General World News

How this week’s Fed meeting could impact inventory

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As we started 2024, the signals in the U.S. real estate market were for inventory growth, sales growth and home-price growth across the U.S. At the time, I observed that even if mortgage rates stayed flat, the momentum seemed to be in the cards for broad, slow growth in the market.  However, mortgage rates didn’t […]

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Digital lender Better.com launches one-day HELOC product  

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Digital lender Better.com launched its One Day Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) product that will provide approval decisions to consumers within 24 hours of locking their interest rate.  Better launched its first HELOC product about a year ago. The One Day HELOC product is the latest upgraded version as the New York-headquartered lender looks […]

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‘Find buyers before agents!’ Mortgage industry reacts to the NAR settlement

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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) settlement of commission lawsuits nationwide is expected to force mortgage lenders and loan officers to find new ways of approaching listing agents and borrowers, give LOs a more significant role in the home-buying process, and encourage housing professionals to pursue dual-licensing, industry experts told HousingWire. Mortgage pros have closely […]

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Average IMB lost $2,109 per loan in Q4 2023

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Production gains and losses for IMBs and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks over the past five years. Courtesy of the Mortgage Bankers Association “This year was exacerbated by the current lack of housing inventory and mortgage rates that increased to their highest levels of the year, keeping refinancings volumes low. These factors contributed to a […]

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Lisa Moriello talks tech, 2024 HECM limit and openness to reverse mortgages

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Lisa Moriello, the national retail reverse mortgage sales manager at multichannel lender loanDepot, recently spoke to RMD about how business in 2024 seemed to be off to a promising start. Diving deeper into the current reverse mortgage business environment, she offered additional perspectives on multiple topics. These include the integration of forward mortgage professionals into […]

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Change Lending to join Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

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Nonbank mortgage originator Change Lending will become a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLB-SF). The Anaheim, California-based originator’s application was approved on Wednesday after it fulfilled all statutory requirements for membership, including those related to capital, profitability and liquidity, the company reported. Change’s membership will become effective upon its acquisition […]

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RMF parent obtains Chapter 7 bankruptcy status

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The presiding judge in the bankruptcy case involving Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust (RMIT) — the parent company of former leading reverse mortgage lender Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) — has approved a request to transfer the company’s bankruptcy status to Chapter 7 from its current Chapter 11 status. This is according to court documents reviewed by […]

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UWM to cover costs of hard credit pulls

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United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) will begin to cover the upfront cost of hard credit report pulls for its broker partners as it aims to expand market share. The new initiative will ease the impact of out-of-pocket expenses for mortgage brokers after the costs for credit reports increased this year, the company said in making the […]

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Rosy economic news could prolong elevated mortgage rates

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Good news! The national economy is growing; unemployment is low; corporate revenues are up. For housing and mortgage professionals, however, these apparent boons spell trouble. They signal that the economy is still running hot — or at least more than lukewarm — and that inflation may still need more cold water from the Federal Reserve […]

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Mortgage demand rises for a second straight week 

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A decline in interest rates buoyed mortgage demand for another week. Mortgage applications increased by 7.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending March 8, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey. It was the second increase in a row.  “Mortgage rates dropped below 7% last week for most loan […]

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loanDepot narrows losses in 2023, expects tough first quarter due to cyberattack

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loanDepot greatly reduced its costs in 2023 while revenues were in free fall amid a contracting market. It wasn’t enough to bring the California-based lender company profitability, but it narrowed its losses.  Operationally, loanDepot entered 2024 by dealing with a cyberattack that brought its systems down and a forecast for market conditions to improve.  loanDepot recorded a non-GAAP […]

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HUD outlines reverse mortgage wish list in budget proposal

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The White House this week submitted its fiscal year 2025 budget proposal to the House of Representatives and the Senate, outlining the priorities of the administration in providing a budgetary blueprint for the entirety of the U.S. federal government. Within the congressional justifications for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are a […]

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Mortgage market consolidates around largest nonbank firms: Fitch

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The largest U.S. nonbank mortgage lenders continue to gain market share as the industry consolidates and a number of smaller players exit the space due to a lack of strong franchises to retain sufficient volume, Fitch Ratings reported Tuesday. Fitch expects additional consolidation in the industry as profitability remains constrained by a challenging origination environment.  […]

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Mortgage rates cool off ahead of inflation reading

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In anticipation of Tuesday’s inflation reading, mortgage rates eased compared to last week. HousingWire’s Mortgage Rate Center showed the average 30-year fixed rate for conventional loans at 7.08% on Tuesday, down from 7.17% one week earlier. At the same time one year ago, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.83%. Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed rate averaged […]

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Polly launches Lender Intelligence platform 

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Mortgage capital markets tech firm Polly rolled out its Lender Intelligence platform, which leverages data and analytics to drive margin expansion and cost reduction. The new platform will enable lenders to track their volume trends, see how their loan pricing compares to competitors and gain insights into loan origination profit margins, Polly stated. Lender Intelligence […]

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Fintech Maxwell launches POS feature that offers tailored workflows for lenders

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Wells Fargo-backed mortgage fintech Maxwell rolled out a point-of-sale (POS) feature that offers tailored workflows and integrations. The Blueprint Builder features more than 60 third-party integrations, allowing lending teams to connect with other pieces of their workflow, from credit and verifications to pricing and disclosures. Lenders can choose to integrate and configure many third-party services […]

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RON platform NotaryCam records strong growth in 2023

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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 […]

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HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge announces resignation

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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 […]

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Floify’s new platform aims to provide flexible pricing for mortgage lenders

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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 […]

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Opinion: The baby boom wave is cresting

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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 […]

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Rate lock volume rose going into the spring buying season

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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 […]

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Will mortgage rates keep heading lower? 

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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 […]

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‘There will be bank failures,’ Fed chief tells lawmakers

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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 […]

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Expert says women face unique retirement challenges: CNBC

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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 […]

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Ex-Summit executive: I was fired after blowing the whistle on illegal recruiting methods

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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 […]

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Home equity remained near historic highs to end 2023

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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 […]