Mortgage News Roundup - What is Crowdfunding?

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell last week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.25 percent, down from 4.27 percent at this same time last week.

“Rates dropped last week, erasing most of the run-up triggered previously by the Fed’s surprisingly aggressive guidance on plans to increase the Federal Funds Rate,” said Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages at Zillow. “We expect rates to remain fairly steady this week, not making any significant movements until after Friday’s jobs report.”

The secret way companies are using big data to score you

As technology has improved, so has the ability of businesses to mine pools of highly identifiable public information as well as the ability to share it immediately with other businesses. There are so many brand new ways to “score” you that it would make your head spin. Based on hundreds of pieces of public and private data these consumer scores are used by marketers, government agencies, financial institutions, and other businesses to predict a range of consumer behaviors, from how likely we are to wind up in the hospital to how often we’ll ditch our cable providers or collect unemployment. Most of us don’t know they exist. Unfortunately, these databases could be ripe targets for cybercriminals.

“These scores are nearly impossible to track down if you don’t know where to look,” Pam Dixon, director of the World Privacy Forum and co-author of the report, told Yahoo Finance. “We really want to engage the public and lawmakers in a dialogue about what’s happening with these consumer scores and create a structure where there’s fairness.”

In addition to security issues, because these scores aren’t readily available to consumers themselves, it can be difficult to correct or remove any erroneous information. But you can ask to opt out by checking this list from the World Privacy Forum. Yahoo! Finance also wrote an extensive guide to avoiding online tracking here.

Millennials most willing to move for wife’s job

A survey from the Mayflower moving company shows more than half of Gen Y say they would move for a wife’s job. That’s compared with 43% of Boomers and just 28% of pre-Boomers.

They say it’s not about one job is better over another but if the move would make sense for both.

Crowdfunding Becomes a Hot Property in Real Estate Investing

Fundrise, a crowdfunding platform for commercial real estate, is offering shares in the D.C. building to investors, not only to those in the city but in Maryland and Virginia.

So what is crowdfunding? It’s a program where an investment company can raise funds and allow people to buy into a share of a building.

The example in the article was about a vacant, two-story brick building at 1539 Seventh St. in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The developer WestMill Capital Partners plans to turn the building into a boutique retail site. Shaw, once home to jazz legend Duke Ellington, is undergoing a bit of a renaissance and Fundrise sees big opportunities.

The $1.5 million development plans to use $350,000 from crowdfunding. For as little as $100, investors can buy a share. Fundrise is projecting an 8 percent return paid quarterly, with a five-year redemption. The maximum a person can invest is $2,500.

Crowdfunding takes a set period of time which can aid a developer if they need more time to get plans approved, contractors lined up, etc.

Would you be interested in crowdfunding to enter into real estate investments?