REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE ADVICE
PRnewswire | May 26, 2023
Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, announced today that it has officially released its newly expanded and enhanced federal practice area of real property litigation (the "Real Property Module"), which now provides Legal Analytics for over 100,000 cases. The Real Property Module includes any federal district court case involving a dispute concerning real property. Along with the Legal Analytics on all real property cases involving foreclosures that was released a few months ago, the Real Property Module now includes real property cases involving land condemnation, rent/lease/ejectment, and torts to land. Lex Machina has also added more than 17,000 Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") cases to the consumer protection practice area as part of this expansion.
Real property is an important area of law in which transparency and understanding provide a crucial edge. The new Real Property Module gives practitioners essential insights on judges, courts, law firms, attorneys, and parties involved in real property litigation.
"Real property litigation is a complex, diverse, and nuanced area of law that involves a wide-range of legal issues and claims," said Ellen Chen, Lex Machina's real property legal data expert. "From the previously-released foreclosures to land condemnation to leases to torts to land, Lex Machina is proud to provide expanded and enhanced Legal Analytics on this new and important area of law. We are excited to offer essential data-driven insights on the key players and outcomes involved in real property litigation."
The Real Property Module incorporates case tag filters for cases involving foreclosures, land condemnation, rent/lease/ejectment, and torts to land. It also incorporates an extensive collection of practice area-specific damages and findings. The inclusion of these unique parameters enables users to find the most relevant information and analytics quickly and easily.
The current set of Real Property Module cases, documents, and filters can help uncover insights such as:
The Central District of California had the highest number of cases filed involving rent/lease/ejectment claims.
For cases involving torts to land claims, claim defendants won 1.8 times as often as claimants.
Most active defendants in real property cases included financial institutions such as Bank of America, N.A., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Aside from the Department of Justice, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr was the most active law firm representing plaintiffs in cases with land condemnation claims.
The median time to termination for real property cases involving foreclosures was 183 days.
The total amount of real property damages awarded in the ten-year period from 2013 to 2022, excluding attorneys' fees, was $4.1 billion.
As the only Legal Analytics platform that combines an exclusive artificial intelligence technology with attorney review to analyze more than 440,000 court documents included in the Real Property Module, Lex Machina does the difficult work of creating accurate analytics that are cleaned, corrected, and enhanced. This exclusive process allows Lex Machina to provide comprehensive data-driven insights about courts, judges, law firms, lawyers, and parties.
Real property joins the 20 other federal practice areas already available on the platform. Lex Machina is proud of this key achievement.
About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis Legal & Professional® provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
About Lex Machina
Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.
Lex Machina was named one of "Legal Tech's Most Promising Solution Providers" (CIO Review Awards 2022), "Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022" (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), "Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021" (CIO Review, 2021), "2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer" (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the "Media Excellence" Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.
Read More
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
PRnewswire | May 23, 2023
Rocket Mortgage, the nation's largest retail home lender and part of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), today introduced ONE+, a new 1% down home loan program that will dramatically increase access to homeownership for millions of low-to-moderate-income earning Americans.
With ONE+, a homebuyer is only required to make a down payment of 1% of the purchase price and Rocket Mortgage will cover the remaining 2% needed to reach the required threshold for conventional loans. In addition to reducing upfront costs, ONE+ completely eliminates the expensive monthly mortgage insurance fee for the client – which is traditionally required if the buyer places less than 20% down on their purchase.
"Rocket Mortgage prides itself on finding innovative solutions and lending programs that help clients achieve their goals in any market cycle. No other lender has a mortgage option that makes affordable homeownership possible for as many Americans as ONE+," said Bob Walters, CEO of Rocket Mortgage. "We talk with people from all walks of life every single day – many of whom are ready to own a home, and could easily make the monthly mortgage payments, but are having trouble saving for a down payment. ONE+ is a response to that feedback and the latest example of Rocket's commitment to creating programs that help make homeownership more attainable."
Designed to help everyday Americans achieve homeownership, ONE+ is available to homebuyers purchasing single-family homes – including manufactured homes – whose income is equal to or less than 80% of their area median income (AMI). With this expansive AMI eligibility, Rocket Mortgage estimates that more than 90 million people can meet the income requirements for this program – based on publicly available income data.
As an example of the savings possible through ONE+, a homebuyer purchasing a $250,000 home typically needs a minimum of 3% down, or $7,500. Now, they will only need a $2,500 down payment. In addition, ONE+ offers mortgage insurance at no cost to the client, which on a $242,500 loan, can be as much as $245 per month. That improves a homeowner's monthly cash flow and can save as much as $20,500 over the first seven years after closing – the average amount of time mortgage insurance needs to be paid.
This is the third initiative Rocket Mortgage has launched in the last six months with affordability in mind. Other programs such as BorrowSmart Access and Purchase Plus focus on addressing challenges for homebuyers in underserved communities. By offering a $3,000 credit with BorrowSmart Access and a $7,500 credit with Purchase Plus, hurdles such as closing costs and down payments are lessened and accessibility is increased.
Homebuyers can apply for ONE+ using Rocket Mortgage's industry-leading digital mortgage experience at RocketOnePlus.com and on the Rocket Mortgage mobile app. They can also apply through one of the thousands of mortgage brokers across the country who partner with the lender through Rocket Pro TPO.
About Rocket Mortgage
Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage is one of the nation's largest home lenders, closing more mortgage volume than any other lender in 2022, and is a part of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT). The lender enables the American Dream of homeownership and financial freedom through its obsession with an industry-leading, digital-driven client experience. In late 2015, it introduced the first fully digital, completely online mortgage experience. Since its founding in 1985, Rocket Mortgage has closed more than $1.6 trillion of mortgage volume across all 50 states.
