AI is shifting negotiating power from lenders to borrowers at scale. The institutions that restructure their workflows and tools to meet that reality will grow. The ones that don’t will feel it in pull-through rates before they understand why. For most of mortgage’s recent history, information asymmetry was a structural advantage. Most borrowers didn’t know […]
“Local community developers buying at auction expect a slow-motion housing correction to continue in 2026,” Jason Allnutt, CEO of Auction.com, said in a statement. “The silver lining is they are also reporting improved affordability in an increasing number of local markets.” Affordability improves, but buyers still see more downside Despite the bearish outlook, only 36% […]
Mortgage rates have soared in the past month, but market participants appeared to take a wait-and-see approach this week as they contemplate further price increases for home loans. On Monday, Mortgage News Daily reported that 30-year fixed rates averaged 6.43%, down 4 basis points in the past week. MND rates are based on best-execution pricing […]
First American Title Insurance Co. and First American Mortgage Solutions LLC have filed a federal lawsuit against Novad Management Consulting LLC, alleging breach of contract and seeking to secure more than $1.6 million in disputed payments tied to reverse mortgage services. The complaint, filed March 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of […]
At Rocket Pro‘s Ignite 26 event in February, the company told its business partners that it would have a “Power Play” announcement on the first Tuesday of every month. The company is following through with that promise by announcing several incentives with the purpose of “tripling down” on purchase lending. Following a February announcement of […]
Mike Detwiler is returning to the company he co-founded more than two decades ago, stepping back in as CEO of Mortgage Cadence with a focus on reshaping mortgage origination through artificial intelligence and modern technology. Mortgage Cadence announced Detwiler’s return Tuesday and he joined HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins on this episode of the Power House podcast […]
For decades, mortgage underwriting has followed the same basic structure: verify income, review credit, apply ratios, and make a decision. The tools have improved. The thinking largely hasn’t. Automated systems like Desktop Underwriter and Loan Product Advisor can process loans faster than ever. But they still rely on a core assumption: if income can be […]
Americasa, a division of Nationwide Mortgage Bankers (NMB), has promoted Yasser Valdes Herrera to president. Since December 2023, he has been based in Miami and has served as vice president of Americasa, a Spanish-language mortgage platform helping the Hispanic community achieve homeownership. “Yasser has such an incredible drive and understands that our business is rooted […]
Click n’ Close announced its appointment of Delores Lopez as chief operating officer, effective Monday. In this role, Lopez will lead operations, drive scalable growth initiatives and implement operational strategy across the organization — reporting to company President Ian Kimball. “I’m pleased to welcome Delores to Click n’ Close,” said Kimball. “Her deep operational expertise […]
Redding, California-based Reverse Focus announced April 3 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Apiro Marketing as it looks to expand beyond reverse mortgages and deepen its marketing and content offerings for the broader U.S. mortgage industry. Reverse Focus operates a marketing software platform for reverse mortgage originators, and it publishes industry […]
Mortgage delinquency rates are increasing modestly from historic low points as declining cure rates push more borrowers into serious distress, even as affordability has improved on a year-over-year basis, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s April 2026 Mortgage Monitor. The report, which draws on ICE’s McDash loan-level database and home price index, shows the national delinquency […]
Tradeweb is looking to expand its footprint into the residential private credit sector. But it didn’t have to build from scratch since it found a partner: Maxex. Tradeweb, an operator of electronic trading platforms, moves over $3 trillion a day across the fixed-income landscape and commands roughly 80% of the agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market. […]
Elly Johnson has spent than 40 years in the mortgage industry, with the bulk of that time centered on reverse mortgages. That level of experience gives her the unique ability to train others on various aspects of the federal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and a growing array of proprietary loan products. Johnson, who’s based […]
Though I’ve never taken a marketing class, I remember fellow students quoting the famous Philip Kotler, who said that marketing is “the creation of demand.” Simplistic to be sure, but a useful shorthand for that many-splendored thing that many of us do for a living. We market to create demand, which enables us to sell […]
Better.com says that its new integration with ChatGPT is more than a flashy plugin. According to CEO Vishal Garg, it’s a tool that could shift how mortgage technology is distributed and adopted across the industry. In early March, Better announced the conversational credit decision engine that allows lenders to run underwriting through ChatGPT using its […]
