The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) announced a partnership with artificial intelligence (AI)-based video marketing platform Roomvu to provide mortgage brokers with marketing tools. The new partnership will make digital marketing easier for NAMB members to market their services with automation tools to create content and distribute newsletters, the association said. “This partnership represents […]
Mortgage rates headed higher last week after the CPI inflation report, but now, with news of a wider war in the Middle East, should we expect even higher rates? Some argue that money will go into the safety of the bond market, while others say a wider war can lead to higher inflation and higher […]
Job recruiters in the South are facing hurdles to attract skilled professionals from the Midwest despite offering competitive compensation packages, according to a Bloomberg report published Friday. That’s because many of these potential hires are locked into super-low 30-year mortgages. During the fourth quarter of 2023, the proportion of job seekers in the U.S. who […]
Reverse mortgage industry professionals have spoken for months about the consequences of high interest rates on their ability to pursue business, and now AARP has taken a closer look at the impacts. While higher rates are bad news for the mortgage industry in a broad sense, the impact on reverse lending is more nuanced, Bruce […]
As artificial intelligence continues to grow in prominence, mortgage professionals “must carefully evaluate and manage” their use of AI and “focus on deriving the benefits while avoiding potentially catastrophic risks.” That’s one of the key conclusions reached by the BlackFin Group in a recently published white paper, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Mortgage Banking.” The paper […]
The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals and organizations that have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s 2024 Marketing Leaders are open until April 30, 2024. Click here to nominate someone from your organization today. If there’s one word to describe today’s successful marketers in mortgage and real estate it’s […]
The real estate market is experiencing a slight rise in foreclosure activity following an extended period of moratoria that paused any foreclosures during the pandemic. The uptick in foreclosures could signal homeowner distress due to recent difficult economic circumstances but also account for foreclosures that were in the pipeline prior to the pandemic. However, the […]
California-based multichannel mortgage lender CMG Financial announced on Thursday that it acquired Norcom Mortgage’s retail assets, expanding its operations in the Northeast with the addition of 25 branches from Maryland to Maine. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. “Norcom Mortgage has made the strategic decision to focus on and continue to grow our wholesale platform […]
Property preservation company MCS announced last month that it had entered the reverse mortgage business after acquiring Five Brothers Asset Management Solutions. In part one of RMD’s interview with MCS CEO Craig Torrance, he explained his company’s interest in the reverse space. In the second part of the interview, Torrance goes deeper into the value […]
Experts from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Georgia are weighing in on recent federal attention that senior caregivers have received after President Joe Biden highlighted these issues in his State of the Union address last month. The experts say that adequately serving seniors who prefer to age in place will […]
Jamie Dimon evidently believes in the KISS principle when it comes to mortgage — keep it simple, stupid. In his annual letter to shareholders, the influential head of JPMorgan Chase wrote that “we can fix the housing and mortgage” markets. “For example, mortgage regulations around origination, servicing and securitization could be simplified, without increasing risk, in […]
Rocket Mortgage Chief Information Officer Brian Woodring is departing the company to pursue other opportunities, multiple sources told HousingWire. The decision comes as the lender shifts its business strategy to embrace artificial intelligence (AI). Woodring joined Rocket in 2017 as chief technology officer to lead the product engineering team. As CIO, he was responsible for the strategy […]
Figure Technology Solutions (FTS), the parent company of Figure Lending LLC, announced on Thursday that it will begin making its Digital Asset Registration Technologies (DART) platform — which it describes as “a combined lien and eNote registry service” — available to private and wholesale lending partners. It will initially be made available for its home […]
Finance of America Companies (FOA), parent company of industry-leading reverse mortgage lender Finance of America Reverse (FAR), released a new “investor update” this week to update shareholders and other stakeholders on different elements of its reverse mortgage business including its strategic initiatives, business model and an update on its integration of American Advisors Group (AAG). […]
HomeEquity Bank, the leading reverse mortgage lender in Canada and a Schedule I federal bank in the country, announced on Wednesday that its longtime president and CEO Steven Ranson will retire effective June 30. “We have achieved what I set out to achieve many years ago; to establish reverse mortgages and HomeEquity Bank as a […]
