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California-based ICE Mortgage Technology announced this week two enterprise agreements to integrate its eClose solution to Maxwell and Roostify platforms, enabling a more streamlined closing process for lenders and borrowers.   Encompass eClose will be part of the mortgage fintech Maxwell’s point-of-sale platform. Roostify, a mortgage technology provider, will integrate the solution to its digital home lending platform. Parvesh Sahi, senior vice […]

Angel Oak Mortgage Inc., a real estate investment trust focused on investing in nonqualified mortgages, announced that it recorded net income of $21.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, and $3.1 million for the final quarter of last year, on net interest income of $49.1 million and $16.6 million, respectively. The earnings performance […]

Tech-fueled retail mortgage lender InstaMortgage has merged with mortgage broker shop All Cal Financial, a rare example of a top-performing brokerage switching channels. Terms of the deal, which was announced on Tuesday, were not disclosed. As part of the merger, Jim Black, the founder of All Cal, will become chief lending officer of InstaMortgage. Black, […]

Last year, the Hispanic homeownership rate grew to 48.4% from 47.5% in 2019, but they are still much more likely than non-Hispanic whites to get denied a conventional loan. The rate of Hispanic homeownership has been inching up each year since 2014, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. But there are many obstacles to further […]

The key to winning purchase business in 2022 remains as it was in 2021, the year before that, and the year before that – building and maintaining relationships with real estate agents. But in the most competitive purchase market in years, they’ll have to scrap, leverage social media and add a personal touch. According to three […]

#2022 ” data-image-caption=” Layoffs, layoff, fired ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”700″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?w=1024″ alt=”2022 Layoff” class=”wp-image-335200″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=150,88 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=300,175 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=768,448 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=1024,597 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_layoffs.png?resize=600,350 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>Layoffs, layoff, fired Knock CEO Sean Black has a lot on his mind including “the difficult decision to part ways with many of our beloved […]

#2022 ” data-image-caption=” Judge, judicial, court, regulation, Supreme Court, HUD, FHFA, ruling, fair housing ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”700″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?w=1024″ alt=”Regulation” class=”wp-image-335106″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?resize=150,88 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?resize=300,175 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?resize=768,448 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?resize=1024,597 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/newsroom-template_judicial.png?resize=600,350 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>Judge, judicial, court, regulation, Supreme Court, HUD, FHFA, ruling, fair housing A recent judge’s ruling in pending litigation […]

NAHREP co-Founder and CEO Gary Acosta Over the next two decades, housing finance experts predict Hispanic homeowners will make up 70% of all new homeowners. That figure explains at least some of the palpable optimism among attendees of the policy summit the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals hosted this week in Washington, D.C. […]

To mortgage lenders, adoption has been the constant, insurmountable challenge keeping the industry from realizing the benefits of technological advances. Why embrace the new when the folks in the back office were doing just fine with the tried-and-true tools — even if these tools were pen and paper? It’s no wonder that lenders as a […]

Guild Mortgage CEO Mary Ann McGarry The parent company of California-based Guild Mortgage reported on Monday it has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting, according to its annual 10K document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The nonbank lender said it did not have sufficient staff with the experience to design and […]

Walmart photo credit: wolterke – stock.adobe.com Lenders One Cooperative and Walmart want mortgages in your shopping cart.  On Monday, the cooperative announced that it has struck a deal to lease space in Walmart stores to sell purchase mortgages, refinances, and home equity loans. Lenders One did not disclose the financial terms of the contract. This […]

Despite significant market volatility, nonbank lender Impac Mortgage Holdings appears to be long on non-QM. The California-based company reported non-QM originations of $382.1 million in the fourth quarter, roughly double that of the third quarter, and positioned the company for an annualized run rate of approximately $1.5 billion. In total, Impac originated nearly $700 million […]

As lender concerns about margin compression rise, why aren’t we seeking to better understand our mortgage application fallout rates to increase revenue? For mortgage originators of all sizes, “fallout” is a word that induces headaches and nausea at roughly the same level as terms like “repurchase demand” or “regulatory audit.” We don’t often talk about […]

Each fall, trendsetters at Pantone decide on the next year’s “color of the year,” which they feel will define and influence the upcoming year. Whether the “color of the year” is a self-fulfilling prophecy or the trendsetters really are that on trend is currently unknown. Similarly, the mortgage industry has no shortage of trend predictions […]

