I have been in the mortgage industry for more than two decades and have been working with reverse mortgages for about 12 of those years. Working in this space for so long, I thought I knew the ins and outs of a reverse mortgage, but it wasn’t until I experienced one firsthand that some things […]
Members of the reverse mortgage industry were surprised to learn that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge announced on Monday that she would be resigning from her post effective March 22. HUD deputy secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting HUD secretary at that point, according to the White House. […]
Remote online notarization (RON) platform NotaryCam expanded its independent notary platform customer base by 46% in 2023, according to an announcement on Monday. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of title firm Stewart. In addition to expanding its notary platform customer base, NotaryCam also grew the number of loss-mitigation-related RON transactions it was part […]
Marcia Fudge, the 18th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced her resignation from office, according to an announcement released on Monday by HUD. Her last day will be March 22. Adrianne Todman, the current Deputy Secretary and HUD veteran, was named Acting Secretary. Fudge said that she felt “mixed […]
Digital mortgage automation solution provider Floify launched a mortgage point-of-sale (POS) platform for lenders. Configured to give independent mortgage banks, federally insured banks and credit unions the needed tools at an accessible price point, Floify Lender Edition aims to increase lender profitability through its automated processes and efficiency tools, the company said. Solutions within Floify […]
Peak 65 serves as an historic demographic milestone of the new paradigm shift that is changing every aspect of the housing market, finance, retirement planning process and the fragile supply/demand balance of housing inventory for real estate at large. We are living in a watershed moment in history. The new paradigm brings into question many […]
The spring homebuying season kicked off with a monthly jump in purchase mortgage locks despite rising interest rates. Rate lock volume rose 5% from January to February due to a notable 8.3% increase in purchase activity, data from Optimal Blue’s Originations Market Monitor report showed. The rise in purchase activity outpaced the decrease in refinancing […]
We survived jobs week and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talking to Congress, with mortgage rates ending the week below 7%. But will mortgage rates keep heading lower? If so, what will this do to inventory levels? Let’s look at this week’s tracker data to get clues for the future. Mortgage rates and the 10-year […]
In remarks made Thursday to the Senate Banking Committee this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he expects some U.S. banks to fail in the coming months because of declining values and defaults in their commercial real estate loan portfolios. According to reporting by multiple outlets, including The Hill, Powell indicated that the risk […]
The Desjardins Group, a Quebec-based lender, is no longer issuing mortgages in high-risk flood areas, multiple media outlets reported this week. That is stoking concerns that similar measures could be taken in other places, including the U.S. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, roughly 1.5 million homes, representing about 10% of the nation’s housing […]
Women face a series of challenges that add up to make retirement prospects “pretty bleak,” including issues such as gender pay inequality, longer life spans and a lack of savings based on U.S. Census Bureau data. But Cindy Hounsell, founder and president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, said during an event hosted […]
A former top executive at Summit Funding has sued the lender, claiming he was wrongfully terminated after confronting the company’s leadership about allegedly illegal business practices involving its founder and president, Todd Scrima. Ex-chief growth officer Brian Mitchell accuses Summit and Scrima of gaining illegal access to confidential information from its competitor Movement Mortgage to poach their employees and take their […]
President Joe Biden’s new plan to lower housing costs includes a pilot program that waives the requirement for lender’s title insurance on certain refinance transactions, according to the White House. The plan will be announced during his 2024 State of the Union address on Thursday night. However, that’s a controversial topic for the mortgage industry […]
The White House announced that President Joe Biden will call on lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate to address a series of housing issues in his State of the Union address, which will be delivered to a joint session of Congress and televised nationally on Thursday night. In the address, the president […]
Finance of America Companies (FOA), parent of leading reverse mortgage lender Finance of America Reverse (FAR), narrowed its quarterly loss to $20 million and posted an overall improvement in its earnings to $164.7 million in fourth-quarter 2023. The fourth-quarter loss was down from the $25 million in losses posted in Q3 2023, FOA reported during […]
