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Summary List Placement Now sworn in, President Joe Biden is inheriting a set of extraordinary crises that will test his new administration from its earliest days. A raging pandemic continues devastating the nation with daily infections and hospitalizations near record levels a year. The official US death tolls hit 400,000 people this week, nearly the […]

Homebuilder confidence in the U.S. fell to a four-month low in January as builders expressed concerns about higher house prices, COVID-related supply chain issues and construction costs. Builder confidence in single-family homes dropped to 83 in January from 86 in December, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. It’s the second straight […]

Summary List Placement New York City’s top earners may soon face the highest income tax rates in the country if the White House doesn’t help the state recover from its $15 billion deficit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has warned. As part of a 2022 budget proposal announced Tuesday, Cuomo said he may have to raise taxes […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden plans to ask the Department of Education on Wednesday to extend the pause on federal student loan payments through September 30, marking his first move to act on student debt in America. The extension applies to the 42 million federal student loan borrowers in the country. In a call […]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Tuesday that it is requesting input on the current and future risk of natural disasters and climate change on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, especially as it relates to the housing financial system overall. The Request for Input (RFI) – available for comments until Apr. 19, 2021 – opens […]

Mortgage applications decreased 1.9% for the week ending Jan. 15 from one week earlier, per data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. The drop comes after a robust 16.7% jump in applications the prior week. The 30-year fixed rate rose to 2.92%, its highest level since last November. Additionally, the 15-year fixed rate increased […]

Summary List Placement A survey released on Tuesday found that four in five adults want President-elect Joe Biden to push small business aid and stimulus checks to the top of his agenda to ensure a quick economic recovery from the pandemic. In the survey findings by Morning Consult — a global data intelligence company — […]

The U.S. forbearance rate fell nine basis points last week to 5.37% of servicers’ portfolio volume, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Monday. While this decline may be the largest drop in forbearance share in the past nine weeks, it is only the second in that same time period – the first being on Dec. 14 […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious $1.9 trillion stimulus bill could help cut unemployment to nearly a third of its pandemic peak. In his note on the week ahead, David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds, wrote about how “conservative simulation of the impact of the plan” played out. That simulation assumes that […]

Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen said that a $15 minimum wage increase will not have significant effects on the job market, responding to concerns from Republican lawmakers. In her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Yellen addressed President-elect Joe Biden’s announcement to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in his stimulus […]

Summary List Placement Climate change is at the top of President-elect Joe Biden’s funding agenda once he assumes office on Wednesday, as the new administration looks to add jobs to the economy while combating the warming climate. In his $1.7 trillion climate proposal, Biden plans on reversing many of President Donald Trump’s actions that relate […]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will once again extend moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned evictions, this time until Feb. 28, 2021. “To keep our communities safe, and families in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, FHFA is extending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s foreclosure […]

In December, AmTrust Title Insurance Company announced the hiring of seasoned underwriter Mary Shelley as its midwest region agency underwriter. We took the opportunity to talk to Shelley, who has 35 years experience in the field, about the challenges underwriters have faced during this pandemic period. “The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a lack of access […]

Summary List Placement Several big-name investors have started raising concerns about market bubbles, identifying frothy behavior in certain asset classes, from technology stocks, to SPACs, to small-caps and Bitcoin. But there is one bubble that seems to be flying under investors’ radars: food prices. Société Générale’s market strategist, Albert Edwards, thinks there is a bubble […]

As the calendar flipped to 2021, it didn’t take long for the rise in mortgage rates. Just two weeks into the new year, Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rates climbed 14 basis points to 2.79%, a dramatic contrast to 2020, a year in which mortgage rates set record lows 16 times. Economists across the housing […]

Summary List Placement Economist Nouriel Roubini expects Joe Biden’s presidency to face civil unrest and cyberattacks. Russia and China will launch cyberattacks against the US and spread false information, he said. He’s worried Donald Trump could execute military action in Iran, making things difficult for Biden. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories. Joe Biden’s […]

Summary List Placement A leading member of the European Parliament has raised significant concerns about the EU’s landmark investment deal with China over its alleged human rights abuses and fears that it could harm relations with the new Biden administration. The EU-China investment deal aims to liberalize trade between Beijing and Brussels and was struck […]

Summary List Placement The US economy is receiving fresh fiscal support after months of plodding negotiations. But one measure of the labor market suggests the massive stimulus is unnecessary and potentially harmful to future growth, according to James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group. The country is already reaping the benefits of the […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden rolled out a $1.9 trillion federal rescue package on Thursday, a measure aimed at helping individuals, businesses, and local governments weather the economic shock of the pandemic. It contains an array of relief provisions that Democrats have championed for months in past proposals. They include a $1,400 boost to […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden’s economic rescue package is starting to run into early opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are blasting its large price tag as well as a measure to more than double the current federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas called it “another economic […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden introduced his plan for a $1.9 trillion stimulus package on Thursday. Called “The American Rescue Plan,” the package would provide another infusion of federal aid to stimulate the economy as the pandemic continues to sweep the nation. That includes a $1,400 top-up for stimulus checks, bringing the total distributed […]

Wells Fargo, the second-biggest mortgage lender in the nation, continued to cede market share to nonbank rivals in the fourth quarter of 2020. The lender originated $53.94 billion in the fourth quarter, a 12.5% decline from the prior quarter, when the bank originated $61.6 billion in mortgages. It also represents a not-insignificant decline from the […]