PartnerOne has completed its acquisition of Mortgage Cadence, adding another long-standing mortgage technology platform to the portfolio of the global enterprise software group, the company announced Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction was previously announced as an agreement with Accenture to sell Mortgage Cadence, which provides a cloud-based digital lending platform […]
Lower has launched Movoto Advantage, a limited-access, subscription-based program that connects high-performing solo real estate agents with motivated home buyers and sellers through real-time live transfers, the company announced Thursday. The program, which Lower began rolling out in late 2025, operates within Lower’s Movoto real estate marketplace and has enrolled about 200 agents to date. […]
Finance of America (FOA) on Thursday introduced HomeSafe Second Line of Credit, a second-lien reverse mortgage line of credit now available in California that lets homeowners 55 and older tap home equity over time without refinancing or taking on a new required monthly mortgage payment. The product, which became available April 1, is designed to […]
Frost Bank previously announced in 2023 that it was reentering the mortgage business after a multiyear buildup that included system development and pilot programs. Now, reporting from Dallas news outlet WFAA says that the Texas-based bank is coming back swinging with a new program for borrowers who have been priced out of the housing market. […]
Mortgage lenders are increasingly formalizing or expanding their homebuilder divisions as they look to capture a larger share of the purchase lending pie, even as broader housing activity remains uneven. CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM) launched a dedicated builder division in March, positioning it as a way to deepen relationships with homebuilders while gearing products for new-home […]
The HousingWire Mortgage Rankings launched this week to give the housing industry a standardized, transaction-based view of origination activity across the country. The rankings are powered by InGenius data and they’re built on recorded mortgage transactions, not submissions or self-reported numbers. That matters because most industry “top producer” lists are based on submissions, self-reported volume […]
When UWM Holdings Corp. lost its bid last week to acquire Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO), upstaged by an offer from rival CrossCountry Intermediate HoldCo, analysts were not entirely surprised. “It was such a wild turn of events,” said Eric Hagen, an analyst at BTIG. “But we were not surprised that it broke up.” The […]
Detroit-based Rocket Companies this week moved to dismiss a lawsuit alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), arguing that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury, relied on claims beyond the one-year statute of limitations and did not sufficiently plead unjust enrichment. The class-action suit, filed in late January, alleges that homebuyers who began […]
Dark Matter Technologies has launched Ask Aiva, a conversational AI-powered assistant embedded in its Empower loan origination system (LOS). The technology lets mortgage lenders query their origination environment in plain language and receive instant answers that can be traced to trusted sources, the company announced recently. Available now to Empower clients and debuting at Dark […]
REVERSE plus announced Tuesday that it has integrated proprietary reverse mortgage programs from Smartfi Home Loans into its ANALYZER Pro platform, giving loan officers and brokers the ability to model both proprietary and federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) scenarios in a single system. REVERSE plus, a software-as-a-service provider of reverse mortgage scenario modeling […]
Opendoor has agreed to acquire the closing and escrow operations of Doma Holdings, a move that would extend the iBuyer’s reach into refinance closings and deeper into title automation, the companies announced on Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is paired with a three-way […]
The cost of credit scores used in mortgage lending has climbed sharply in recent years, with lenders now paying an average of more than $500 per loan, according to a new analysis from the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA). The report, released Tuesday as an update to the group’s 2024 white paper on mortgage […]
Mortgage applications decreased 10.4% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending March 27. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 10% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 17% from the previous week and was 33% higher than the […]
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a rule that would make it easier for retirement plan sponsors to include alternative investments — such as private equity, private credit, real estate and cryptocurrency — in workers’ 401(k) plans while reducing regulatory burdens and the threat of lawsuits. The rule aims to carry out goals that […]
Mortgage rates continued to rise this week, placing more strain on a 2026 spring housing market that was expected to be robust but is now fighting an uphill battle against a slowing economy. Mortgage News Daily reported Monday that 30-year fixed rates averaged 6.55%. That was up 6 basis points from a week earlier but […]
