The nation’s housing industry has entered a new normal in which the dynamics of the market appear perplexing — marked by high interest rates and high home prices, along with shrinking mortgage originations. The perplexing part: Why are home prices not declining in this environment? It boils down to two factors, according to housing-industry experts: […]
Apprasial management company Valligent, which was recently acquired by enterprise risk management and collateral valuation services provider VerosTM, announced today that it has integrated with the ICE Mortgage Technology platform Encompass. The Encompass platform by Ice Mortgage Technology offers innovative solutions for the mortgage industry and provides seamless integration capabilities and a marketplace for various […]
As rates for most loan types increased, mortgage applications fell to their lowest level in a month last week. For the week that ended June 30, mortgage applications fell 4.4% from the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. “As mortgage-Treasury spreads remained wide, the 30-year fixed rate increased to 6.85%, the […]
Apartheid ended in South Africa three decades ago, but Black people still struggle to enter luxury sports like hot air ballooning. Komane Harold Tjiane, 44, is in the process of breaking through that ceiling, training to become the country’s first black hot air balloon pilot. Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg. Camera: Zaheer Cassim details ⇒ […]
Now-defunct lender Homepoint is suing seven correspondent mortgage lenders, claiming they breached an agreement by either failing to cure the loan defects or repurchase the loan as required under the terms of the correspondent agreement. Homepoint was forced to repurchase 10 separate loans that didn’t conform to the GSE guidelines for delinquencies and misrepresentations from […]
HousingWire Annual is strategically placed in October to bring the greatest minds in housing together. At HW Annual, they will be mapping out their playbooks for the future. The event serves as a starting line for conquering next year. With less than 100 days left until these leaders meet in Austin, Texas at the Hyatt […]
UNESCO says in the first year of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the cost of the damage to Ukraine’s tourism and culture sectors reached more than $2.5 billion. From Warsaw, Lesia Bakalets reports on efforts to preserve art treasures and exhibit them abroad. Camera: Daniil Batushchak. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) sent a letter to U.S. Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.) this week that applauds the introduction of a bill to ban mortgage trigger leads outside of certain situations. The bill, House Resolution (H.R.) 4198, the “Protecting Consumers from Abusive Mortgage Leads Act,” would prohibit trigger leads for mortgages unless […]
Two environmental activists were arrested at Wimbledon on Wednesday after getting on court and disrupting a match by scattering orange confetti and puzzle pieces on the grass. A woman and a man wearing T-shirts from Just Stop Oil — a protest group that wants the British government to stop new oil, gas and coal projects […]
Wells Fargo has been sued in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas by a group of current and former staffers from the company’s bilingual mortgage sales team alleging race-based discrimination. This is according to original reporting by Bloomberg and court documents reviewed by HousingWire. “Wells Fargo forces its employees on the Bilingual […]
The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals and organizations that have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s 2023 HW Vanguards are open until July 28, 2023. Click here to nominate someone from your organization today. The 2023 HW Vanguard awards are now open for nominations! This prestigious award recognizes the […]
In recent years, there have been more prominent TV shows and movies featuring Asians and Chinese Americans, with many of them targeting younger audiences. The increase in media showing Asian Americans is more than just a product of the streaming era. For summer camp director C.C. Hsu and her students, it is also a step toward more accurate representations of […]
Andy Murray said he had an emotional meeting with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who spent six years in an Iranian jail cell, after inviting her to watch him from the royal box at Wimbledon on Tuesday. British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Murray became friends after she said in an interview last year that watching the Scot win Wimbledon on […]
Founded by a former refugee, Minnesota-based company Epimonía turns material from life jackets worn by refugees into fashion accessories and other items of clothing. VOA’s Kahli Abdu has the story. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
In recent years, TV shows and movies featuring Asians, including Chinese Americans, have been on the rise, with many of them aimed at younger audiences. Students at a Taiwanese School summer camp in Washington share their thoughts on this trend. Elizabeth Lee and Graham Kanwit report. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this […]
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — When Victoria Azarenka walked into Court 15 Monday morning for her first Wimbledon match in two years, she was greeted by polite clapping. When the two-time Grand Slam champion from Belarus finished off a three-set victory more than 2½ hours later, Azarenka shook her racket with her right hand and pumped her […]
PrimeLending, a Texas-based retail mortgage bank, aims to expand its market share by growing within its existing footprint in a margin-thinning environment. The lender brought on 100 loan officers in June, bringing the total number of LOs to about 800. Licensed in 23 states across the country, PrimeLending has 150 branches including satellite and primary […]
HANOI, July 3 (Reuters) – Vietnam has banned Warner Bros’ highly anticipated film “Barbie” from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas […]
Indiana Jones, and executives at the Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm, made a somewhat dispiriting discovery this weekend. Moviegoers didn’t rush to the theater in significant numbers to see “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and say goodbye to Harrison Ford as the iconic archaeologist. The film, reportedly budgeted north of $250 million, came […]
SYDNEY — China rallied to claim its first women’s basketball Asia Cup title since 2012 as it beat five-time defending champion Japan 73-71 in an epic final on Sunday. Trailing at halftime it appeared China may fall for a third consecutive time in a title game as reigning champion Japan scored the last 14 points […]
Housing inventory finally broke under 2022 levels last week. To give you an idea how different this year is from last year, last week in 2022, active listings grew 30,940 while this year they only grew 5,848. Mortgage rates rose last week after the better-than-anticipated jobless claims data but even with higher rates, we also […]
No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he’s not done yet. President Biden will not let Republican elected officials succeed in denying hardworking Americans the relief they need. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling this morning, President Biden and his Administration have already taken two steps this afternoon […]
Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Biden Administration’s one-time student debt relief plan: “Today, the Supreme Court ruled against students and families across the country. It’s an outrage that lawsuits brought on by Republican elected officials have blocked critical student debt relief that […]
