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Borrowers seeking mortgage financing to purchase a home could find themselves saving $100 a month or more by shopping around, and locating cheaper lenders with which to do business. This is according to a new blog post published this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). By analyzing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data […]

Texas-based Colonial Savings, F.A. has decided to exit the origination business amid one of the most challenging cycles in decades, provoked by the Federal Reserve‘s tightening monetary policy and a banking crisis.  The company will focus on full-servicing banking and mortgage servicing businesses, it announced on Thursday.  The origination activity will cease effective July 31, 2023, but all outstanding […]

These days I start every conversation with, “Yes, I have used ChatGPT,” just to get that out of the way for the sake of efficiency. The speed of discourse about Generative AI in all aspects of life from personal to business topics has been astounding. And while the use cases for generative AI as a […]

SoftPro, the nation’s top provider of title, closing, and escrow software, announced on Thursday that it has launched ClosingsLIVE, a cutting-edge communication portal for real estate settlements. The platform grants authorized parties secure access to order status, documents, and milestones, catering to the demands of clients and all transaction participants. “ClosingsLIVE is a gamechanger app […]

Older Americans are sitting on more than $12 trillion in home equity, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA)/Riskspan Reverse Mortgage Market Index. These homeowners are seeking different retirement solutions to help allocate their home equity and make it more durable over the next 20 to 30 years. According to data from Statista, […]

The Federal Reserve‘s monetary tightening policy and the recent banking crisis have the potential to change the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market’s dynamics more than anything seen over the last two decades, according to secondary market experts.   The Fed and U.S. banks, which glommed onto these assets in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, are […]

Last week, the U.S. debt ceiling impasse and the resilient economy led mortgage rates to climb to the highest level in two months. Some indexes show the 30-year fixed rate has reached the 7% mark, which has reduced borrowers’ appetite for home loans. The latest MBA data published on Wednesday morning shows that mortgage loan […]

Freddie Mac on Tuesday announced enhancements to its automated income assessment tool—already used for direct deposits—to also include the borrower’s digital paystub data. The government sponsored enterprise said lenders can calculate income faster and more precisely, improving loan quality, simplifying the mortgage process and expanding access to credit. The ability to include paystub data and […]

The growing wave of loan-repurchase requests from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has yet another major wrinkle, industry sources reveal, and this new problem, if accurate as alleged, threatens to disrupt future merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the mortgage-finance industry. This new development is being propelled by an alleged Fannie Mae “request” that, according to industry sources, was […]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives recognize that the wave of loan-repurchase requests represents an added challenge for lenders who already have a stretched balance sheet.  However, Fannie Mae’s position is that the loan-repurchase increases are an economic problem, not an underwriting process issue. Meanwhile, Freddie Mac said it’s in talks with lenders to address the problem through […]

Mortgage tech company Blend has launched a soft credit inquiry function for lenders at a time when the industry is facing higher credit report fees.  Credit bureaus and Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) upped the cost of pulling a hard credit file starting in 2023. In some cases, the costs have increased by four to five […]

The lack of housing inventory – a major pain point for real estate agents and loan officers – is an issue that Mark Cohen, principal owner of Cohen Financial Group, also sees in the upper end of the Southern California market.  The $1 million to $4 million homes market is very competitive, and qualified borrowers […]

Homebuilders, whose sentiment hit the midpoint mark of 50 earlier this month for the first-time since July 2022, have yet another reason to celebrate. The sales pace of new homes has also increased for the fifth consecutive month, according to data published on Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  In April, the sales […]

Residential mortgage industry analysts and executives continue to see choppy waters ahead. The banking crisis is still unfolding, impacting the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) space, reducing jumbo loan offerings, and putting pressure on commercial real estate companies.  Even if the U.S. debt limit impasse is solved, the U.S. can face a downgrade to its long-term debt, with […]

Residential mortgage industry analysts and executives continue to see challenges ahead. For starters, the banking crisis is still unfolding, impacting the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) space, reducing jumbo loan offerings, and putting pressure on commercial real estate companies.  Even if the U.S. debt limit impasse is solved, the U.S. can face a downgrade to its long-term debt, […]

Rocket Mortgage introduced a new 1% down home loan program aiming to target more than 90 million borrowers. Rocket’s new product comes on the heels of rival United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) rolling out a similar program. Dubbed ONE+, a buyer using this program who’s purchasing a single-family home, and whose income is equal to or […]

Top-producing loan officer Christopher Keelin has taken his 80+ team members over to CrossCountry Mortgage to take advantage of the lender’s technology while scaling his business.  Keelin, who has more than 15 years of experience, joined CrossCountry in April from New Jersey-based Family First Funding, where he spent more than six years. Keeling also previously […]

According to It was a wild ride for the housing market last week! The 10-year yield rose noticeably, sending mortgage rates near 7% right in the heart of the spring selling season. New listings data fell, however, active inventory grew. And purchase apps had a weekly negative print, continuing the 2023 theme of higher rates […]

Lender Price, a leading provider of mortgage loan product and pricing technology, has launched Base Price Solution (BPS), a new pricing tool designed to help banks, lenders, and credit unions optimize their pricing strategies. With the new product, lenders have the ability to quickly generate base pricing, which eliminates the need for multiple spreadsheets used […]

Add Rocket Mortgage to the list of companies selling mortgage servicing rights (MSR) in a difficult operating environment.  The Detroit, Michigan-based lender sold about $20 billion in MSRs to JPMorgan Chase in April, following a decline in its servicing book in the first quarter of 2023. The company’s unpaid principal balance reached $524.8 billion as […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked a judge to dismiss Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Black Knight‘s claims over the agency’s constitutionality and separation of power as “impertinent” and “immaterial.” The FTC, which is trying to prevent a merger between the two mortgage tech firms, said the two companies made “bare statements of legal conclusions that […]

As you can see in the chart above, days on the market falling isn’t a good thing, but it’s the reality of the world we live in after 2010. The U.S. housing market inventory channels have changed due to how the U.S. housing credit channels have changed. This is not, nor can it ever be, […]

Did you know Logan Mohtashami — the chart guy — got his professional start working as a pizza boy? From serving delicious food to serving career-changing mortgage data like no one else can, Mohtashami is a force to be reckoned with. Twitter trolls beware.  Mohtashami, lead analyst at HousingWire, will share his chart-powered wisdom at […]

Despite a marked improvement from the fourth quarter of 2022, independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks still lost a mountain of money in the first quarter. On average, IMBs reported a net loss of $1,972 on each loan originated from January to March, a 35% improvement from the reported loss of […]

FormFree, a leading provider of mortgage lending technology, announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Jonathan Nahil as its new chief technology officer (CTO). Nahil brings to the role over 20 years of experience as a software architect and leader of development teams in renowned technology organizations. “I’ve helped organizations break the status quo with […]