As the 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased for the sixth consecutive week to 7.70%, mortgage applications slumped, hitting their lowest level since 1995. Last Monday, in an attempt to calm the markets, a coalition of housing trade groups — including the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Realtors (NAR) and National Association of Home […]
The single-family rental (SFR) sector and its close cousin, the fix-and-flip market, are now essentially treading water in an environment of high interest rates, approaching 8%; high home prices; and a dearth of home-purchase inventory. Still, even in this difficult-to-agonizing supply-challenged housing market, SFR and fix-and-flip investors, which both target existing-home inventory, are still finding […]
TOKYO — Rickshaw puller Yuka Akimoto is one of a handful of women who have chosen to pull rickshaws in Tokyo, attracted to the male-dominated profession through social media, which in turn has given some of these female pullers a strong local and international following. When the 45-minute tour comes to an end, the 21-year-old […]
Mortgage tech firm Blend has launched a lower-cost version of its mortgage suite for retail independent mortgage banks, the company announced this week. This offering, called Blend IMB Essentials, includes many of the same features of its standard offering for mortgage lenders. Blend IMB Essentials will streamline the application process, will facilitate pulling soft credits […]
Verifications provider Argyle announced its integration with Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter (DU) program on Monday, becoming the first DU-authorized report supplier to offer automated income and employment verification reports based on consumer-permissioned, direct-source data. The integration enables mortgage lenders to use Argyle’s income and employment verification solution to get Day 1 Certainty and relief from […]
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West African artist Amoaka Boafo has a new exhibit of portraits in the Western U.S. state of Colorado. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has our story details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has tremendous potential to cut costs and improve customer experience, but regulation has not caught up to develop a governance program, industry pros said of AI’s implementation in mortgage lending. Bias, discrimination, privacy and security concerns related to consumer information are some of the biggest risks in implementing generative AI, noted […]
The market is rocky, margins are tight. And the grind may not end anytime soon, Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit told attendees in a fiery speech at the trade group’s annual conference this week in Philadelphia. “Normally, I talk about the remarkable work you did over the previous year. Then I look […]
Regarding lenders’ vociferous complaints about increased loan buybacks from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said the regulator expects originators to deliver loans consistent with the guidelines. But, she added, the Enterprises must implement a fair, consistent, and predictable process for identifying loan defects and the appropriate remedies. “After multiple years of record-high loan volume, […]
Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker advocated for stopping interest rate hikes, noting that disinflation is under way. “I believe that we are at the point where we can hold rates where they are,” Harker said at the 2023 Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Convention & Expo in Philadelphia on Monday. “Disinflation is under way, labor […]
Since 2006, comic book fans have gathered at the legendary New York City Comic Con to dress up and shop. More recently, they have gathered to invest. Aron Ranen has the story from the Big Apple. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
The trough for the mortgage origination market is nearing an end point and 2024 is shaping up to be a better year for the industry, economists of the the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said at the 2023 Annual Convention & Expo in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The MBA doesn’t expect the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates […]
Movie theaters turned into concert venues this weekend as Swifties brought their dance moves and friendship bracelets to multiplexes across the country. The unparalleled enthusiasm helped propel “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” to a massive, first place debut between $95 million and $97 million in North America, AMC Theatres said Sunday. It’s easily the biggest […]
Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” as well as her business endeavors, has died. She was 76. Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her […]
Taylor Swift’s movie of her Eras Tour concert dominated theaters over the weekend with $95 million to $97 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, according to estimates from distributor AMC Theatres AMC.N on Sunday. The movie, called “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, set the record for a concert film, easily surpassing the $29.5 million […]
With brushes and trowels, Indigenous Colombians are unearthing traces in the jungle of a tragic period in history when their ancestors were violently supplanted by colonists from Spain. Working as amateur archeologists, they carefully brush away dirt to reveal pottery and other artifacts left behind by ancient inhabitants of what in 1510 became Santa Maria […]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed the world’s most populous nation will bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai on Saturday, Modi said hosting the event is “the age-old dream” for India. “Indians are not just sports lovers, […]
For 400 years, Indigenous North Americans flocked to a group of ceremonial sites in what is present-day Ohio to celebrate their culture and honor their dead. On Saturday, the sheer magnitude of the ancient Hopewell culture’s reach was lifted up as enticement to a new set of visitors from around the world. “We stand upon […]
Piper Laurie, the strong-willed, Oscar-nominated actor who performed in acclaimed roles despite at one point abandoning acting altogether in search of a “more meaningful” life, died early Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91. Laurie died of old age, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, told The Associated Press via email, adding that she […]
Even after long periods in Beijing, Manya Koetse still felt like an outsider. At parties and over hotpot, her Chinese friends discussed memes and other social media trends, but Koetse didn’t know what they were talking about. “I just felt really left out,” the Dutch national told VOA, adding that she was missing a key […]
Two top-20 mortgage lenders in the United States may combine forces amid the most challenging market in decades. CrossCountry Mortgage is in talks to acquire Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., nine industry sources told HousingWire. The talks remain ongoing and are not believed to be in the late stages, sources said. If the deal is completed, […]
Investing in tech to save costs and get business in the door has become ever more important in an origination market facing extended headwinds. Recognizing the opportunities in the mortgage space, Grant Moon, former CEO and founder of fintech platform Home Captain, is gearing up to launch his new firm – BlueForceX. As a mortgage […]
At two top-five depository mortgage lenders, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, the third quarter of 2023 earnings reflected different strategies in the mortgage space. During Q3, Wells Fargo faced the consequences of exiting the correspondent lending channel in January, which resulted in reduced revenues from mortgage origination and servicing compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, JPMorgan, which […]