California-based Guild Mortgage can be added to the growing list of lenders with waning profitability. But Guild’s executives believe the retail lender is well positioned to succeed in a lower-volume environment, whether it’s organically or through acquisitions. The nonbank mortgage lender increased its total originations in 2021, despite a reduction in the fourth quarter. But margins under […]

How much does a typical low-income first-time homebuyer with a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage bring to the closing table? According to Fannie Mae, in a working paper entitled “Mortgage costs as a share of housing costs—placing the cost of credit in broader context,” the average low-income, first-time homebuyer has about $28,000 for a down payment. The […]

On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the same trend that all Americans have seen lately: the inflation rate of growth is rampant and doesn’t show any sign of easing up due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers “increased 0.8 percent in February on a seasonally […]

Nonbank heavyweight loanDepot announced on Thursday an operational restructuring with the creation of a new business division called mello, under the leadership of the digital technology veteran Zeenat Sidi.  The California-based lender plans to use mello to boost the development of innovative products and services in a market that has gotten ultra-competitive, with power buyers, real estate […]

Lakeview Loan Servicing, one of the nation’s largest issuers of Ginnie Mae securities, is making a play in the private-label securities market by sponsoring an offering backed by a pool of 2,192 Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed mortgages valued at $423.6 million.  The offering, via a conduit called Lakeview Trust 2022-EBO1, is a rare transaction involving mostly […]

Following two weeks of declines, mortgage rates rose this week, reflecting the volatility of the U.S. economy brought by inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The average 30-year-fixed rate mortgage increased to 3.85% for the week ending March 10, up from 3.76% in the previous week, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS Mortgage Survey. A year […]

Incenter is adding a third-party due diligence review firm to its umbrella of companies. Edgemac, which Incenter acquired at the end of last year, does due diligencing for mostly non-QM and jumbo loans, as well as private label reverse mortgages that could eventually be securitized. The firm, founded in 2008, also provides document management services […]

Mortgage servicing software provider Sagent announced on Wednesday that it has extended its software partnership with Freedom Mortgage for another five years, the latest in a string of deals it has struck with some of America’s largest mortgage servicers. Freedom, the largest FHA and VA lender in America, will continue to use Sagent’s cloud-based technologies, […]

Fathom Holdings Inc., the M&A-hungry parent of cloud-based real estate brokerage Fathom Realty, achieved supercharged growth in 2021. But it still has a bit of work to do to turn a profit, not that executives seem to be in a rush. In its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, the company revealed a $12.5 million GAAP […]

Mortgage applications jumped 8.5% for the week ending March 4, as mortgage rates dropped for the first time in three months as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported on Wednesday. Borrowers’ demand for mortgages increased across the board. The MBA‘s seasonally adjusted refi index rose 8.5% from the […]

Pink slips will arrive for 3,000 employees of Better.com, the mortgage lender that received a mountain of bad press three months ago when its CEO, Vishal Garg, fired 900 workers via Zoom and chastised their work ethic to remaining employees.  The new round of layoffs reaches 35% of Better.com’s staff and hits workers in the […]

Lenders One Cooperative announced on Monday that it has struck a deal to lease retail space in Walmart stores to sell mortgage products and services. The cooperative inked a deal for space at three Walmart locations, but said there are “many more opportunities to come.” Lenders One will be selling purchase, refinance and home equity products […]

Illinois-based title insurance underwriter Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund (ATG) has entered into an agreement to merge with mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate. ATG president and CEO Peter Birnbaum announced the plans for the merger in early January in an email to ATG agents and shareholders. The transaction is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, but […]

Illinois-based title insurance underwriter Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund (ATG) has entered into an agreement to merge with mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate. ATG president and CEO Peter Birnbaum announced the plans for the merger in early January in an email to ATG agents and shareholders. The transaction is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, but […]

California-based nonbank lender Carrington Mortgage Services has invested in boosting the growth of its wholesale channel, with the latest announcements including a new loan processing technology and plans to increase the sales team. The attention to broker shops comes at a moment in the mortgage industry when the retail channel is losing origination volume, particularly […]

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the United States Of America created 678,000 jobs in February. We also had 92,000 in positive revisions, and this report was a beat of estimates coming off a strong January report as well. The U.S unemployment rate stands at 3.8%, and we are getting closer and closer to […]

