Investment firm Pretium has acquired the leading fix-and-flip lender Anchor Loans LP from affiliates of Wafra Capital Partners Inc. and other owners. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. California-based Anchor Loans, founded in 1998, provides capital for professional residential real-estate investors through bridge and construction products. To date, it has originated more than […]
In 2013, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) began requiring borrowers to pay the Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) for the life of an FHA loan. This change triggered controversy. People have equated FHA insurance to that of private mortgage insurance used by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), which is not life-of-loan. Understanding the difference between FHA and […]
Powerhouse lender/servicer New Residential Investment Corp. had an impressive third quarter, with reported earnings of $177.5 million from July to September, up 136% quarter-over-quarter. According to NRIC’s third quarter earnings released on Tuesday, the growth was spurred mainly by the REITs acquisition of mortgage lender Caliber Home Loans in August. The acquisition of Caliber cost […]
New York State on Monday approved the extension of the state Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to non-depository lenders, a controversial rule that has received criticism as “unnecessary” and “discouraging” from the mortgage industry. Gov. Kathy Hochul approved the bill – S.5246-A/A.6247-A – 10 days after being delivered by the New York State Senate. According to the […]
Forbearance declined at a steady pace across the board last week, with many borrowers having already reached the end of their 18-month period provided by the CARES Act. The total number of loans in forbearance decreased by six basis points to 2.15% as of Oct. 24, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers […]
Anthony Hsieh, founder and CEO of loandepot ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=1024″ loading=”lazy” width=”3990″ height=”2390″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=1024″ alt=”Anthony Hsieh” class=”wp-image-322982″>Anthony Hsieh, founder and CEO of loandepot Nonbank heavyweight loanDepot reported strong results in the third quarter of 2021, with the lender growing its market share to 3.5%. Anthony Hsieh, founder and CEO of loanDepot, said that the results […]
Roughly seven months after it was established, the $10 billion federal Homeowner Assistance Fund is expected to begin approving state plans in the coming weeks. But many homeowners won’t receive checks until 2022. A component of the American Rescue Plan Act, the assistance fund was approved by Congress in March and allocates $10 billion to […]
The resurgence of alternative home equity tapping companies in the past few years has been of interest to the reverse mortgage industry due to the potential that business has to compete for seniors’ business. Whether discussing arrangements like sale leasebacks or shared equity investments, such products could serve as an alternative to a debt-based option […]
This week’s HW+ spotlight features Mark Jones, co-founder and CEO at Amerifirst Home Mortgage. Jones was also recently installed as vice chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association for the 2022 membership year. Launching the company as an independent community lender in 1983, Jones has grown Amerifirst Home Mortgage to more than 80 full-service locations and 900 […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both saw net earnings trend down in the third quarter as interest rates rose and industry loan production waned. In its earnings call on Friday, Fannie Mae reported net earnings of $4.84 billion, a 32% decline from the prior quarter. Freddie Mac meanwhile earned $2.9 billion, a 21% fall from […]
This post originally appeared in HousingWire’s LendingLife newsletter. LendingLife is a daily digest of the most important news and commentary edited and curated exclusively for mortgage loan originators. Join the community! Hello, LOs! How would you like to be questioned by Congress on Day 13 of your new job? That’s what happened to Consumer Financial Protection […]
We have recently seen a major shift in the focus of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their regulator, FHFA. Just a few years ago, we were talking about shrinking the GSEs’ footprint, giving GSE charters to vertically integrated Wall Street banks, and giving these same Wall Street banks access to the GSEs’ Common Securitization Platform, […]
The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate continues to trend upwards, rising by five basis points to 3.14% for the week ending Oct. 28, according to Freddie Mac’s latest PMMS survey. Rates have risen roughly 20 basis points over the past month, and market observers believe that rise will continue. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in […]
The pandemic, stellar vacation-home sales and regulatory turbulence combined in 2021 to spark a boom in private-label securitizations backed by mortgages on second homes and investment properties. A total of 37 such deals were completed through October of this year involving more than 51,000 mortgages on properties that were not a primary residence (in other […]
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a consent order against Cenlar FSB, the nation’s second-largest mortgage servicer, over “unsafe or unsound practices,” the regulator said this week. The consent order states that New Jersey-based Cenlar cannot take on new subservicing clients without explicit approval from the OCC. Cenlar internal controls […]
