granite Mortgage’s full-service mortgage business line to Trustar’s (founded in 2019) banking services. Granite Mortgage will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Trustar, the first bank to be chartered and opened in Virginia in more than a decade. It has $238.2 million in assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 

“Partnering with Trustar Bank is the next step in Granite’s growth process,” Granite Mortgage CEO Gary Freedman said in a statement. “As a wholly owned subsidiary of Trustar Bank, Granite will be able to offer our loan officers the ability to provide the bank’s unique portfolio loans and expand its lending to new states.”

Trustar is a full-service bank that offers products and services to small- and medium-sized businesses and customers. 

“We are thrilled to offer competitive new residential mortgage programs to our customers. Granite is the right partner at the right time,” Trustar CEO Shaza Andersen said in a statement. “Gary Freedman has a proven reputation within the local mortgage market and is an effective leader focused on both growth and profitability.”

Trustar’s bank board director Michael Rebibo will serve as chairman of the Trustar Mortgage Board. 

“The dynamic partnership of Trustar Bank and Granite Mortgage LLC will allow us to provide our customers with residential mortgage programs to meet their home buying and refinancing goals,” Rebibo said in a statement.

 

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Va. makes $12M extra CARES funding available for rent, mortgage relief

An additional $12 million in federal CARES Act funding will be directed to Virginia’s Rent and Mortgage Relief Program (RMRP) due to high demand for financial assistance with mortgages and rent payments. 

First launched in June with $50 million in federal CARES Act funding, the program provides financial assistance through a one-time payment with the opportunity for renewal based on availability of funding, the household’s need for additional assistance and continued eligibility. It recently expanded to include financial assistance for landlords. 

The additional funding will allow the Department of Housing and Community Development to continue the program until it can transition to a Community Development Block Grant funding stream through the CARES Act. 

“We created this program because people need help to stay in their homes, especially when they are dealing with job and income losses because of this public health crisis and through no fault of their own,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement. “We have seen high demand for the financial assistance provided through this program, which proves how much it needs to continue. A global pandemic is the worst time for Virginia families to face losing their homes, and we know that safe and stable housing is critical to helping people stay healthy as we continue to combat this virus.”

Eligible households must demonstrate difficulty in making rent or mortgage payments due to the pandemic. Monthly rent must be at or below 150% of fair market rents, and eligible households must have a gross household income at or below 80% of area median income. 

The RMRP program is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) through approximately 30 local and regional housing-related agencies. The state housing finance agency, Virginia Housing, will manage landlord-initiated applications.

The federal moratorium on evictions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suspends eviction proceedings for households facing eviction due to unpaid rent, is in place through Dec. 31.

 

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Do Virginians have more confidence in the housing market in 2020?

Dean Hackemer
Dean Hackemer

Are you thinking about making a move this year? Whether buying a first home, upgrading or downsizing, Virginians are entering 2020 with a positive outlook on the real estate market. According to a December 2019 real estate report by Roanoke College, almost 40% more respondents are positive about markets today compared to the same time a year ago.

This positive outlook can be contributed to rising income, wealth and job security, which boost consumer sentiment and encourage spending. Low mortgage rates have also encouraged households to participate in the housing market despite high prices, and 25% of respondents are positive about markets over the next few years. However, home buyers are less optimistic than home sellers due to rising housing prices and low inventory across the commonwealth.

Trying to prepare or decide when and how you should make a move? Here are some tips and recommendations on navigating high prices and what preparation plans you need to have in place before buying or selling your home:

Start doing research: This includes both researching house listings and following the market trends in the area you are looking to buy a house. Researching a typical home loan should also be included in this first step and utilizing your mortgage banker from the beginning can make the process much easier.

Create a housing budget: Establishing a budget is the first step in the home buying process. Setting a budget of how much you can pay toward your mortgage each month may seem daunting, but it just requires you to look at how much you make each month versus expenses you have to pay. Do not forget to set aside a separate budget for other costs, including down payments, closing costs, renovations and other unexpected expenses.

Check your credit report and FICO score: Most lenders qualify your loan based on your credit score. Start by discovering if you have a healthy credit score and make sure the information in your credit report is accurate. If you see anything on your credit report that doesn’t look right, start the process of correcting the error or have it removed as soon as possible. Consider using annualcreditreport.com, as it provides a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. More importantly, it provides records from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Get pre-qualified vs. pre-approved: If you are pre-qualified then that simply means you may qualify for a certain dollar amount, but you still need to get pre-approved. Pre-approval goes a step further and means the lender has determined that you meet its requirements, and then you can decide if you want to submit an application. Make sure you talk to your lender and learn all the details of what its pre-approval means. Some banks mean different things when they say “pre-approved.”

Dean Hackemer is the home loans division president at Atlantic Union Bank, which has locations across the Mid-Atlantic in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.