A new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), MBA’s 501(c)(3) trust fund that supports independent research on housing finance and policy, found that while pandemic-era forbearance helped most borrowers avoid foreclosure, the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) became a critical backstop for more vulnerable homeowners who needed help […]
HousingWire on Tuesday announced the launch of the HousingWire Mortgage Rankings, a new performance intelligence product designed to provide a clear, data-driven view of mortgage origination activity across the U.S. The rankings benchmark mortgage originators based on observed production, offering a standardized view of performance across geographies, loan types and channels. Historically, the mortgage industry […]
Policy uncertainty is pushing older Americans to delay retirement, shift to conservative investments and boost their emergency savings, according to a new survey. The findings published last week by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College show 21% of respondents who’ve yet to retire are postponing retirement while 33% are moving to safer portfolios. […]
Citywide Home Mortgage, an affiliate of top-10 U.S. mortgage lender Rate, has promoted Robert Coomer to chief growth officer, tasking the veteran executive with accelerating the lender’s national expansion and branch partnership model. Coomer joined Citywide in April 2024 as executive vice president and director of sales strategy and growth, according to a company press […]
Financial services firm Argyle has integrated its direct-source income, employment and asset verification tools into Vesta’s loan origination system, the companies announced Monday. The move aims to give mortgage lenders embedded access to real-time payroll and banking data inside the LOS. The integration allows lenders using Vesta to order, view and refresh Argyle verifications from […]
California-based mortgage lender loanDepot has partnered with Betenbough Companies to launch Olive Branch Home Loans, a new mortgage company that will serve homebuyers across West Texas, the companies announced Monday. The strategic partnership is the first to launch under loanDepot’s expanded partnership channel, which is designed to give homebuilders and their affiliates a white-label or […]
Shain Urwin sees a more balanced relationship emerging between reverse mortgage lenders and brokers under new industry agreements — but he says they’re not enough to solve a deeper structural problem. In recent years, lenders like Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Longbridge Financial have launched programs designed to protect the loan pipelines of broker partners, […]
Lenders have made meaningful progress in modernizing the closing process. eSignatures, hybrid eClosings, and remote online notarization have reduced friction at the signing table and improved the borrower experience where it is most visible. That focus has paid off; digital closings move faster, require fewer manual corrections, and are easier to manage at scale than […]
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a bill into effect earlier this week that bans noncompete agreements across the state. The move marks a significant shift in employment law that will take effect on June 30, 2027. The measure prohibits contracts that restrict workers from joining or starting competing businesses after leaving a job. Noncompete agreements […]
A Florida appeals court has ruled that funds available but not yet withdrawn from a reverse mortgage line of credit are protected under the state’s homestead exemption and cannot be garnished. The March 25 decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal found that a creditor could not force a homeowner to access unused funds […]
NEXA Lending announced Friday that it’s developing a new initiative aimed at allowing loan originators to participate in recurring income tied to the long-term performance of the loans they originate. The initiative, described as a “servicing-aligned income model,” is expected to begin rolling out as early as July 2026, the company said. The program centers […]
Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO) has terminated its merger agreement with UWM Holdings Corp. and instead agreed to be acquired by rival CrossCountry Intermediate HoldCo in an all-cash deal valued at $10.80 per share. It remains unclear whether UWM will challenge the merger in court. The revised offer from CrossCountry values the company at approximately […]
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte is again targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, this time filing criminal referrals with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over alleged insurance fraud. The referrals were sent to two U.S. attorneys — Jason Reding Quinones of the Southern District of Florida and Andrew Boutros of […]
With the Social Security trust fund less than seven years from insolvency — at which point a 24% across-the-board benefit cut could be triggered — a new proposal suggests capping annual payouts for the nation’s wealthiest retirees. A white paper released by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget advocates for a “six-figure limit” that […]
Homebuyer affordability improved modestly in February as the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants fell to $2,061, down from $2,070 in January, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI). PAPI tracks how new monthly mortgage payments change over time relative to income, using data from MBA’s weekly applications […]