Leading reverse mortgage lender Finance of America Reverse (FAR) has lowered the minimum qualifying age for its “HomeSafe” suite of proprietary reverse mortgage products to 55 in the majority of the states in which the suite is available, Reverse Mortgage Daily has learned. This makes FAR the second major reverse mortgage lender in the nation […]
Seven months after a $16 million Series B round, digital mortgage platform Maxwell has raised $52.5 million in additional funding, the company said on Tuesday. The latest round was led by Fin VC, the venture capital firm that also led the Series B capital raise. Existing investors TTV Capital, Prudence, and Rotor Capital participated in […]
Bill Borden, corporate vice president of worldwide financial services at Microsoft Tech giant Microsoft plans to launch a new cloud-computing offering targeting the financial-services market on Nov. 1 as part of an effort to further bolster its fast-expanding cloud business. The secondary market may want to take note. The Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services has […]
This is part two of a two-part series on joint ventures in the housing industry. To read the first part of this series, go here. On a sunny, serene fall afternoon, the Chicago neighborhood of Ravenswood featured quiet socializing on outdoor brewery patios, cyclists of all ages, and, hidden alongside the elevated train tracks, the […]
Servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume declined at a reduced pace this week, as mortgage holders continue to exit COVID-19 plans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The total number of loans in forbearance decreased by seven basis points to 2.21% as of Oct. 17. In the previous week, the rate dropped 34 basis points […]
New York State is close to approving a controversial bill that expands the requirements of the state community reinvestment act (CRA) to non-depository lenders, following the lead of Massachusetts and Illinois. The CRA rule, enacted in 1977, mandates that banks help meet the credit needs of communities in which they take deposits, specifically in low- […]
The excited and at times nervous first-time homebuyers that James Dunn often represents ask him how that whole process of taking out a mortgage works, and Dunn, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent with eXp, replies with a few trusted names. “There are probably three or four people that I work with,” Dunn said. “Anyone […]
In the face of a serious housing shortage, exceptional service from brokers is more important than ever. With forced bidding becoming the new norm, top brokers understand the importance of providing loan pricing with speed and certainty. Purchase originations demand more of brokers’ resources than a refinance. There are many more moving pieces and loan […]
This week’s HW+ spotlight features Karen Mayfield, head of National Retail Sales at Wyndham Capital Mortgage. In her role, Mayfield is tasked with expanding on the company’s digital roots into the retail mortgage environment. With more than two decades in the industry, Mayfield most recently served as a division lending executive at Citi, where she oversaw up […]
Austin-based mortgage tech platform UpEquity raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by the venture capital firm S3 Ventures. The funding will support the company’s growth as UpEquity forecasts more than $1 billion in originations over the next 12 months. The funding consists of $20 million in equity and $30 million in […]
Twenty affordable housing groups teamed up to tell the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) its requirements for the government sponsored enterprises to support manufactured and rural housing, and preserve affordable housing don’t make the grade. The coalition, dubbed the “Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition,” includes the Center for Community Progress, the National Housing Conference, the National […]
An offering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights (MSR) linked to a loan pool valued at nearly $2.2 billion is now being marketed by the Prestwick Mortgage Group on behalf of an undisclosed independent mortgage banker, according to a bid document obtained by HousingWire. The offering is yet another sign that the […]
The average 30-year-fixed rate mortgage climbed to 3.09% during the week ending Oct. 21, rising from 3.05% the week prior, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS Mortgage Survey. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.80%. Most economists believe they’ll continue to climb. “Mortgage rates continued to rise this week due to the […]
The nation’s network of Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) expects to be required to increase its share of investments in affordable housing. The push will come from the Congress, where the COVID-19 pandemic rekindled discussions about a program established in the 1990s. The Affordable Housing Program (AHP) requires that each of the 11 FHLBanks in […]
Since Rohit Chopra was confirmed as the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in September, there’s been one particular word on the lips of mortgage executives. And it gives them chills: redlining. “We are going to see a lot of emphasis on redlining: when you’re actively, intentionally separating out areas that you […]
