Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Thursday announced that it has issued a waiver to a requirement that FHA-approved lenders flag rejected loans in the FHA Connection (FHAC) system, an effort the agency says will improve access to government-insured mortgage financing for qualified borrowers.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

It’s resulting in calls to reimagine the costs of homeowners insurance (Image generated by AI in Midjourney) As the planet warms and extreme weather intensifies, the rising cost of homeowners insurance is stopping real estate deals in their tracks. Some insurers say catastrophe risk is part of the business, part of the job.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Mortgage servicers, regulators and economists are closely watching the delinquency rates for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans following a spike in the fourth quarter of 2023. The sources spoke about these issues during this week’s Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Servicing Solutions Conference & Expo in Orlando.

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Housing Wire

MAY 1, 2024

As existing home sales dropped to the lowest level it has seen in nearly three decades in 2023 , title insurance premium volume also took a hit. In 2023, the title insurance industry generated $15.1 ALTA attributed the drop in premium volume to a decrease in mortgage originations. billion), Florida ($1.92

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2024

Limited housing supply and a continuation of high home prices in many markets nationwide in 2023 restricted many first-time homebuyers from entering the housing market and finding their dream homes. Even as home prices began to decrease last year, mortgage rates remained high, leading both buyers and sellers to stay out of the housing market.

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Housing Wire

APRIL 12, 2024

While the slowdown has resulted in a return to pre-pandemic levels of market activity, real estate agents across the state believe that an issue far greater than 7% mortgage rates may cause the housing market to slow further. “We We have an insurance problem,” said Charlotte Johnson , a Keller Williams agent based in Mandeville.

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Housing Wire

MAY 14, 2024

Its net earnings were $248 million, compared to a $59 million net loss in Q1 2023. The firm attributed its stronger results to better performance from both its F&G segment and its title insurance segment. In first-quarter 2024 , Fidelity reported total revenue of $3.299 billion, up from $2.474 billion a year ago.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

Rocket Companies will soon shut down Rocket Pro Originate , a mortgage origination platform for real estate agents, insurance agents, tax professionals and other financial professionals who are also licensed to originate mortgages. In fourth-quarter 2023, Rocket reported $10.3

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 4, 2024

For the title insurance industry, this meant an uptick in title insurance premium volume, which came in at $4.09 billion in Q1 2023. Although premium volume was up, the industry has paid off more in claims during the first half of 2024 than in the first half of 2023. million for the same period in 2023. With 28.8%

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Why is homeowners insurance so expensive in the Upper Midwest? The growing prevalence of extreme weather events and the high cost of construction are pushing property insurers to significantly raise their prices , even in places you might not expect. More: catastrophic weather events are “a key driver” of the premium hikes.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 16, 2024

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced on Wednesday that it’s offering a conventional cash-out loan product with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 90% and no mortgage insurance. The baseline conforming loan limit for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2024 was $766,550.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 6, 2023

New American Funding ’s partnership with Matic Insurance and OneSource Solution will provide insurance and home setup services for existing and new customers while NAF is processing the loan. Mortgage customers can bundle food, wind, auto, pet, life and other personal lines of insurance through NAF Insurance, which is powered by Matic.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2025

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in December released its 2023 Mortgage Market Activity and Trends report, which included a brief look at activity from the reverse mortgage industry based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data from 2023. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage was No.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Senate and the House of Representatives introduced new bills requiring title insurance on mortgages purchased by government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The bill is also known as The Protecting America’s Property Rights Act and is the companion bill to Senate Bill 2687 , which was introduced in late July 2023. On Thursday, U.S.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 30, 2024

A total of 135 new homebuyer assistance programs were introduced in 2023, a 6% increase over the previous year. A growing number of nonbank mortgage lenders have recently rolled out down payment assistance (DPA) programs to increase their origination share in a challenging mortgage environment.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

New York-based digital lender Better Home & Finance Holding Company launched Better Insurance to allow customers to shop for homeowners insurance through a fully digital platform. Better Insurance is fully autonomous. The goal for Better Insurance is to offer the service to all 50 states by 2024.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2023

Builders feel more confident in the market, housing inventory data is positive and buyer demand for mortgages has increased — but don’t be fooled. Fitch Ratings expects a challenging 2023 — at least in the near term — while the industry right-sizes from the $4 trillion production volume that occurred during the pandemic boom years.

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Appraisal Buzz

JULY 24, 2024

The report highlights significant challenges faced by homeowners, mortgage entities, and the housing market as a whole due to record premium increases, ongoing new business restrictions, and carrier exits. According to Matic research, one reason for these market disruptions may be the very high number of catastrophic events in 2023—28 U.S.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 11, 2023

We wanted to craft a brand that is impossible to ignore,” Jack Rattikin III, ALTA’s 2022-2023 president, told attendees gathered in The Broadmoor’s International Center. In the end no one wanted the title insurance waiver program, but it allowed us a chance to really articulate our value in the real estate transaction to several regulators.”

