Mortgage applications increased 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the latest MBA survey. This follows the prior week’s 12% increase in refinance applications, which marked the strongest refi week in months. The Mortgage Bankers Association‘s market composite index increased 6% on an unadjusted basis compared with the previous week. Continuing a strong streak was […]
Entering the mortgage industry as a loan officer can be both exciting and overwhelming. With a 100% commission-based structure, success isn’t guaranteed — it’s earned. The first year is crucial for developing the habits, relationships, and skills that lay the foundation for long-term success. I’ve spent years in the industry, and as my son prepares […]
The Oregon state senate’s Committee on Housing Development held a hearing last week on a piece of proposed legislation that seeks to limit the amount of equity a reverse mortgage lender can receive after the sale or transfer of a property. Industry representatives contend that if enacted, the bill could potentially halt the availability of […]
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Older Americans want to age in place in their own homes, and they also want to remain in their current communities. But these desires could clash with a reality that many communities across the country simply don’t have the resources to support seniors, according […]
Mortgage credit availability ramped up in January, according to a report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) that analyzed data from ICE Mortgage Technology. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) increased by 250 basis points (bps) on a monthly basis to 99.0 in January 2025. By comparison, the index rating was 92.7 […]
High interest rates and home prices are causing some prospective homebuyers to avoid applying for a mortgage. But despite this trend, some buyers are willing to adjust their loan term expectations to achieve homeownership, according to a recent report by real estate technology company REsimpli. REsimpli questioned 1,200 respondents who had plans to buy or […]
The long-range forecast for mortgage rates has dimmed in recent months, but stability has returned to the market more recently as rates are slowly creeping back down toward 7%. Still, all types of prospective homebuyers — whether they’re a Gen Z worker searching for a starter home, a millennial looking for more space or a […]
ICE Mortgage Technology on Monday announced several enhancements to the Encompass loan origination platform, including a rate lock comparison tool that enables lenders to automatically detect and adjust for changes to a loan that may affect pricing and eligibility. The “Rate Lock Comparison Tool,” which is integrated with Encompass’s product and pricing engine (PPE), enables […]
Rocket Companies’ return to the Super Bowl on Sunday marked not only a milestone for the company’s calculated rebrand but a new level of connection between the financial services sector and online influencers. While many mortgage professionals have taken to apps like TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram to make housing-related content, the influencers who posted “reaction” […]
The recent developments surrounding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have left many in the mortgage industry wondering what comes next. With Acting Director Russell Vought halting all rulemaking, enforcement actions and examinations, some may be tempted to believe that the regulatory burden on Independent Mortgage Banks (IMBs) is lifting. However, this assumption is dangerous. […]
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents federal employees in 37 federal agencies and offices, has filed suit against Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), over actions he has taken to scale back the activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since being appointed as its […]
Residential real estate capital provider Kiavi announced Monday that it is expanding into 13 additional states, broadening the company’s reach to 45 states and Washington, D.C. The expansion includes the states of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. “Kiavi’s expansion into these 13 additional […]
Rocket Companies is not one to shy away from the spotlight. Within the last few years, leadership additions of Varun Krishna, Katie Sweeney and Dan Sogorka to the team and an auspicious rebrand announced at the start of the year have put Rocket in the financial services spotlight. It makes sense that Rocket is returning […]
Russell Vought, the newly named acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is shutting down most of the bureau’s functions and has cut off its funding from the Federal Reserve. In a letter to bureau staff on Saturday night, Vought directed them to: 1. Stop all supervision activity that has not been approved […]
Another jobs week has come to an end, and amid the chaotic headlines about job numbers, tariffs, and the leadership of the Treasury, mortgage rates remained calm. Better mortgage spreads are limiting how high rates can rise in 2025. This situation contrasts with the challenges the market faced in 2023, during the banking crisis when […]
President Trump’s shake-up of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues. On Friday night, Russell Vought, the architect of the Project 2025 plan and the newly confirmed director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, emailed top staffers at the CFPB to inform them that he’d been named acting director, according to the Wall Street […]
Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025 and the current head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is the new acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday night. Vought emailed top staffers at the agency to inform them that he’d been named acting director, […]
A bill introduced into the Oregon Senate that seeks to limit the amount of equity a reverse mortgage lender can receive after the sale or transfer of a property could potentially halt the availability of proprietary product offerings in the state. This is according to a version of the bill reviewed by HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage […]
The governing council of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. is taking steps to establish a permanent program seeking to protect its older residents with reverse mortgages from foreclosure. In mid-January, the D.C. council enacted the “Fairness and Stability in Housing Amendment Act of 2024,” which amends specific housing agency laws to allow for protections for […]
Digital mortgage lender Better announced Friday that Patrick Kandianis has been appointed as the company’s new vice president of business development. A 22-year industry veteran in lending sales, Kandianis most recently served as Figure Lending’s senior director of lending partnership sales and was instrumental in helping that company achieve more than $12 billion in production. […]
Rithm Capital, which owns multichannel mortgage lender Newrez, built upon its success in 2023 with net income of $835 million in 2024. That figure represented a 57% increase from its profit of $533 million a year earlier. In its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings report released Thursday, New York-based Rithm posted GAAP net income of […]
Deadlines in a lawsuit and countersuit stemming from allegations of deceptive reverse mortgage marketing practices have been pushed out one month to the end of March and mid-April, respectively, as all parties in the case advocate for more time. This stems from a preliminary injunction request filed by Longbridge Financial against Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, […]
Homeowners have noted for some time that property taxes have risen precipitously, and this has the potential to heavily impact people living on a fixed income. But certain tax deferral options available to seniors and veterans should be employed if necessary, according to a Tennessee county official who spoke with a local radio station in […]