Rocket Mortgage is ranked highest in the country for client satisfaction in mortgage origination by J.D. Power. Combining the mortgage origination and servicing studies, Rocket Mortgage has earned 20 total accolades from J.D. Power – the most of any mortgage lender. Rocket Companies, Rocket Mortgage's parent company, ranked #11 on Fortune's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2022 and has placed in the top third of the list for 20 consecutive years.
Read More
REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Globenewswire | May 16, 2023
Ohmyhome Ltd. (NASDAQ: OMH, “Ohmyhome”, “the Company”) and Ohmyhome Property Inc. (“Ohmyhome Philippines”) are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of a strategic investment by Ohmyhome Ltd. into Ohmyhome Property Inc.’s Philippines operations, marking Ohmyhome’s plan of expanding in the large and growing Philippines market.
“Philippines has always been a great market for property transactions. The quality of developers and their projects have improved significantly over the decades, and the country’s economy has seen a strong rebound from COVID with a flourishing digital economy,” said Rhonda Wong, Chief Executive Officer “Many companies have set up their Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and technology teams here, creating job opportunities and income for families. The growing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have also been a strong pillar of growth of the real estate industry. We believe that there are ample opportunities for a data-driven technology platform like us to help homebuyers, home sellers, and developers transact their properties.” added Ms. Wong.
Philippines as a Southeast Asia Growth Opportunity
The company’s move into the Philippines market provides robust business growth opportunities. With a record pace of 7.6% in 2022, Philippines is amongst the world's fastest growing emerging markets according to S&P Global. The population growth remains one of the strongest in Southeast Asia with a fertility rate of 2.78 in 2020, and the median age of 25.3 years as compared to 41.8 of Singapore and 38.1 of United States. The Philippines is also a country with one of the highest English-speaking populations in Southeast Asia, making it ripe for international businesses.
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are also increasingly contributing to the economy and the housing market in the Philippines. The total number of OFWs was estimated at 1.83 million in 2021, up by 3% compared to 2020. Total personal cash remittances grew 3.6% to USD 36.14 billion in 2022, accounting for 8.9% of the Philippines’ gross domestic product. The robust inward remittances reflected the increasing demand for OFWs amid the reopening of economies, and also presents great opportunities for families to upgrade their homes back in the Philippines.
“Ohmyhome’s vision is to be the most trusted and comprehensive property solution for everyone, and the Philippines currently lacks a platform that provides exceptional customer service that Ohmyhome is providing to our customers in the Singapore market,” said Herzon Garland, Founder of Ohmyhome Property Inc. “We believe that with this collaboration, we will be able to provide first class service to our customer base and bring the best Philippines properties to Filipinos here and around the globe.”
Strategic Partnership Provides Synergies
The core component of the collaboration and integration between Ohmyhome and Ohmyhome Philippines, will bring core technologies of Ohmyhome in closing transactions and its MATCH algorithm to complement Ohmyhome Philippines operations in property transactions. Additionally, the partnership will provide resources on both sides to allow for the ease of cross-border property transactions.
The integration of Ohmyhome Philippines’ huge portfolio of properties and units will allow interested buyers and investors of Philippines properties to select from a wide range of units that fit their needs and will be serviced by a dedicated team that works across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. myElite.pro, an exclusive members-only property network developed by Ohmyhome Philippines for salespersons and referral partners in the Philippines and beyond, could also potentially be deployed in other geographies to partner with trustworthy licensed salespersons and referral partners to serve both homebuyers and sellers who can access all information and services from a single platform on their fingertips.
“This MOU further solidifies our position as the go-to platform for property seekers and sellers to come. We hope to be able to bring our solutions to the millions of families in Southeast Asia, and bring speed, ease, and reliability to property related services in the region.” commented Race Wong, Chief Operating Officer.
The agreement will allow the Company to service the thousands of homeowners and homebuyers across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines as a united team and a dedicated platform that ensures quality services and acts in the best interest of customers.
About Ohmyhome Property Inc.
Originally established by a few business partners who believed in similar visions of the founders of the Company, Ohmyhome Property Inc. was established to expand Ohmyhome’s branding and building partnerships in the Philippines and was provided with Ohmyhome’s branding and the support of web and mobile platforms.
Within a short span of 3 years since its inception, Ohmyhome Philippines has grown the brand into one of the leading property platforms in the Philippines. The business team has also secured partnerships with more than 150 developers with over 80,000 properties for customers to choose from. Ohmyhome Philippines has since become the platform with the largest and most comprehensive property inventory in the nation.
Separately, to leverage on the strong social networks of Filipinos across the country and globally, Ohmyhome Philippines has developed and launched in 2022 myElite.pro with close to 5,000 verified members. myElite.pro is a members-only property network where verified referral partners and salespersons are able to access the most comprehensive property inventory in the Philippines and refer buyers to the network and earn incentives upon successful close. This taps onto the informal network of Filipinos across the country and the world and allows clients to be served by verified partnering salespersons everywhere without incurring additional headcount.
About Ohmyhome
Ohmyhome is a one-stop-shop property technology platform in Singapore that provides end-to-end property solutions and services for buying, selling, renting, and renovating homes. Since its launch in 2016, Ohmyhome has transacted over 13,100 properties. It is also the highest rated property transaction platform with more than 8,000 genuine reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Today, Ohmyhome is the first Singaporean company listed in the US in 2023 and the first women-only founded Proptech company listed in the US.
Ohmyhome is dedicated to bringing speed, ease, and reliability to the property-related services, and to become the most trusted and comprehensive property solution for everyone.
Read More