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

home in June 2022, you probably locked in about $1,400 a month in mortgage payments. Due largely to higher mortgage rates , that same home today would cost about $2,175 a month. Mortgage payments are only part of the affordability challenge. Other holding costs for real estate include taxes and insurance.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 28, 2023

In his 20 years in mortgage banking, no year has compared to 2023 in terms of difficulty, said Ben Cohen, Guaranteed Rate ’s managing director and a top-producing loan officer. This is a lot different than 2008 where you needed a credit score and a heartbeat to get a mortgage. An additional 21% closed 1.5

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Appraisal Buzz

OCTOBER 3, 2024

First American Financial Corporation , a provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions, has published a data-driven analysis of the vital role that the title insurance industry plays in protecting the smooth functioning of the real estate economy in the United States. With total revenue of $6.0 and abroad.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Thursday sent a letter to leaders of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to address the availability of flood insurance. MBA members are very concerned that private property insurance has reached a point of critical market dislocation,” the letter said.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 21, 2024

The construction activity is likely to place the housing industry and its financing partners on a “collision course” with insurers, the outlet said. Big payouts from natural disasters are driving insurers to raise rates and pull back on coverage,” the report stated.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Among homeowners who have a mortgage escrow account, only 52% fully understand how the account works, according to survey results released Thursday by property tax services provider LERETA. In 2023, 60% of the calls were related to escrow accounts, specifically shortages due to rising property taxes or insurance costs.”

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 13, 2024

The American Land Title Association is making it clear that it won’t have the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau making drastic changes to title insurance without first at least hearing the trade groups thoughts on the issue. 2, the trade group stressed the importance of title insurance.

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Housing Wire

MAY 16, 2024

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has launched a new service to handle all the title work for its brokers on refinancings. mortgage lender announced the service on Thursday during an annual meeting with its broker partners in Pontiac, Michigan. The top U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (V.A.) loans but only for refinances.

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Insurance Agents Real Estate Agent Mortgage 476

Housing Wire

JUNE 11, 2024

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has terminated the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement approval for Open Mortgage in Iowa. “HUD Texas-based multichannel lender Open Mortgage has originated about $400 million in mortgages over the past 12 months, per mortgage tech platform Modex.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 7, 2023

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 11, 2024

in the past year, driven by more cases of identity and transaction fraud New data shows that cases of fraud among mortgage applicants is on the rise — an eye-raising trend as demand from borrowers remains relatively quiet. The CoreLogic Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index jumped by 8.3% in 2024 and by 12% in 2023.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) managed another solid year of financial performance for the Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund, covering FHA’s Title II Single Family Mortgage Insurance programs. 30, a year-over-year drop of 0.6%

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Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2024

The HousingWire Marketing Leaders award recognizes outstanding professionals who have demonstrated excellence in marketing within mortgage and real estate. This impact is evident in the achievements of HousingWire’s 2023 Marketing Leaders honorees. brands, including brokerage, mortgage, title, insurance and technology.

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Marketing Project Management Advertising Real Estate 446

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Effective March 1, the credit will be available for homebuyers earning 50% of area median income (AMI) or less through Freddie Mac’s Home Possible and Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Advantage mortgage products. The credit can be used for down payments, closing costs, escrow and mortgage insurance premiums.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Name Job Title Company Name Aaron VanTrojen CEO Geneva Financial Home Loans Abbie Tidmore Senior Managing Director and Chief Revenue Officer Pennymac Adam Kessler CEO Academy Mortgage Baron Silverstein President Newrez Ben Madick Co-Founder and CEO Matic Insurance Bernadette Kogler Co-Founder and CEO RiskSpan Bill Rogers Founder and CEO Homeowners (..)

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Realty Real Estate Technology Lending 488

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

New York-based digital lender Better Home & Finance Holding Company has partnered with information technology consulting company Infosys on a mortgage-as-a-service platform. Better’s mortgage as a service currently consists roughly 20% of its revenue and the lender aims to grow this business line, Garg said.

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Mortgage Insurance Finance Technology 435

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Congratulations to the 2023 Tech Trendsetters honorees. From cutting-edge fintech solutions to revolutionary proptech platforms, these leaders have demonstrated the ability to harness technology in addressing key challenges and unlocking new opportunities within the housing sector.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

As low inventory levels, elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices keep the housing industry stagnant, short-term real estate investors — aka fix-and-flippers — faced market turmoil during the third quarter of 2024. But the share of flipped homes sold for less than $300,000 increased from Q3 2023.

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