FIFA revealed eight different armbands highlighting social causes that sides will be able to wear at the women’s World Cup as world football’s governing body seeks to avoid a row that erupted at last year’s men’s World Cup. Captains from a number of European countries, including England and Germany, planned to wear a “OneLove” armband […]
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2023-14 this week, which increases the threshold from $75 million to $120 million for multifamily loans to be considered large loans. This marks the first major increase to the threshold since 2014. The goal of the increase is to “enable a greater number of transactions to […]
Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. He was 89. His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on […]
Hollywood actors may be on the verge of joining screenwriters in what would be the first two-union strike in the industry in more than six decades, with huge consequences for film and television production. Here is a look at how it could play out, and why it’s happening. What’s happening with actors’ negotiations? The contract […]
Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate, a top 10 U.S. mortgage lender, acquired Sirva’s shares at Premia Relocation Mortgage and now has full ownership of the business, the companies announced on Friday. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Premia, which provides a relocation mortgage service for employees moving across the country or to other countries, has a digital platform called […]
Brena Nath, Director of HW+ & Events at HW Media Seventy…give or take a few. This is how many speaking slots we created when we crafted this year’s HousingWire Annual agenda. And, we’ve put a lot of thought into who gets to be a part of this number. From Anywhere Brands Chief Marketing Officer Amory […]
Most borrowers who had a mortgage forbearance in March 2021, including disproportionately impacted borrowers of color, were either current or closed as of March 2023. This is according to data released this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Office of Research. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic’s onset, the Coronavirus […]
DocMagic, a provider of loan document generation and eMortgage services, announced this week the integration of its Total eClose platform with Finastra‘s MortgagebotLOS solution. This integration aims to deliver an enhanced customer experience for mortgage borrowers while streamlining the closing process. “We’ve demonstrated the power of Total eClose through our integration with Finastra’s MortgagebotLOS, creating […]
Mortgage rates little changed this week as investors assessed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s latest comments on rate hikes. To sum it up: a very strong labor market remains the main driver behind the Fed’s rate setting decisions and more tightening is still to come. The Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which focuses on conventional and conforming […]
Today, the Supreme Court upended decades of precedent that enabled America’s colleges and universities to build vibrant diverse environments where students are prepared to lead and learn from one another. Although the Court’s decision threatens to move the country backwards, the Biden-Harris Administration will fight to preserve the hard-earned progress we have made to advance […]
A screenwriters’ strike in Hollywood has been going on for two months, grinding scripted TV production basically to a halt and costing California millions in losses each day. Angelina Bagdasaryan has more in this story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
loanDepot is accusing its competitor Movement Mortgage of damaging its business by hiring over 25 employees in three months and “effectively crippling” “now-depleted” branches. The poaching lawsuit, filed on June 22 at a federal district court in Delaware, states that South Carolina-based Movement recruited and hired its employees in late 2021 and early 2022 to take trade secrets […]
Members of the U.N.’s cultural agency are gathering Thursday for the start of two days of meetings in Paris that are expected to include a vote to accept the return of the United States to the organization. The United States withdrew in 2018 complaining of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement at the agency. Before leaving, the […]
Most mortgage professionals have either started to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) or are at least aware of how it can be adopted to make the loan origination process more efficient. While it will take time to fully implement AI in the mortgage industry, the most practical use of AI in the mortgage process is document […]
California-based real estate investing platform Peer Street, Inc. and 14 affiliated debtors filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in a court in Delaware on Monday, citing a challenging mortgage market and struggles to raise capital with venture capital funds. “Through its bankruptcy filing, PeerStreet will seek to sell substantially all of […]
Roughly 80% of real estate investors surveyed are selling single-family homes at or above asking price after fully renovating the properties to make them habitable, according to a report from real estate marketplace New Western. “Investor sentiment is positive right now as they haven’t let the macroeconomic environment slow them down,” said Kurt Carlton, co-founder […]
This week, Fannie Mae published a new frequently asked questions (FAQ) document related to RefiNow, the refinancing product announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in 2021 that targets low-income borrowers with single-family mortgages backed by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Fannie Mae explains in the document that RefiNow products are not limited to the […]
The easy choices have already been made: the low performers left about 16 months ago, the travel budgets have been slashed, and struggling branches have been sold to competitors or unceremoniously closed. For the mortgage industry, more often it’s about making the very hard choices these days – exiting a channel, deciding which star performer to let […]
Purchase mortgage applications increased for the third consecutive week, reaching the highest level of activity since early May, in spite of the 30-year fixed rate increasing slightly to 6.75%. For the week that ended June 23, mortgage applications climbed 3% from the prior week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Purchase applications increased […]
Actor Julian Sands, who starred in several Oscar-nominated films in the late 1980s and ’90s including “A Room with a View” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was found dead on a Southern California mountain five months after he disappeared while hiking, authorities said Tuesday. An investigation confirmed that it was Sands whose remains hikers found Saturday […]
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Middle Class Borrower Protection Act of 2023,” legislation sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) that was designed to cancel controversial changes to loan-level pricing adjustments (LLPA). The LLPA changes were announced earlier this year by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The measure — which recently […]
A portrait of an unnamed woman by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt sold for 85.3 million pounds ($108.4 million) on Tuesday, setting a record price for any work of art sold at an auction in Europe, London-based auction house Sotheby’s said. The painting, which had been given a guide price of 65 million pounds ($82.9 […]