Mortgage applications increased 0.3% from last week, per the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending Oct. 22, 2021. With two consecutive weeks of mortgage rates over 3%, refinances continued to retreat. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 62.2% of total applications, down from 63.3% the week prior. The […]
Leading reverse mortgage lender Finance of America Reverse (FAR) has lowered the minimum qualifying age for its “HomeSafe” suite of proprietary reverse mortgage products to 55 in the majority of the states in which the suite is available, Reverse Mortgage Daily has learned. This makes FAR the second major reverse mortgage lender in the nation […]
Seven months after a $16 million Series B round, digital mortgage platform Maxwell has raised $52.5 million in additional funding, the company said on Tuesday. The latest round was led by Fin VC, the venture capital firm that also led the Series B capital raise. Existing investors TTV Capital, Prudence, and Rotor Capital participated in […]
Bill Borden, corporate vice president of worldwide financial services at Microsoft Tech giant Microsoft plans to launch a new cloud-computing offering targeting the financial-services market on Nov. 1 as part of an effort to further bolster its fast-expanding cloud business. The secondary market may want to take note. The Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services has […]
This is part two of a two-part series on joint ventures in the housing industry. To read the first part of this series, go here. On a sunny, serene fall afternoon, the Chicago neighborhood of Ravenswood featured quiet socializing on outdoor brewery patios, cyclists of all ages, and, hidden alongside the elevated train tracks, the […]
Servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume declined at a reduced pace this week, as mortgage holders continue to exit COVID-19 plans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The total number of loans in forbearance decreased by seven basis points to 2.21% as of Oct. 17. In the previous week, the rate dropped 34 basis points […]
New York State is close to approving a controversial bill that expands the requirements of the state community reinvestment act (CRA) to non-depository lenders, following the lead of Massachusetts and Illinois. The CRA rule, enacted in 1977, mandates that banks help meet the credit needs of communities in which they take deposits, specifically in low- […]
The excited and at times nervous first-time homebuyers that James Dunn often represents ask him how that whole process of taking out a mortgage works, and Dunn, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent with eXp, replies with a few trusted names. “There are probably three or four people that I work with,” Dunn said. “Anyone […]
In the face of a serious housing shortage, exceptional service from brokers is more important than ever. With forced bidding becoming the new norm, top brokers understand the importance of providing loan pricing with speed and certainty. Purchase originations demand more of brokers’ resources than a refinance. There are many more moving pieces and loan […]
This week’s HW+ spotlight features Karen Mayfield, head of National Retail Sales at Wyndham Capital Mortgage. In her role, Mayfield is tasked with expanding on the company’s digital roots into the retail mortgage environment. With more than two decades in the industry, Mayfield most recently served as a division lending executive at Citi, where she oversaw up […]
Austin-based mortgage tech platform UpEquity raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by the venture capital firm S3 Ventures. The funding will support the company’s growth as UpEquity forecasts more than $1 billion in originations over the next 12 months. The funding consists of $20 million in equity and $30 million in […]
Twenty affordable housing groups teamed up to tell the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) its requirements for the government sponsored enterprises to support manufactured and rural housing, and preserve affordable housing don’t make the grade. The coalition, dubbed the “Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition,” includes the Center for Community Progress, the National Housing Conference, the National […]
An offering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights (MSR) linked to a loan pool valued at nearly $2.2 billion is now being marketed by the Prestwick Mortgage Group on behalf of an undisclosed independent mortgage banker, according to a bid document obtained by HousingWire. The offering is yet another sign that the […]
The average 30-year-fixed rate mortgage climbed to 3.09% during the week ending Oct. 21, rising from 3.05% the week prior, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS Mortgage Survey. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.80%. Most economists believe they’ll continue to climb. “Mortgage rates continued to rise this week due to the […]
The nation’s network of Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) expects to be required to increase its share of investments in affordable housing. The push will come from the Congress, where the COVID-19 pandemic rekindled discussions about a program established in the 1990s. The Affordable Housing Program (AHP) requires that each of the 11 FHLBanks in […]
