The Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its key federal funds rate for the 10th consecutive time, announcing a 0.25% rate hike Wednesday to 5% to 5.25%. The move was widely expected by Wall Street as the macroeconomic policy crafters have yet to break the labor market and inflation levels are still considered elevated. Several bank failures […]
Stavvy, a fintech company specializing in digital and remote collaboration for lending and real estate companies, announced on Wednesday a new partnership with WFG National Title Insurance Company (WFG) to provide the company and its customers with eClosing technology solutions. “Stavvy is incredibly excited to work with WFG to bring innovative eClosing solutions to the […]
As proptech evolves, so does the ability to automate processes within the real estate industry. Automation can lead to some serious ROI for property managers and operators, but it’s important to automate the right processes — otherwise, it may feel like you’re throwing money and technology at a problem without solving anything. According to Rently, […]
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined slightly last week, the first rate drop in three weeks, but it wasn’t enough to boost mortgage demand. Mortgage applications fell last week by 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. The 30-year fixed […]
In March, a modest bump in homebuyer demand, combined with a decline in for-sale inventory, drove up home prices compared to the month prior. While home prices in many Western and pandemic boom markets are still well off their peaks, 40% of major markets have seen prices return to peak levels, according to Black Knight‘s […]
Earnings at Fannie Mae more than doubled in the first quarter to $3.78 billion despite revenue falling. The government sponsored entity reported $6.85 billion in revenues in the first quarter, down from $7.14 billion in the fourth quarter, attributing the revenue decline to falling amortization income as high interest rates resulted in lower prepayment speeds. […]
Snapdocs, a leading digital closing platform for the mortgage industry, has announced a new integration with Finastra‘s Mortgagebot loan origination system (LOS) to support Trustmark‘s eClose transformation. With this integration, Trustmark’s lenders nationwide can execute closings in a centralized workflow to drive faster closing times, reduce operating costs and enhance the borrower experience. “Our partnership […]
Columbus, Ohio-based Go Mortgage has announced the appointment of Jessica Manna as its chief marketing officer. In her new role, Manna will be responsible for overseeing all marketing initiatives and strategies to promote Go Mortgage’s brand further and drive business growth. Manna joins the mortgage lending company with over 20 years of experience in mortgage […]
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in support of changes to the loan originator compensation rule, telling CFPB Director Rohit Chopra that the current rule’s “inflexibility” in certain areas is a “detriment” to consumers. The letter calls for increased flexibility in LO compensation restrictions, […]
HousingWire is excited to announce the 2023 class of Rising Stars! In its tenth year, this industry award is showcasing the up-and-coming leaders in housing who have had major accomplishments all before the age of 40. They help run major corporations, and are the entrepreneurs building tomorrow’s great businesses. They work in any and every […]
Phillip McCall: While there are many potential reasons for this, among them may be that some lenders are getting more aggressive in expanding the credit box to qualify every borrower possible and help them get into homes. In addition, many may be offering products they haven’t offered in some time, such as With lenders competing […]
Recently, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a statement clarifying the agency’s rationale for changes to loan level pricing adjustment (LLPA) fees going into effect on May 1. The changes have created some controversy due to the fact that better credit quality borrowers will experience higher fees after May 1 than under […]
Less than two months after the abrupt failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, federal regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold it to JPMorgan Chase Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and JP Morgan are also entering into a loss-share transaction on single family, residential and commercial loans it purchased from the […]
New listing inventory hasn’t recovered since last year’s big The spring housing market music is playing, and purchase application data and active listing inventory rose together last week. The fear of not having an increase in inventory this spring should be put to rest. The other focus should be where mortgage rates go; only a […]
Wells Fargo and T.D. Jakes Group announced a 10-year partnership aimed at “revitalizing neighborhoods” and creating long-term change in communities most in need. The announcement comes a year after Bloomberg reported that only 47% of Black homeowners who completed a refinance application with Wells Fargo in 2020 were approved, compared with 72% of white homeowners. […]