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a series of six spending bills that will avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government while adding some additional budget capacity to Ginnie Mae. Colloquially called a “minibus,” the six spending packages passed overwhelmingly in the narrowly divided House with a vote of 339-85, with 207 […]
Buoyed by a rise in home prices, U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their home equity increase by 8.6% year over year in fourth-quarter 2023. Homeowners saw an average increase of slightly more than $24,000 compared to Q4 2022, adding up to a collective gain of $1.3 trillion, according to CoreLogic’s newest homeowner equity report. Net […]
Guaranteed Rate hired Bijoy John, former head of marketing at Newrez, as its vice president of marketing. John’s new tasks will include consumer direct marketing and the crafting of strategies for new products. His goal at Guaranteed Rate is to increase origination volume for the company while also helping consumers throughout the loan life cycle. […]
Despite feelings of optimism expressed by loan originators in the opening weeks of 2024, the road to more normalized levels of reverse mortgage volume and securities issuances may be longer than expected. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements fell 11.8% to 1,900 loans in February, a drop telegraphed by lagging case numbers and sluggish endorsement […]
A group of investors led by the former U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, will inject $1 billion in equity investment in struggling New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage servicers. The move strengthens the bank’s balance sheet amid a confidence crisis related […]
A state-level program in Connecticut that pays caregivers living with loved ones who require special attention, and is designed to facilitate aging in place, is seeing a surge in demand across the state. This is according to reporting by Connecticut Public Radio. The state’s Adult Family Living (AFL) program is specifically designed to help older […]
California-based mortgage lender CMG Financial will partner with fintech Sagent for seven years as it brings its servicing business in-house. CMG Financial is “doubling down on controlling lifetime customer experience,” and the seven-year deal with Sagent is in line with the lender’s effort to prioritize its “homeowner-first strategy,” the companies said in a joint news […]
For years, customized integrations have been the sign of a healthy tech stack, seamlessly connecting the various technologies used by a particular title agency (mortgage lender, broker or appraisal management company, for that matter) to deliver optimal performance. After all, one of the challenges remaining to our industry – even after a wave of digitalization […]
John Abraham, former top-producing mortgage loan officer at Caliber Home Loans/NewRez, has joined The Money Store. His team will be making the move with him. Abraham was named vice president and producing branch manager in Illinois, where he will serve as sales leader and mortgage originator. Top 200 mortgage loan originator John Abraham recently joined […]
Housing affordability is at its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and there are few ways to circumvent the rising costs of housing. Mortgage assumption is a niche option that gained momentum in 2023. An assumable mortgage enables a qualified buyer to take over a […]
The federally insured reverse mortgage known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is unique, as are the rates that impact the HECM product. For this reason, I will provide a short monthly educational focus, followed by a summary of the HECM rate market. Keep in mind that almost all HECMs are adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), […]
The Carrington Companies tapped Andrew Taffet as its new CEO. Taffet, who is currently serving as Carrington’s chief investment officer, will continue in that role while succeeding company founder Bruce Rose. Rose will assume the role of executive committee chairman for the Carrington Companies. Taffet, meanwhile, will be in charge of day-to-day operations and oversight of […]
New data illustrates a discrepancy between the perception of baby boomers who lose money to financial scams and the actual rate of seniors to fall prey to such bad actors. This is according to the results of a survey conducted by market research firm Ipsos and HomeEquity Bank — Canada’s leading reverse mortgage lender — […]
Ginnie Mae has introduced new cybersecurity incident reporting requirements, the government-owned enterprise announced on Monday. The initiative underscores Ginnie Mae’s commitment to bolstering its companywide information security, business continuity and reporting standards. Effective immediately, issuers of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities must notify Ginnie Mae of any cybersecurity incident within 48 hours of its detection. The […]
The reverse mortgage industry already knew that Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement volume in 2023 was cut nearly in half compared to 2022, but new data shows that the decline was not the same between the retail and wholesale channels of the business. The pullback in retail was not as severe as the one […]
Add mortgage tech firm Guideline Buddy to the list of companies with an artificial intelligence-powered chat tool. Guideline Buddy’s chatbot leverages generative AI technology to simplify the loan qualification process by providing swift and accurate information, freeing professionals from the time-consuming burden of sifting through extensive documentation, the firm said. The new tool is designed […]
