July 24… While much of the nation swelters, if you live in Utah, it’s Pie and Beer Day. Uh, I mean, Pioneer Day. The average home in Utah now costs $517,000, a 1 percent increase from last year, per this article and very manageable. If this article (showing state-level fraud rankings) is to be believed, Utah has steered clear of a high mortgage scam ranking. Good job! For more good news, LOs are watching nationwide stats and trends for marketing purposes. Today will be another episode of The Big Picture at 3PM ET (click here to register) sponsored by Depth and featuring Nikki Bialka who oversees affordable & CRA lending for Fifth Third Bank. Thank you to Mark W. who reminded me that approximately 39 percent of 18- to 30-year-olds in the U.S. lived with their parents, according to a post citing OECD data. According to Fortune, citing a recently published Goldman Sachs note, the share of U.S. homeowners without a mortgage rose from 33% in 2010 to 40% in 2023. Assuming there are 86 million homes nationwide, the outlet estimates more than 30 million are now owned free and clear. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s podcasts are sponsored by Wholesale Mortgage Direct (WMD), whose mission is to deliver high demand, innovative products unique to the wholesale industry, including MyEQNow, which is one-of-a-kind TraDigital HELOC platform. WMD is your trusted partner for innovative HELOC, NonQM and/or Reverse options. Today’s has an interview Wholesale Mortgage Direct’s Denis Kelly on the evolving wholesale channel and HELOC landscape, the rise of digital lending, investor, and borrower demand in underserved markets, and how the MyEQNow platform is reshaping access with innovative, data-light solutions.)