Mortgage tech company Blend incurred a whopping $769 million loss in 2022, leading some mortgage tech analysts to question the company’s runway and survivability. Nima Ghamsari, CEO and co-founder of Blend, acknowledged that the company was focused on “too many things” a year ago. But Blend is now focused on cutting costs, growing its mortgage […]
Digital lending solutions provider DocMagic announced this week that it has added ADA-compliant mortgage loan documents to its document library. The new digital documents are accessible to visually impaired users and others with disabilities, unlocking opportunities for these consumers into the broader mortgage market. “Much of modern lending technology is designed to give consumers the […]
California-based Pennymac Financial Services reported gains in its servicing portfolio that offset losses with its origination activity in the first quarter of 2023, allowing the company to deliver an overall profit in the period. However, Pennymac’s profitability declined compared to the previous quarter amid a still-challenging mortgage market. The company reported on Thursday its net income came […]
The largest institutional single-family rental (SFR) operator in the country, Invitation Homes, is in the hot seat over its alleged failure to comply with building-permit requirements for rental properties it owns in California. Another larger player in the space, Progress Residential, recently postponed a securitization transaction due to difficult market conditions. And yet another big force […]
Mortgage rates are trending up ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week, with the FOMC expected to increase the federal funds rate. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6.43% as of April 27, up four basis points from last week and 133 basis points from this […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued guidance this week for debt collectors seeking to foreclose on homes with mortgages past the statute of limitations, also known as “zombie mortgages.” The guidance comes in the form of an advisory opinion pertaining to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and implementation of Regulation F. The […]
Arizona-based lender On Q Financial will form a multi-partner mortgage banking joint venture with HomeCo Partners, a consortium of real estate brokerages and a builder, HousingWire has learned. HomeCo Partners had created a JV with New Rez, which is permanently winding down. The JV, named Partners United Mortgage, has partners consisting of real estate brokerages […]
Your social media feed right now is probably abuzz with claims that the FHFA’s new loan level pricing adjustments (LLPAs) on conventional mortgages favor buyers with bad credit over buyers with great credit. “A 620 FICO score gets a 1.75% fee discount and a 740 FICO score pays a 1% fee” reads one screenshot from […]
Mr. Cooper Group‘s profits strongly increased in the first quarter of 2023, as forecasted by its executives. The servicing portfolio again propelled the quarterly performance, but this time, the origination segment also contributed to the results by returning to profitability. The company reported on Wednesday that it delivered $37 million in net income from January […]
STG Mortgage has successfully implemented OptifiNow‘s TPO CRM solution, according to a press release from the software provider. STG Mortgage, based in Orange County, California, said it opted for OptifiNow’s TPO because it provided an out-of-the-box solution for the company’s wholesale division that was seamlessly integrated with its loan origination system (LOS). Nectar Kalajian, CEO […]
On March 29, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would enhance their COVID-19 pandemic-era deferral policies which allowed homeowners experiencing hardship to defer up to six months of mortgage payments to be settled at the end of the loan. Since the pandemic began, the FHFA has enabled lenders to […]
Higher mortgage rates did not scare away potential homeowners last week. Borrower demand for home loans increased across the board, despite rates being at their highest level in over a month. “There are still so many borrowers looking to purchase a home. Plenty of buyers, but not enough homes for sale,” California-based mortgage loan officer Dan Stone, […]
Representatives of federal enforcement and regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are warning that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology do not give license to break existing laws pertaining to civil rights, fair competition, consumer protection […]
Rocket Central’s new vice president of public policy, Karan Kaul, plans to prioritize homeownership opportunities for first-time homebuyers, households of color, low- and moderate-income households that have historically found it difficult to access mortgage credit. As such, Rocket will continue to offer its special purpose credit programs, which allow first-time homebuyers to receive funds toward […]
New home sales posted yet another increase in March, rising 9.6% from February to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 683,000 homes, according to data published on Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is the fourth straight month of new home sales increases. On a year-over -year basis, however, new home sales […]