As the Biden/Harris administration takes office, it faces many crises and challenges – including bridging the partisan divide, ramping up vaccines to end the COVID-19 crisis, jump-starting the economy, and facing huge budget deficits at a time when many believe we need to spend more to help the economy. From my perspective as the owner […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden presented a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan on Thursday evening, which included $1,400 direct payments, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, and vaccine distribution funds. Some billionaires have been advocating for more stimulus packages for months, including Tom Steyer. The former hedge fund manager and liberal activist […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden’s newly unveiled stimulus plan includes a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, although the measure is likely to face pushback in Congress. Currently set at $7.25 an hour, Biden moved to nearly double the country’s minimum wage in his $1.9 trillion economic relief package. The plan would […]

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest depository bank, increased mortgage origination volume to $32.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a 12% gain on the prior quarter. But that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The Jamie Dimon-led bank increased overall mortgage origination volume primarily through its correspondent channel, according to the earnings report issued this week. […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden rolled out a colossal $1.9 trillion economic aid package on Thursday evening. It contains numerous provisions that could assist millions of Americans, particularly the unemployed. His plan contains a $400 weekly government supplement to state unemployment checks that expires on Sept. 30 among other sweeping measures. It would be […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden’s economic relief package unveiled on Thursday included yearly benefits for families with children, marking his first official step toward addressing child poverty. According to Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the Child Tax Credit will be expanded so that families with children under the age of 6 will receive $3,600 per […]

Mike Cagney, SoFi SoFi co-founder Mike Cagney’s latest digital mortgage operation Figure Lending closed on a $100 million funding facility from JPMorgan Chase this week. The warehouse facility will allow the company, a subsidiary of Figure Technologies, to originate conventional loans as well as jumbo loans, the company said in a statement Wednesday. In a […]

Summary List Placement Spending at US retailers contracted through the last month of 2020 as economic restrictions offset holiday-season sales. US retail sales contracted 0.7% in December, according to Census Bureau data released Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected sales to hold steady from the month prior. While spending fell from the prior month, it […]

Summary List Placement The UK economy shrank 2.6% in November as an increase in coronavirus infections and fresh restrictions exacted a heavy toll, official figures have shown, putting the country on track for a double-dip recession. November’s drop was considerably lower than the 5.7% contraction economists predicted in a Reuters poll. But it meant the […]

Summary List Placement The UK economy shrank 2.6% in November as an increase in coronavirus infections and fresh restrictions exacted a heavy toll, official figures have shown, putting the country on track for a double-dip recession. November’s drop meant the economy was 8.5% smaller than it was in February 2020, having been 6.1% smaller in […]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Association issued a joint statement Thursday announcing they will not restructure the taxpayers’ stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In other words, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will not be exiting conservatorship under the current administration. In a statement establishing an agreement for ongoing […]

The National Association of Realtors and other industry trade groups are calling for the reform of the government-sponsored enterprises. They also want to see a change in the leadership structure at their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. At a webinar hosted by NAR, panelists spoke about the next potential steps for removing Fannie Mae […]

The mortgage industry has not traditionally been the vanguard in the adoption of digital solutions particularly in data intelligence and applied machine learning. Investments in proper infrastructure, an innate fear of losing process control, and converting the workforce to a digitally savvy “knowledge force” have contributed to “digital apprehension” in the past. The COVID-19 pandemic served […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden laid out his plan for another $1.9 trillion economic rescue package on Thursday. Biden’s proposal includes: A $1,400 top-up for stimulus checks which will bring the total distributed amount to $2,000. $130 billion in funds to reopen schools. $350 billion in state and local assistance. Biden faces a delicate […]

Summary List Placement Those worrying the Federal Reserve will prematurely rein in monetary stimulus have little to fear, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday. As COVID-19 vaccines roll out across the country, investors and economists have looked to Fed officials for any hints as to when its extremely accommodative policy stance could reach its conclusion. […]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Thursday it has extended relaxed lending and appraisal standards put in place due to COVID-19 another month for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The flexibilities surrounding alternative verifications of employment and appraisals were originally set to expire on Jan. 31, 2021, however, the government entity is now […]

Summary List Placement Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the incoming chair of the ranking Senate Finance Committee, suggested on Thursday in an exclusive interview that elements of President-elect Joe Biden’s forthcoming economic rescue package could be modified during Congressional negotiations — particularly on enhanced unemployment insurance. Wyden said he would press for a $600 federal […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden plans to prioritize federal student loan debt forgiveness on the first day of his presidency, but questions still remain on the likelihood of carrying out his forgiveness plans. Last week, Biden’s transition official David Kamin told reporters that Biden will direct the Department of Education on day one to […]

Summary List Placement President-elect Joe Biden is expected to include expanded child benefits in his economic relief package that will be released on Thursday. As part of his core campaign promise to help the middle class, Biden will likely push for measures to provide $300 per month to households with a child under the age […]

It’s 6:30 in the morning on September 25, 2020, and a small team from The Home Loan Expert is beginning their long climb up Mount Elbert, the highest summit in the Rocky Mountains of North America and the highest point in Colorado.  In a class commonly referred to as 14ers by those adventurous enough to […]

The average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan rose from its previous record low by 14 basis points this week to 2.79%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This marks the first time mortgage rates have risen in almost two months. The 15-year fixed rate also rose slightly this week from 2.16% to […]

Summary List Placement The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits jumped last week as rising COVID-19 cases continued to cut into the labor market’s recovery. New US jobless claims totaled an unadjusted 965,000 for the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department announced Thursday. That comes in well above the 800,000 claims expected by […]

Since the CARES Act was signed into law, homeowners across the U.S. have taken advantage of its mortgage relief provisions. In fact, as of November 2020, a total of 6.5 million borrowers had been, or still were, on a COVID-19-related forbearance plan, either through the CARES Act or another program. Fortunately, the forbearance programs and […]