BusinessMediaguide.Com

Homelendia Mortgage LLC, a Florida-based mortgage brokerage franchisor, launched its mortgage brokerage franchises this week, offering individual unit and regional opportunities to qualified individuals, teams, brokerages and loan originators. According to a statement from the company, “Homelendia Mortgage will offer a unique and streamlined approach to mortgage brokerage ownership and the mortgage process, utilizing cutting-edge technology to provide a seamless […]

Mortgage rates are on a declining trend, but don’t be fooled – the industry’s efforts to rightsize from a pandemic boom will continue through 2023. Up to 30% of the 1,000 largest independent mortgage banks will disappear by the end of this year, either through sales, mergers, or failures amid still-high inflation and rising interest […]

During the week that mortgage rates very briefly touched down into the 5% range, mortgage applications increased 7.4%, according to the latest reading from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Still, mortgage demand is down 58% from a year prior. Mortgage rates fell to 5.99% on Thursday, Feb. 2 following comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about disinflation. A […]

With a turbulent housing market and a volatile rate environment playing out over much of the past year, concern about housing affordability has hit a fever pitch. Three housing policy experts recently joined HW Media COO Diego Sanchez to discuss the potential shifts in housing affordability over the next year. The panel took place during […]

Home Partners of America, a Chicago-based Blackstone portfolio company, has appointed Jennifer Deason as its chief executive officer, the company announced on Wednesday. Deason will step into the new role later this month. “Home Partners’ mission is particularly close to my own personal story, as I was raised by a single mom who did not […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is putting mortgage comparison sites on notice, laying out scenarios regarding how certain platforms could be violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) section 8.  If the mortgage comparison site “provides enhanced placement or otherwise steers consumers” to certain operators based on compensation, an operator is in violation […]

Amid a battle with the board of directors, loanDepot‘s founder Anthony Hsieh is stepping down as executive chairman. However, he will remain chairman for the company’s board, the company announced on Wednesday.  The announcement came the day after Hsieh said he had decided to use his majority voting power to unilaterally nominate Williston Financial Group executive Steven Ozonian to […]

loanDepot founder and chairman Anthony Hsieh has decided to use his majority voting power to unilaterally nominate Steven Ozonian for election to the board of directors, exposing a dispute with other board members, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.  The decision on the new board member will be made in the company’s 2023 […]

Acquisitive lender Guild Mortgage on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Legacy Mortgage, increasing its footprint in the Southwest. Publicly traded Guild is picking up Legacy’s 13 branches across four Southwest states – Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “This acquisition is part of the company’s continued plan to grow […]

Digital closing platform Snapdocs announced on Tuesday that it has completed its integration with Mortgage Cadence, a cloud-based digital lending platform. This integration will enable lenders to finalize closing documents using Snapdocs within Mortgage Cadence’s loan origination system (LOS). Lenders can also use the system to order closing documents and other data. In addition, lenders […]

California-based Carrington Mortgage Services (CMS) sees a window of opportunity in the mortgage market.  The Federal Reserve (Fed) actions that resulted in millions of borrowers receiving mortgage rates below 4% gave way to Fed actions that… triggered mortgage rates to rise above 7% in the fall of 2022.  The duality of the Fed has resulted […]

HousingWire’s Rising Stars are back! Nominations for the popular award open today and will run until Friday, February 24, 2023. This year — in an effort to combine mortgage and real estate into one award — we’re excited to announce the HW Rising Stars is also the new home to the successful RealTrends Emerging Leaders […]

The NBA Board of Governors announced on Monday that it had approved the group, led by mortgage industry executive Mat Ishbia, to acquire the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. The transaction, which values the Suns and Mercury at $4 billion, first became public in December. The NBA said in a news release that the deal […]

The year ahead for the mortgage-servicing rights market is shaping up to be a lucrative play for investors, lenders and others looking to purchase MSR assets.  Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) leaning on MSR sales, however, now face a supply-demand imbalance, market observers say. That imbalance favors buyers and is expected to be a drag on […]

Rocket Pro TPO, the wholesale arm of Rocket Mortgage, wants to court brokers from its competitor United Wholesale Mortgage even if it means covering legal costs to bring them over.  “Starting today, we stand behind brokers who want to use Rocket or Fairway [Independent Mortgage Corporation], but fear Mat Ishbia’s lawyers,” Mike Fawaz, EVP of […]

Home lender PrimeLending has promoted Kim Dybvad to lead its Mid-America division, months after the workforce quit en masse and joined a competitor. Dybvad, who joined the company in 2013 and is now a vice president, will be responsible for loan origination production in the Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Kentucky markets. “Kim exhibits […]

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to remove the addition of a debt-to-income loan level pricing adjustment (LLPA) in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac‘s pricing framework. In January, the FHFA made a series of changes to LLPA fees with a revamped LLPA matrix that differentiates pricing by loan purpose, […]

Despite mortgage rates briefly falling below the 6% threshold, both housing inventory and mortgage demand fell last week. Let’s dive into the trend lines of the housing market. First, here is a quick housing market rundown from last week: Purchase application data was negative 10% week to week — but still positive for the year […]

America’s $13.3 trillion mortgage servicing sector shouldn’t be “disrupted” by financial technology, it should be reimagined with fintech. Most new-to-mortgage fintech folks who overuse the word “disruptor” will start by asking, “What are your requirements?” but that’s the wrong question. The right questions — asked by the right servicing fintech experts — clarify how to […]

Home prices growth and mortgage rates have come down from the peaks in 2022, but affordability still remains a challenge. In turn, borrowers who are entering the market are leaning heavily toward buying down their first lien interest rates by paying points up front.  In the third week of January, 57% of all borrowers who […]

A federal judge in Illinois ruled in favor of Townstone Financial Inc. and its owner, Barry Sturner, on a motion to dismiss with prejudice a redlining lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  In July 2020, the CFPB filed a lawsuit accusing the nonbank retail lender of discouraging prospective African American borrowers in […]

The past few years in the housing industry have been nothing short of unprecedented. In 2020 and 2021, many homeowners refinanced, locking in historically low 30-year fixed rate mortgages. And now, with the impact of inflation and looming economic uncertainty, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are an increasingly popular choice for those who are […]

Mortgage lender and digital financial services company Guaranteed Rate hopes to court builders and borrowers with its newly launched programs — Lock ‘N’ Sell rate lock program and forward commitments – by helping the borrowers secure lower mortgage rates. The rate lock program allows builders to lock in a current rate for up to 120 […]

This article is part of our 2022 – 2023 Housing Market Update series. After the series wraps, join us on February 6 for the HW+ Virtual 2023 Housing Market Update. Bringing together some of the top economists and researchers in housing, the event will provide an in-depth look at the data for this year, along with a roundtable […]

San Antonio, Texas-headquartered USAA eliminated 130 positions in the real estate lending group amid projections that the mortgage industry will shrink in 2023. The layoffs at USAA Federal Savings Bank represent about 1.6% of the total bank workforce, Bradley Russell, USAA’s corporate spokesperson, confirmed.  “In order to continue exceptional service to our members, we sometimes […]

The California-based Pennymac Financial Services executives rightsized the company and invested in its servicing portfolio amid a shrinking market in 2022. Despite their efforts, profits still dropped to $475.5 million last year, down from $1 billion in 2021, the company reported on Thursday. In Q4 2022, the net income came in at $37.6 million, declining […]