Tag Archives: The Collingwood Group

Approximately three-quarters of mortgage industry professionals believe that today’s regulatory environment prevents them from lending to creditworthy borrowers.

Longtime housing finance veteran Chris Negri has joined Washington, D.C.-based business advisory firm The Collingwood Group as Senior Vice President, according to an announcement from Collingwood.

The Collingwood Group, a Washington, D.C.-based business advisory firm, announced that Paul Mullings has joined the company as a managing director supporting the firm in business advisory and risk management and compliance practices.

With no fundamental changes to the origination process in decades, the lost efficiency, increasing costs and decreasing profits, combined with ever-merging regulatory hurdles, have left a gap in the mortgage industry to be filled by "disruptors."

More millennials are valuing homeownership these days and trying harder to gather the funds to buy a home of their own, as a recent survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based business advisory firm the Collingwood Group indicated. The survey, released Tuesday, showed that 65 percent of people polled between the ages of 24 and 34 were willing to forego modern conveniences in order to save for a down payment to purchase a home.

Rood said millennials are generally drawn to live in urban areas because of convenience, lifestyle, and walkable amenities, but they are paying 30 to 40 percent more in rents than they would be paying if they owned a home – and a result, they cannot save enough money for a downpayment for a house.

Respondents cited low interest rates, a strong refinance business and higher consumer confidence as reasons for the increase in optimism. Those surveyed also mentioned incorporating new regulatory changes over the last year has helped them overcome obstacles of the past. Those who said their current business conditions have gotten worse cited regulatory challenges, minimal wage growth, and the end of the refinance boom.

Student loan debt, a slow lag in finding employment, and wage stagnation were cited as some of the reasons why millennials have yet to enter the housing market in record numbers. About 70 percent of students walked away with loan debt in 2013 and the average student racks up almost $30,000 in debt by graduation, according to an annual report on loan debt released by the Institute for College Access and Success.