Last week, mortgage investment firm Ellington Financial (NYSE: EFC) announced that it had reached a deal to acquireleading reverse mortgage lender Longbridge Financial, in a deal valued at roughly $75 million for a 49.6% stake. Since EFC had already maintained a stake in Longbridge, the deal will basically serve to close the remaining gap in ownership […]

Fannie Mae this week completed its first credit insurance risk transfer (CIRT) deal of the year as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to share mortgage risk with the private sector.  The deal transferred millions of dollars of credit risk to a group of 22 private insurers and reinsurers. That credit risk is tied to […]

Over the past few years, digital transformation has increasingly changed the way property and real estate transactions occur. A vertical which has seen a strong digital push is mortgages, with consumers, lenders and other agents increasingly using online tools and services to apply for and process home sales. Nora Apsel, Morty co-founder and CEO One […]

MSR ” data-image-caption=”” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”778″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?w=1024″ alt=”HW+ money house balance” class=”wp-image-330483″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?resize=150,97 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?resize=300,195 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?resize=768,498 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?resize=1024,664 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/HW-money-house-balance.png?resize=600,389 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”> Despite the global turmoil sparked by Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine and the volatility in interest rates that has followed, the mortgage servicing rights (MSR) market […]

As all participants in the mortgage industry know, securitization is a critical tool for making loans to homeowners at affordable rates. The process of bundling loans and separating risks makes available fixed-rate mortgages that are fully prepayable at borrowing costs well below other forms of debt. To say that securitization is critical to American homeownership […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is giving borrowers impacted by the pandemic an additional fifteen months to get loan payment relief. The new deadline for home retention options is now July 1, 2023, according to a circular published by the department on Monday. The options were initially set to expire April 1, 2022. The reason […]

The average 30-year-fixed rate mortgage declined to 3.76% for the week ending March 3, down from 3.89% in the previous week, amid the geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS Mortgage Survey. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.02%. The PMMS report is focused on conventional, conforming, […]

Despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Federal Reserve Chair Pro Tempore Jerome Powell plans to raise rates by 25 basis points this month. The first rate increase is expected in a little less than two weeks, coinciding with the March Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, scheduled for March 15 and 16. President Joe Biden also […]

It’s official: the mortgage industry has entered a purchase era, with refinance applications declining below 50% of the mix for the first time since June 2019, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported on Wednesday. Mortgage applications decreased 0.7% for the week ending Feb. 25, as mortgage rates reached 4.15%. Compared to the same week one […]

In January I received a text message from Dave Savage, CEO of Mortgage Coach. “Hey Clayton …” and a link. News just broke that private equity investor LLR Partners announced strategic investments in two mortgage technology companies — Mortgage Coach and Sales Boomerang (click here for article). LLR is not a newcomer to mortgage technology […]

Despite a 1.6% drop in U.S.-based agent count and a net loss of $15.6 million in 2021, RE/MAX Holding Inc., executives were positive about the Denver-based franchisor’s performance during the firm’s fourth quarter earnings call with investors on Thursday, thanks to RE/MAX’s organic revenue growth. During 2021, RE/MAX generated $329.7 million in total revenue, up […]

UWM’s headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan. ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?w=1024″ width=”1200″ height=”737″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?w=1024″ alt=”HW-UWM” class=”wp-image-324074″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?resize=150,92 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?resize=300,184 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?resize=768,472 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?resize=1024,629 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-UWM.png?resize=600,369 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>UWM’s headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan. United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the nation’s largest wholesale lender, posted another record for production in 2021, but lower margins and declines in fair […]

California-based mortgage lender WinnPointe Corporation, doing business as Interactive Mortgage, has started a reduction in its workforce of around 180 employees, after suffering more than $1 million dollars in losses.   The company announced that, in the last 12 months, it laid off 128 employees, including underwriters, loan officers, processors, administrative and funders. However, pink slips […]

Nonbank mortgage lender and servicer Ocwen Financial Corporation improved its performance in 2021, despite a deterioration in its earnings during the last three months of the year. The company reported on Friday a $18 million profit in 2021. Ocwen posted a net loss of $40 million in 2020. For the full year, the company’s servicing portfolio grew […]

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced on Thursday the launch of a new portal for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Single Family Mortgage Asset Recovery Technology (SMART) system. The streamlined SMART portal allows borrowers and servicers to request payoff amounts in real time for FHA partial claims or subordination checklists, which are used […]