The Trump administration is expected to try to remove the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) from conservatorship, but it probably won’t be fast and it probably won’t be without considerable strife. At the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Servicing Solutions Conference & Expo in Dallas on Thursday, experts shared their views on when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac […]
Multistate mortgage lender Click n’ Close on Thursday announced that it’s adding a 30-year, fixed-rate conventional loan option to its SmartBuy Shared Appreciation Mortgage (SAM) program. Texas-based Click n’ Close, formerly known as Mid America Mortgage, offers the SmartBuy SAM program as an alternative path to homeownership. SAM loans grant the lender a share of […]
New data released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) revealed that the delinquency rate for mortgages on one- to four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.98% of all loans outstanding at the end of 2024. The national delinquency rate was up 6 basis points (bps) from Q3 2024 and up […]
Now that he has been confirmed and sworn in as the 19th secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Scott Turner said he plans on moving to act on what he calls a Trump administration priority — privatization of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A name change […]
A panel of housing agency leaders talking about new mortgage servicing priorities under the second Trump administration was scheduled to last a full hour. It went about 30 minutes before the moderator conceded that the panelists simply didn’t have a lot to say about those priorities. The truth is, they really don’t know yet. At […]
On Thursday, PennyMac Financial Services Inc. announced the launch of its full-service, nondelegated mortgage solution, NonDel+, an end-to-end loan experience within its dynamic POWER+ portal. According to a company press release, the new product is “specifically tailored to banker partners who value control over their loans, but desire support with disclosures, loan documents and additional […]
Describing the modern-day mortgage market as challenging would be an understatement, to say the least. Mortgage interest rates have steadily ramped up throughout 2024. The average rate throughout 2024 for 30-year fixed mortgages was 6.72% — higher than it was during the 2008 market crash. If that’s not enough, affordability is still a distant dream […]
It all started with sponge and a bucket of soapy water. Recently, I helped hand-wash the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the District of Columbia. I honored my fellow service members and Naval Academy classmates who protected our country. I stood alongside Jan Scruggs, founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. At that moment, the legacy of […]
Here’s a hypothetical scenario: Let’s say the staffers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) remain forbidden to work until Jan. 21, 2029. What would the mortgage servicing regulation landscape look like? At the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s Servicing 2025 Expo in Dallas on Wednesday, top servicing executives said that even in a friendlier regulatory environment, […]
Digital mortgage lender Better on Wednesday announced the launch of a loyalty program dubbed “Better Forever.” The program is designed to reward customers by waiving origination fees on future refinance or purchase loans. Customers who previously funded a loan through Better on or after Jan. 1, 2019, are automatically enrolled in the program. “We are […]
The number of family caregivers who support older relatives in either home-based or residential care settings increased by 32% between 2011 and 2022 — a sharp rise that can be attributed to an increase in the number of caregivers living with recipients. Researchers also say this could be partially tied to rising preferences for aging […]
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Scott Turner as the 19th secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Turner cleared the confirmation process in a vote of 55-44 that was almost entirely along party lines. Two Democrats, John Fetterman (Pa.) and Peter Welch (Vt.), crossed the aisle to vote […]
Mortgage applications increased 2.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending January 31, 2025. On an unadjusted basis, the index measuring applications increased 19% compared with the previous week. The refinance index increased 12% from the previous […]
The U.S. and Canadian real estate markets are unstable amidst increasingly severe climate risks — including floods, wildfires, and hurricanes. This necessitates a radical re-think of common risk management strategies. While both nations share climate vulnerabilities, distinct regional risks pose challenges for property values and mortgage lending. Property values: Impact and implications U.S. property values […]
A bill introduced in January to the New York state Senate is seeking to bolster the disclosures that reverse mortgage lenders make to potential clients in an effort to broaden their understanding of the product, as well as the obligations that a borrower assumes when engaging with the industry. This is according to the text […]
Arrival Home Loans on Tuesday announced a partnership with zavvie — a fintech company that specializes in bringing liquidity to residential real estate — in an effort to enhance the homebuying experience for its customers. The collaboration combines Arrival Home Loans’ niche in owner-occupied bridge loans with zavvie’s advanced technology platform for single-family homes. In […]
Mortgage technology technology Optimal Blue on Tuesday announced a series of new products and innovations at its inaugural Optimal Blue Summit user conference in San Diego. The company first announced the launch of a new artificial intelligence-powered assistant. The new product, dubbed Ask Obi, will primarily benefit mortgage executives by offering insights and data drawn […]
The so-called “silver tsunami” — referring to some kind of “rush” of older people into certain places, out of the workforce or to their housing stock, depending on who you talk to — is likely to have serious economic ramifications with negative potential, or a lot of upside potential due to the ways in which […]
The long-term cost of a home loan remains above 7%, but the trendline is moving in a positive direction for consumers and lenders even after the Federal Reserve paused its rate-cutting cycle last week. Data at HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center shows that rates for 30-year conforming loans averaged 7.10% on Tuesday, down 4 basis points […]
Cornerstone Capital Bank, a national mortgage originator and servicer, is launching a community lending division to serve underserved communities, the company announced this week. The new division will be based in Arlington, Texas. Cornerstone plans to close the homeownership gap for underserved communities in the 45 states that the company operates in. According to the […]
In February 2024, Sagent, a Warburg Pincus-backed fintech firm, announced the launch of its mortgage software platform, Dara. A year later, HousingWire checked in with the Dara team about what lies ahead. “We previewed the Dara platform in February of 2024 at the MBA servicing conference,” said Perry Hilzendeger, Sagent’s executive vice president of servicing. […]
In his first official action as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Scott Bessent ordered staffers to stop bureau activities, including the issuance of final rules, settlement enforcement actions, or participation in legal cases. Agency staffers have also been instructed to suspend the effective date of any final rules that have not […]