The International Olympic Committee, or IOC, on Thursday banned the Russian Olympic Committee after the ROC recognized regional organizations from four annexed Ukrainian territories. The ban takes effect immediately. On Oct. 5, the ROC recognized the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. […]
Customer engagement platform Total Expert‘s customer intelligence and mortgage tech firm Polly‘s product and pricing engine (PPE) will help California-based lender Mountain West Financial identify lending opportunities from its existing database. By deploying customer intelligence from Total Expert — a customer engagement platform for financial institutions — Mountain West Financial will provide automated alerts that notify […]
A coalition of trade associations — including the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), National Association of Realtors (NAR), and Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) — on Thursday called on the Biden administration to reduce the historically large spread between the 30-year mortgage rates and 10-year Treasuries. The trade groups noted that the spread […]
Today’s CPI report was good because it shows core inflation, which the Fed cares about, is trending in the right direction. The Fed feels much better today because of all the rate hikes they have done to get the Fed funds rate above the growth rate of inflation. Last year, CPI core inflation was running […]
Wholesale lender The Loan Store launched a consumer rewards program designed to help mortgage brokers offer competitive mortgage rates. Buyers can save up to 40 basis points on any agency, government or non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) first-lien loans when working with a wholesale loan origination partner approved by The Loan Store, the Arizona-headquartered lender said. Consumers […]
Bankrupt retail lender AmeriFirst Financial is seeking approval for a private sale of loans from a Delaware bankruptcy judge to pay off two warehouse lenders and fund restructuring costs. If approved, AmeriFirst’s retail and commercial loans worth more than $5 million will be sold to a non-QM lender Oaktree Funding Corp., Inc., according to a […]
Mortgage rates kept climbing for the fifth consecutive week, bringing average year-over-year rates 60 basis points higher. Freddie Mac‘s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which focuses on conventional and conforming loans with a 20% down payment, shows the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.57% as of Oct. 12. That’s up 8 basis points from 7.49% the previous […]
Real estate investment trust Rithm Capital Corp. has increased its offer to acquire Sculptor Capital Management Inc. by 7.62% to $676 million amid competition from a group of investors and a dispute among the shareholders at the asset management firm. On July 24, Rithm said it struck a deal to acquire the New York-based company for $639 million, or […]
Mortgage-rate-lock volume fell 20% in September, led by a combination of seasonal decline in purchase activity and rising interest rates, according to Optimal Blue’s Originations Market Monitor report. September’s rate-lock decline continues a four-month trend of falling mortgage volumes, with month-over-month purchase locks down 20%, cash-outs down 17% and rate/term refinances down 18% in September. […]
Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000. James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s, won in the fiction category. Héctor Tobar’s Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on […]
It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. The gay college student had been tied to a fence post, tortured, and left to die. The murder drew national attention to violence against gay people, and attracted the interest of theater director Moises Kaufman, who turned the horror […]
loanDepot‘s CEO and president Frank Martell said the mortgage market will remain challenging in 2024. Still, the company is working to make money and, when the market turns, accelerate growth in a profitable, sustainable way. To get there, Martell said loanDepot is still committed to its Vision 2025 plan, announced three months following his arrival to […]
The country’s top lender, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), raised agency conforming loan limits to $750,000 following other firms’ moves ahead of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) decision expected next month. UWM will honor expected limits for conventional and VA loans locked starting Oct. 11, the company said on Wednesday. This represents a 3.2% increase […]
PNC Bank issued pink slips to an undisclosed number of employees this week as part of its focus on controlling costs. “As part of our strong focus on expense management, we have reviewed our organizational structure and have identified an opportunity to better position our company for long-term success. This includes a shift away from […]
Leading property data and analytics company CoreLogic’s newly launched digital mortgage platform (DMP) aims to streamline the mortgage process and improve efficiency for lenders. DMP integrated Roostify’s digital mortgage solution with CoreLogic’s property data and workflow capabilities to offer a comprehensive digital mortgage experience, the firm said in a release on Wednesday. CoreLogic acquired digital […]
As the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit 7.67% for the week ending Oct. 6, mortgage applications remained near historic lows. However, an uptick in adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) applications edged total applications up slightly. Mortgage applications picked up 0.6% for the week ending Oct. 6, compared to the week prior, according to weekly mortgage application data from […]
Blend Labs announced an integration with MeridianLink Inc., a software platform for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies. Lenders using MeridianLink Consumer loan origination software (LOS) will be able to leverage Blend’s unified platform and consumer banking origination software for a fast onboarding and application process for banking, credit card and loan products, Blend said […]
Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate raised agency conforming loan limits to $750,000 on Monday, representing an increase of 3.2% compared to the current limit of $726,200. “We raised the conforming loan limits to $750,000 on our Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 30-year fixed. This is in anticipation of the loan limit increase for 2024,” Kate Amor, senior vice president and head of enterprise […]
A coalition of housing trade groups — including the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Realtors (NAR) and National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) — called on the Federal Reserve to provide market certainty about the Fed’s rate path and its plans for the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio. Ongoing market uncertainty about the Fed’s […]
A mortgage lender isn’t the first place most people would turn to for yoga, meditation or personal wellness. However, Guaranteed Rate hopes to change that with the launch of its new consumer-focused Rate App. The free app, which officially launches Tuesday, allows users to price out mortgages, personal loans and other finance products that Guaranteed […]
When mortgage rates blew past the 7% level earlier this year, the securitization market “froze up temporarily,” according to Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at the government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae. “Investors who would buy a mortgage-backed security [MBS], which is backed by mortgages that have a 7% coupon, believe that when the Fed eases interest […]