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has moved to dismiss an amended counterclaim filed by broker shop America’s MoneyLine (AML) that accuses the lender of antitrust practices regarding the “ultimatum” it imposed two years ago. UWM’s motion to dismiss, filed on April 19 in Michigan federal court, states that the dispute is not an antitrust case, as […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) filed an amicus brief on Friday in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice‘s interest in determining a liability standard that would apply to lenders in cases of alleged bias by third-party appraisers. The mortgage trade group said it was concerned that the CFPB […]
New listing data hasn’t recovered since last year’s big Can we now say that the housing market‘s spring selling season is finally underway? Since 2020, the seasonal bottom for housing inventory has arrived several months later than normal, making it more complicated to track housing inventory data. Still, we have some promising signs that we […]
It’s been delayed, but that’s not enough for the mortgage industry. In a blog post published Thursday, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit made the case that the Federal Housing Finance Agency‘s (FHFA) loan level price adjustments (LLPA) related to a mortgage borrower’s debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is unworkable and should be scrapped […]
The trading volume of mortgage-rights servicing (MSRs) so far this year is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s robust mark, when MSRs on some $1 trillion worth of home loans exchanged hands — then fueled by the spike in interest rates, industry players say. As of late April 2023, mortgage interest rates, though […]
One aspect I didn’t like to see in this report is that the days on market fell and are back to under 30 days. This is the reality of our world: total active listings are still near all-time lows and demand so far has been stable since We only have 2.6 months’ worth of housing […]
Denver-based brokerage franchise Motto Mortgage, owned by RE/MAX, has accused broker shop UMortgage of “tortious interference” in its contract with a former franchisee called TRB Solutions, whose controlling member was Breon Price, the top-producing loan officer. According to a lawsuit filed in March in a U.S district court in Colorado, UMortgage “unlawfully solicited” and “induced” […]
Distributed retail lender Guild Mortgage has picked up a top-producing team of loan officers, branch managers and back-office staff in California from rival retail shop Fairway Independent Mortgage. Guild, publicly traded and based in San Diego, added 40 employees across eight branch offices in California, the company said Thursday. John Lowe leads the new California […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Wednesday released a proposed rule that would codify many of its regulatory policies related to fair housing and fair lending. In formalizing housing regulation policies through the rulemaking process, the Biden administration hopes to make it more difficult for future administrations to untangle them. The proposed rule would codify in regulation FHFA’s fair […]
Real estate valuation technology provider Clear Capital announced on Thursday an expansion of its partnership with CoreLogic. Through the expanded partnership, Clear Capital’s recently launched Universal Data Collection product will be available for order and fulfillment through CoreLogic’s suite of Valuation Workflow Solutions. “The key to appraisal modernization is wide-spread adoption, and alongside CoreLogic, we […]
Interest rates for mortgage loans broke five straight weeks of declines caused by the bank crisis. This week, the 30-year fixed rate rebounded due to recent data indicating a still-resilient economy, the potential continuity of the Federal Reserve’s tightening monetary policy, and pressures in the secondary market. “For the first time in over a month, […]
Owners of a North Carolina property have filed an amended lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage that claims the lender rejected a refinance application in order to impose a higher rate. In an amended complaint, filed Monday, two couples — John Speicher and his wife, Patricia Giles, from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and Jeremy and Courtney Speicher from […]
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), an association representing the interests of individual mortgage loan originators and small to midsize mortgage businesses, is welcoming the introduction of a bill that would end the sale of trigger leads. The bill, H.R. 2656, was introduced by Representative Richie Torres of New York on April 17, and […]
In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an advisory opinion addressing how certain mortgage comparison site platforms could potentially be violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) section 8. According to the advisory opinion, if the mortgage comparison site “provides enhanced placement or otherwise steers consumers” to certain operators based on compensation, an […]
The big difference in this housing recession versus other cycles is that housing completions are still rising, which is unusual. However, because of the COVID-19 delays, we are still working through a backlog of homes under construction. From Census: Housing Completions Privately‐owned housing completions in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,542,000. This […]