Rithm Capital, a New York-based asset manager with a focus on real estate — and the parent of multichannel lender Newrez — is the latest company in the mortgage space to issue debt. Rithm is joining a list that includes competitors Mr. Cooper Group, Freedom Mortgage, PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust and Pennymac Financial Services, each of which have issued debt […]
First-time homebuyers made up 55% of agency purchase mortgages in 2023, according to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) eMBS data, the highest such share in the 10 years ICE has been tracking the metric. A record 47% of government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) purchase loans in 2023 came from first-time homebuyers, a number that’s been trending gradually higher throughout […]
The mortgage rate lockdown premise says that if rates rise, inventory can’t grow meaningfully. The idea is that nobody will trade their low mortgage rates to buy another home — even though this happened every week last year. Of course, I have a different view. My podcast partner, Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler, disagrees, along […]
Kiavi, one of the nation’s largest private lenders for residential real estate investors, closed a $350 million unrated securitization of residential transition loans (RTLs), the company announced on Monday. The loans bundled in the securitization were mostly investment property loans used for fix-and-flip transactions. This securitization marked Kiavi’s 16th such transaction and elevated the company’s […]
After attorneys made their cases for both the U.S. government and former Live Well Financial CEO Michael Hild regarding a restitution amount owed to the company’s creditors, a magistrate judge overseeing the issue has recommended that Hild pay more than $46 million. The final amount will be determined by the trial judge. The funds will […]
Mortgage trade groups have commended the moves taken by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to address a spike in loan buybacks — the latest being a new electronic notification made available by Fannie Mae. But advocates also say more is needed to improve the loan repurchase process. On Feb. 24, Fannie […]
Thomas Cangemi is stepping down as president and CEO of New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) following the company’s disclosure of internal control deficiencies and a goodwill impairment of $2.4 billion. Alessandro DiNello, appointed executive chairman of the board on Feb. 6, will replace Cangemi, effective immediately. DiNello was the president and CEO of Flagstar Bancorp, a bank recently […]
In a fiercely competitive market, mortgage originators need to rethink everything to gain market share and become savvy. From leveraging the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital marketing to mastering financial literacy, mortgage and real estate professionals have come together to provide these skills to loan officers in a new book titled, “Rethink Everything: […]
Liberty Reverse Mortgage, a top 10 reverse mortgage lender owned by Ocwen Financial Corp. and its subsidiary PHH Mortgage Corp., allegedly violated California labor laws by failing to provide employees with rest breaks, meal breaks and appropriate compensation for off-the-clock and overtime work, according to a newly filed class-action lawsuit. The suit, filed by former […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Thursday that the transition to new credit score requirements is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2025, a decision commended by the mortgage industry. That’s when the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will acquire single-family loans based on the FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 credit models, replacing the Classic FICO […]
Mortgage rates continued to trend up this week and dampen homebuyer momentum. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.94% as of Feb. 29, an increase from last week’s figure of 6.90%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on Thursday. Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed rate averaged 6.26% this week, down from 6.29% during the […]
Independent brokerage Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has partnered with Zillow’s ShowingTime+ to allow agents in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas to leverage the Listing Showcase tool. Launched in June 2023, Listing Showcase is an AI-powered listing tool available exclusively on Zillow. It enables agents to differentiate themselves through original presentations of their brand and […]
EasyKnock completed a $28 million Series D funding round, the company announced on Wednesday. Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, the venture capital arm of financial services company Northwestern Mutual, joined as an investor in this round. With its newest influx of capital, EasyKnock aims to advance the development of its platform by honing its suite of […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that they have filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, supporting plaintiffs that allege unlawful fees imposed by Ocwen Loan Servicing, a division of Ocwen Financial Corp. The case involves plaintiffs Sheryl Glover […]