Mortgage application activity dropped 6.3% for the week ending Oct. 15, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey. And, as you might have guessed, mortgage rates had a lot to do with it. “Refinance applications declined for the fourth week as rates increased, bringing the refinance index to its lowest level since July 2021,” […]
Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec ” data-image-caption=” Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=1024″ loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”713″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=1024″ alt=”HW+ Austin rocket” class=”wp-image-325834″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=150,89 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=300,178 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=768,456 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=1024,608 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=600,357 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec […]
Purchase mortgage applications for new homes were down 16.2% in September compared to a year ago, according to Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data released on Tuesday. This is also marks a 4% decrease from the prior month. Based on data from the survey, MBA estimates that there were 66,000 new single-family […]
Forbearance declined across the board this week as government agencies and industry stakeholders chart a path out of forbearance and into loss-mitigation. The total number of loans still in forbearance was down 34 basis points from 2.62% of servicers’ portfolio volume the prior week to 2.28% the week ending Oct. 10, 2021, per the latest […]
Over the last month, two of the biggest housing regulators either changed or were rumored to change leadership. In mid-September, there were talks that the Biden administration would nominate Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, as the new FHFA director, and at the end of September, Rohit Chopra was officially confirmed as director of […]
For this week’s HW+ member spotlight, we feature Tim Anderson, president of the eMortgage Division at Evolve Mortgage Services. Anderson has over 35 years of industry experience having worked on both the lender and vendor side of the business, and in his current role, he is responsible for developing product and corporate strategy and strategic partner […]
The Federal Reserve in September signaled that it plans to begin unwinding, or tapering, its nearly $8 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasury holdings as early as November, assuming the economy stays on track as expected. On the MBS side, which now represents about $2.5 trillion in securities held, observers believe the Fed […]
Economists at Fannie Mae expect an increase mortgage rates and home prices in 2022 due to higher inflation, a tightening of monetary policy, and low home inventory. Fannie Mae in its October economic forecast said it expects the 30-year fixed rate mortgage to average 3.3% in 2022, up from 3.1% the GSE projected last month. […]
VantageScore Solutions announced this week its longtime CEO Barrett Burns would step down and Silvio Tavares, a financial services and fintech veteran, will fill the role. Tavares has held senior positions at Visa and FiservFirst Data, and most recently led the Digital Commerce Alliance, a global trade association which counted Bank of America, Discover, MasterCard […]
Wells Fargo originated $51.9 billion worth of mortgages in the third quarter, down slightly from $53.2 billion in the previous quarter. The depository’s retail business made up most of its origination volume from July to September, coming in at $32.5 billion, while the correspondent channel produced $16.7 billion worth of mortgages. Despite earlier reports in […]
Young people make up a smaller share of recent homebuyers than in previous years most likely due to the increased market activity of baby boomers, a new Zillow report published on Thursday found. It’s hardly breaking news that the demand for housing has drastically increased over the past 18 months, but the report suggests that […]
United Wholesale Mortgage is testing the waters with cryptocurrency, announcing today that it accepted its first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment in September. According to UWM, five more cryptocurrency mortgage payments were evaluated and accepted in October. The Pontiac-based wholesale mortgage lender said that the transactions were used as models to “better assess scaling cryptocurrency payments for […]
The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rose seven basis points to 3.05% for the week ending Oct. 14, to its highest level since April, according to Freddie Mac’s latest PMMS survey of mortgage rates. Two weeks ago, rates rose 13 basis points to 3.01%, eclipsing the 3% mark for the first time since June. However, last week, rates fell […]
Sales of reperforming loans nosedived in 2020 as the pandemic took root in America, but sales volume appears to have recovered with vigor, based on an analysis of RPL offerings for government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae. The GSE earlier this month announced its 23rd sale of reperforming loans, which are defined by Fannie Mae as mortgages […]
The average closing costs for a single-family home increased 12.3% during the first six months of 2021, according to a report published this week by analytics vendor ClosingCorp. And significantly higher home prices were the culprit. According to ClosingCorp, the average closing costs nationally came in at $6,837 including taxes and $3,836 excluding taxes. The […]