Nominations for the 2024 Marketing Leaders award are open now through April 30. This prestigious accolade recognizes the visionaries, innovators and strategists who have set new standards of marketing excellence in mortgage and real estate. HousingWire is proud to have recognized a slew of industry heavyweights since the program started. We’re taking a look back […]
Mortgage demand increased slightly for the first time in four weeks, with a modest uptick in refinance applications leading the way. But don’t expect it to continue. Mortgage applications increased by 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending April 5, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey. “Mortgage […]
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have signed onto a memorandum of understanding to formally share information between each other related to nonbank mortgage companies. “The [MOU] establishes substantive information sharing protocols between state financial regulators and FHFA, improving the ability to coordinate on market developments, identify […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering a ban on mortgage banks charging homebuyers for the lender’s title insurance policy, according to a report by Bloomberg. Lender’s title policies protect lenders from issues that may arise with the title of the property, but they are paid by the borrower. The homebuyer also has the option […]
Perhaps the most striking detail gleaned from a HousingWire analysis of millions of single-family purchase mortgages is how much more homebuyers had to pay in 2023 compared to 2022. The median borrower on a 30-year mortgage in 2023 received an interest rate of 6.625%, which is 1.635 percentage points higher than the same borrower a […]
The most anticipated economic report of the month showed that inflation has not just stalled, but increased. The news almost certainly rules out a rate cut in June, and traders are increasingly skeptical there will be more than a couple cuts in 2024, if any at all. Consumer prices in March were up 3.5% from […]
Last month, Northeast regional lender WSFS Mortgage released the results of a survey that measured reverse mortgage product sentiments. It found that more people seem to be aware of the potential value that a reverse mortgage could provide for older homeowners, including as a tool to age in place and to provide greater cash flow […]
Baby boomers are exhibiting an overwhelming desire to age in place in their own homes, but their children — largely members of Generation X — are also making their desires felt by seeking out homes that can accommodate their needs as they get older, according to a recent report from the New York Times. Citing […]
In a message to mortgage brokers, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) defended itself from the Hunterbrook Media report that claims the lender orchestrated a scheme to steer loans. The wholesale lender said it’s offering legal support to partners in case they are sued and once again accused Rocket Mortgage of being behind the report, which the rival denies. On April 2, Hunterbrook […]
Modern-day redlining persists, and it’s costing lenders millions in legal fees. Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken a strong stance on redlining, taking direct legal action against bad actors and thrusting the topic into the national spotlight. Last October, Ameris Bank had to pay $9 million to settle a redlining case. More recently, […]
After a few months of downward data in its performance metrics, the reverse mortgage industry saw a slightly different story play out in March that should come as welcome news. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements increased 8.3% to 2,058 loans in March, an increase helped by new case numbers and slightly telegraphed by recent […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s policy advocacy group, the Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA), is urging its members in the state of Massachusetts to support the continued use of remote telephone and video counseling for reverse mortgages in the state following the lapse of an exemption allowing for remote counseling. “The provision in state law which […]
United Wholesale Mortgage’s (UWM) revenue margins “don’t stand out like” one would expect if the company was overcharging borrowers, analysts at BTIG said on Monday. The comments follow a Hunterbrook Media report from last week stating that UWM pressures brokers to send loans its way, resulting in higher costs to customers. “We think the premise of the thesis […]
Ginnie Mae this week issued a public notice to its issuer partners warning of an observation of higher prepayments in some of its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) programs, reminding issuers that a violation of its requirements could result in punitive action. In a prior All Participants Memorandum (APM) issued in December 2017, Ginnie Mae described how […]
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) has introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives that would codify the “tri-merge” credit model into law, a rebuke to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)’s recent efforts to transition to a “bi-merge” model that would require only two credit reports to be pulled instead of three. This is […]