Since Rohit Chopra was confirmed as the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in September, there’s been one particular word on the lips of mortgage executives. And it gives them chills: redlining. “We are going to see a lot of emphasis on redlining: when you’re actively, intentionally separating out areas that you […]
Mortgage application activity dropped 6.3% for the week ending Oct. 15, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey. And, as you might have guessed, mortgage rates had a lot to do with it. “Refinance applications declined for the fourth week as rates increased, bringing the refinance index to its lowest level since July 2021,” […]
Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec ” data-image-caption=” Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=1024″ loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”713″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?w=1024″ alt=”HW+ Austin rocket” class=”wp-image-325834″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=150,89 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=300,178 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=768,456 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=1024,608 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HW-Austin-rocket.png?resize=600,357 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>Executive Vice President at Rocket Pro TPO Austin Niemiec […]
Purchase mortgage applications for new homes were down 16.2% in September compared to a year ago, according to Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data released on Tuesday. This is also marks a 4% decrease from the prior month. Based on data from the survey, MBA estimates that there were 66,000 new single-family […]
Forbearance declined across the board this week as government agencies and industry stakeholders chart a path out of forbearance and into loss-mitigation. The total number of loans still in forbearance was down 34 basis points from 2.62% of servicers’ portfolio volume the prior week to 2.28% the week ending Oct. 10, 2021, per the latest […]
Over the last month, two of the biggest housing regulators either changed or were rumored to change leadership. In mid-September, there were talks that the Biden administration would nominate Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending, as the new FHFA director, and at the end of September, Rohit Chopra was officially confirmed as director of […]
For this week’s HW+ member spotlight, we feature Tim Anderson, president of the eMortgage Division at Evolve Mortgage Services. Anderson has over 35 years of industry experience having worked on both the lender and vendor side of the business, and in his current role, he is responsible for developing product and corporate strategy and strategic partner […]
The Federal Reserve in September signaled that it plans to begin unwinding, or tapering, its nearly $8 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasury holdings as early as November, assuming the economy stays on track as expected. On the MBS side, which now represents about $2.5 trillion in securities held, observers believe the Fed […]
Economists at Fannie Mae expect an increase mortgage rates and home prices in 2022 due to higher inflation, a tightening of monetary policy, and low home inventory. Fannie Mae in its October economic forecast said it expects the 30-year fixed rate mortgage to average 3.3% in 2022, up from 3.1% the GSE projected last month. […]
VantageScore Solutions announced this week its longtime CEO Barrett Burns would step down and Silvio Tavares, a financial services and fintech veteran, will fill the role. Tavares has held senior positions at Visa and FiservFirst Data, and most recently led the Digital Commerce Alliance, a global trade association which counted Bank of America, Discover, MasterCard […]
Wells Fargo originated $51.9 billion worth of mortgages in the third quarter, down slightly from $53.2 billion in the previous quarter. The depository’s retail business made up most of its origination volume from July to September, coming in at $32.5 billion, while the correspondent channel produced $16.7 billion worth of mortgages. Despite earlier reports in […]
Young people make up a smaller share of recent homebuyers than in previous years most likely due to the increased market activity of baby boomers, a new Zillow report published on Thursday found. It’s hardly breaking news that the demand for housing has drastically increased over the past 18 months, but the report suggests that […]
United Wholesale Mortgage is testing the waters with cryptocurrency, announcing today that it accepted its first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment in September. According to UWM, five more cryptocurrency mortgage payments were evaluated and accepted in October. The Pontiac-based wholesale mortgage lender said that the transactions were used as models to “better assess scaling cryptocurrency payments for […]
The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rose seven basis points to 3.05% for the week ending Oct. 14, to its highest level since April, according to Freddie Mac’s latest PMMS survey of mortgage rates. Two weeks ago, rates rose 13 basis points to 3.01%, eclipsing the 3% mark for the first time since June. However, last week, rates fell […]
Sales of reperforming loans nosedived in 2020 as the pandemic took root in America, but sales volume appears to have recovered with vigor, based on an analysis of RPL offerings for government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae. The GSE earlier this month announced its 23rd sale of reperforming loans, which are defined by Fannie Mae as mortgages […]