JPMorgan Chase originated $46.1 billion worth of mortgages from July to September, up 5% from the previous quarter and up 43% year-over-year, the bank announced on Wednesday. Jeremy Barnum, chief financial officer at Chase, said during the company’s third quarter earnings call that the increase reflects “record purchase volume and share gains in the refi […]
Mortgage application activity was largely flat for the week ending Oct. 8, despite mortgage rates reaching their highest level since June. That’s according to the latest mortgage application survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which said applications overall increased just 0.2% from the prior week. “An increase in home purchase applications offset a slight decline […]
PNC Bank allegedly breached Fannie Mae’s COVID-19 payment deferral agreement by continuing to charge homeowners who opted for the home retention option for past-due monthly principal and interest payments. A national class action-seeking lawsuit filed in Maryland federal court claims that PNC double-charged borrowers for their past-due principal payments and thus improperly increased the amount […]
Redwood Trust CEO Christopher Abate laid out a bold vision of growth for the real estate investment trust at an investor conference in New York City last month. Part of that vision included finding ways to tap into the nation’s multitrillion-dollar pool of home equity. To that end, Redwood Trust has partnered with Point, a […]
Mortgage credit availability increased for the third consecutive month in September, but is still 30% below the pre-pandemic level, according to a report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Much of the growth in credit availability has come from loans that cater to self-employed borrowers, who were left in the cold by most […]
New Residential Investment Corp. announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Genesis Capital LLC, a fix-and-flip lender, from Goldman Sachs. New Residential said that it expects Genesis to originate close to $2 billion of loans in 2021 and that the fix-and-flip lender has originated over 12,000 loans since 2014. Michael […]
Servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume declined at the fastest rate in a year, as mortgage holders exit COVID-19 plans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Exits are expected to pick up the pace in the weeks ahead due to economic improvement. The total number of loans in forbearance decreased by 27 basis points to 2.62% as of Oct. […]
Earlier in the month, PennyMac Financial and United Wholesale Mortgage publicly announced that they are each raising their conforming loan ceilings by 14%, nearly two months ahead of the Federal Housing Finance Agency‘s official decree in November. They’re not the only ones getting a jump on new conforming loan limits. Rocket Mortgage and Homepoint announced […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today settled a lawsuit against the nation’s largest reverse mortgage lender for allegedly sending consumers inflated home valuations. In a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court of California’s Central District, the CFPB alleged that Irvine, California-based American Advisors Group (AAG) sent borrowers deceptive and inflated home estimates […]
The private-label residential mortgage-backed securities market has been resurrected from its near-death following the global financial crisis a decade and a half ago. This year it is on track to securitize loan volume approaching or even exceeding $100 billion, and driving a healthy share of that secondary market business is J.P. Morgan, the investment bank […]
FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson Editor’s note: This piece was originally featured in the Oct/Nov magazine and has been updated to reflect the latest changes and announcements at the FHFA. Nearly five years after the global financial crisis, lenders and the government-sponsored entities were still negotiating who would bear responsibility for defaulted loans. The negotiations […]
The investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp., has bolstered its fintech and financial services group with the hire of three veterans from investment bank Berkery, Noyes & Co. John Guzzo and Jason White will be managing directors at KBW, with a focus on mortgage technology companies and related […]
A former marketing director at Residential Home Funding Corp. (RealFi), a nonbank mortgage lender based in New York, accused the company’s top male executives of creating a toxic workplace through repeated sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Georganne Youngclaus, the former marketing director at RealFi, filed a civil lawsuit against a group of top male executives […]
Fannie Mae announced Wednesday that, starting in 2022, it will allow third-parties to fulfill the homeownership education requirement on some affordable mortgages. Third-party homeownership education providers will still have to be aligned with the National Industry Standards for Homeownership Education and Counseling or with the Department of Housing and Urban Development Housing Counseling Program, if […]
An amended S-4 filed by Aurora Acquisition Corp. with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week gave the mortgage industry a glimpse into how its partner Better.com fared in the second quarter. And it wasn’t great. The digital mortgage lender, which plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), reported a net […]