To paraphrase Mark Twain, history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. The U.S. mortgage industry recently had to remind itself of this fact when a CNN analysis found that the nation’s largest credit union, Navy Federal, has the widest disparity in mortgage approval rates between white and black borrowers of any major lender. […]
The federal judge overseeing a case brought by Texas Capital Bank (TCB) against Ginnie Mae has dismissed a portion of the bank’s complaint against the government-owned company but will allow the majority of the case to progress, according to court filings reviewed by RMD. Presiding Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in the U.S. District Court for […]
Because we use the nearest 1/8%, HECM proposals often don’t change from week to week unless the 10-year CMT moves enough to push expected rates beyond a rounding threshold. Higher or lower expected rates impact principal limits Higher expected rates reduce borrowing capacity, while lower expected rates increase borrowing capacity. So, it is understandable that […]
This week in Washington, D.C., representatives at federal agencies reinforced their support for the new rules that would modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a few days after a federal judge in Texas granted a preliminary injunction to banking associations that seek to halt its implementation. Meanwhile, community-focused trade groups and associations, although feeling that […]
Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michael Barr said the central bank is taking “a very thoughtful approach” to the Basel III rules (aka the Basel endgame), which would significantly increase bank capital requirements and, if implemented, affect the mortgage industry. “We gave the public extra time to comment on the rule because it was really complex. We’re analyzing those […]
Ocwen Financial Corp., the parent company of top five reverse mortgage lender Liberty Reverse Mortgage and PHH Mortgage Corp., announced on Wednesday that it is undergoing a rebranding effort and will be known as Onity Group Inc. This is according to a company spokesperson and a subsequent announcement issued on Wednesday. The only entity to […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) this week submitted a letter to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that urges the agency to “provide comparable down payment treatment for FHA borrowers, regardless of whether or not the seller is willing to pay the home buyer broker commission,” according to an announcement by the organization. The […]
Top U.S. mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is the target of a class-action-seeking lawsuit alleging it orchestrated a scheme with mortgage brokers to apply excess fees and costs to borrowers. The wholesale lender called the accusations a “sham.” The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in a Michigan district court by Therisa D. Escue, Billy […]
Mortgage demand receded for the third consecutive week despite slightly lower mortgage rates. Mortgage applications decreased by 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending March 29, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey. “Mortgage rates moved lower last week, but that did little to ignite overall mortgage application […]
Last month, Madison, Wisconsin-based mortgage lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. announced the appointment of reverse mortgage industry veteran Dan Ventura to serve as its new vice president of reverse mortgage operations. The hiring came after a series of announcements in February, including the addition of new reverse mortgage investments and the company rejoining the National […]
Older Americans who own their home are financially incentivized to stay put, which is likely to worsen the ongoing inventory shortage, two Redfin studies found. In one recent survey, Redfin found that over three-quarters (78%) of older American homeowners (ages 60 and up) are planning to stay in their current home as they age. Meanwhile, […]
Josh Moody “I feel the experienced and trustworthy executive team at Highlands will enable us to offer a broader and more comprehensive product suite for our customers and allow our team to adapt rapidly to a constantly shifting mortgage environment,” Moody said in a statement. Moody is licensed in 32 states and his team includes […]
Mortgage rates remained stable this week as the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation report matched economists’ expectations. As a result, HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center showed the average 30-year fixed rate for conventional loans at 7.17% on Tuesday, up from 7.16% one week earlier. At the same time one year ago, the 30-year fixed rate averaged […]
Mortgage technology company Aidium Mortgage CRM has closed a $19 million Series A funding round, led by growth equity firm PeakSpan Capital. Boulder, Colorado-based Aidium offers originators a customer relationship management platform that integrates sales and marketing automation to drive origination volume and enhance borrower engagement. The platform allows mortgage professionals to engage, convert, close and nurture borrowers in purchase […]
Larry Steinway, VP producing area sales manager at New American Funding He joins NAF from Revolution Mortgage, where he served as branch production sales manager and SVP of mortgage lending for a little over a year. Steinway was also one of the first four loan officers to be hired at Guaranteed Rate, where he earned […]