Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Our economy faces many challenges persistent high mortgage interest rates , a declining rate of existing home sales, elevated costs for basic goods and services, labor market imbalances, and rising health care costs to name just a few. The availability of funding at the local level is the driving force in building stronger communities.

Lending 394

Lending Development Business Insurance 394

Housing Wire

APRIL 1, 2025

Today, A&D Mortgage announced the official closing of its acquisition of the wholesale and non-delegated correspondent mortgage business from Mr. Cooper Group. Cooper previously acquired the wholesale and nondelegated mortgage business assets as part of its Flagstar Bank transaction in November 2024.

Mortgage 394

Mortgage Government Lending Technology 394

Housing Wire

JANUARY 3, 2025

Reverse mortgage professionals made more inroads into the forward mortgage industry in 2024. This happened through dedicated conversations, partnerships between reverse and forward mortgage companies, and expanded activities in reverse that stemmed from acquisitions and expansions of existing divisions.

Mortgage 418

Mortgage Lending Loan Officers Training 418

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

Despite the recent rise in mortgage rates, early indicators suggest that the housing market is pointed in the right direction. The October pending sales data is a sign that fourth-quarter sales will be strong enough so that 2024 sales end up higher than 2023,” Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant said in a statement.

Marketing 370

Marketing Realtors Housing Market Lending 370

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 15, 2024

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. Department of Justice (DOJ) over the regulators’ allegations of mortgage lending discrimination in majority-Black neighborhoods of the Birmingham, Alabama , metro area. mortgage lenders in the first half of 2024, with $11.8 million civil penalty. million civil penalty.

Advertising 468

Advertising Lending Loan Officers Retail 468

Housing Wire

MARCH 3, 2025

Union Home Mortgage (UHM) on Monday announced its acquisition of Nations Reliable Lending , aka NRL Mortgage. By coming together, we expand the reach of that promise further, while also continuing to build a unique workplace culture in the mortgage industry,” UHM CEO Bill Cosgrove said in a statement.

Mortgage 334

Mortgage Loan Officers Lending Business 334

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Finance of America (FOA), the leading reverse mortgage lender, presented a robust outlook last week in its third-quarter 2024 earnings and is aiming to hit the ground running with business in 2025. The product was first introduced in 2018, marking the industry’s first-ever second-lien reverse mortgage option.

Modernization 370

Modernization Mortgage Design Advertising 370

Appraisal Buzz

MARCH 4, 2025

The mortgage industry has traditionally been dominated by men, and although we have made laudable progress, women in our space still face challenges in terms of pay equity, bias, and advancement. Women do hold a dominant percentage of Mortgage Processor positions, at 78%, and 56% of marketing positions.

Lending 221

Lending Mortgage Loan Officers Architecture 221

Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

California -based direct lender AmeriTrust Mortgage announced a new addition to its leadership team. The company welcomed veteran mortgage executive Jett Farrington this week as its new chief operating officer. billion in loans in 2024, according to an Instagram post on the company’s website.

Mortgage 397

Mortgage Retail Business Lending 397

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 20, 2024

At the beginning of 2024, mortgage technology company LoanPASS was announced as a technology partner for reverse mortgage lender Smartfi Home Loans. The lender chose LoanPASS to provide its software-as-a-service (SaaS) product and pricing engine in its reverse lending operations. What does the future hold?

Mortgage 397

Mortgage Technology Modernization Business 397

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Sierra Pacific Mortgage has hired Suzy Lindblom as its new Chief Operating Officer, the company announced in a LinkedIn post. With more than 40 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Lindblom was most recently chief operating officer (COO) at lender and servicer Arc Home , serving in that role from August 2022 to February 2024.

Mortgage 370

Mortgage Lending 370

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Fannie Mae on Tuesday announced the results of its 2024Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards(STAR) program, recognizing 29 mortgage servicers for “competency, capability, and overall performance.” Guild Mortgage Co. PHH Mortgage Corp. Dovenmuehle Mortgage Inc. Freedom Mortgage Corp. BOK Financial Corp.

Mortgage 312

Mortgage Lending Business Marketing 312

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 2, 2024

“We are expanding the availability of our Homebuyer Access grant program to additional areas to expand opportunities for low-to-moderate income homebuyers,” Kevin Reen, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending, said in a statement. Wells Fargo’s mortgage originations reached $5.5 Wells Fargo’s mortgage originations reached $5.5

Lending 397

Lending Retail Mortgage Investing 397

Housing Wire

JUNE 17, 2024

loanDepot has promoted Viviana Abarca, who has worked for the mortgage lender for the past 11 years, to managing director of mortgage lending operations. Abarca will lead loanDepot’s loan processing, underwriting and closing operations, which in the first quarter of 2024 were responsible for closing $4.6

Lending 448

Lending Mortgage Tools Development 448

Housing Wire

MARCH 11, 2025

Tomo Mortgage on Tuesday announced the closure of $20 million in Series B funding that was led by three existing investors and a new participant. The companys tech-driven approach to lending is proving attractive to investors. In February 2024, the company launched a home search portal, Tomo Real Estate.

Mortgage 360

Mortgage Investors Insurance Loan Officers 360

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2025

TransUnion has expanded its partnership with Truework to provide mortgage lenders with broader access to income and employment verification data. The mortgage addition follows similar integrations for rental screening and auto lending. The mortgage addition follows similar integrations for rental screening and auto lending.

Tools 352

Tools Mortgage Human Resources Lending 352

Housing Wire

MARCH 21, 2025

housing market remains challenging for prospective buyers as concerns over mortgage rates , home prices and affordability persist in 2025. A NerdWallet report with second-quarter 2024 data found that the average monthly housing payment was $3,500 or 49% of the median income for those in the typical first-time homebuyer age group.

Loan Officers 317

Loan Officers Property Taxes Marketing Insurance 317

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Perhaps most importantly, some homebuilders have been subsidizing mortgage rates to help maintain employment and finish ongoing projects. As 2024 comes to a close, the Fed has managed to overlook these issues for another year due to the factors mentioned above. If mortgage rates hadn’t dropped from 7.5%

Construction 511

Construction Modernization Mortgage Housing Market 511

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Banks reported having tightened lending standards across almost all categories of residential real estate loans over the fourth quarter of 2023 amid an elevated interest rate environment. banks said they saw weaker demand for all types of residential real estate loans except for government (46.2%) and subprime mortgage loans (41.6%).

Lending 497

Lending Mortgage Loan Officers Government 497

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

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. Why is that important?

Mortgage 343

Mortgage Training Construction Investors 343

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 15, 2024

Chrissi Callaghan Rhea, co-founder of Mortgage Investors Group and member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) board of directors, died on Nov. One of her contributions to the industry was being a “driving force” behind MBA’s efforts to ban abusive mortgage trigger leads , Broeksmit said. 8, at the age of 73.

Investors 370

Investors Mortgage Loan Officers Lending 370

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 22, 2024

The third-quarter financials for Pennymac Financial Services illustrate the double-edged sword of declining interest rates for mortgage companies. That was less than its $98 million profit in the second quarter of 2024, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday. million in Q2 2024 and $25.2

Government 435

Government Investing Mortgage Valuation 435

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

In 2024, Kiavi reportedly originated a record $6.5 In July 2024, Kiavi announced its closing of a $350 million securitization of residential transition loans (RTLs), bringing its six-month volume of issuances to nearly $1 billion. The market expansion comes on the heels of a heavy volume year for the San Francisco-headquartered lender.

Lending 326

Lending Investing Real Estate Investors 326

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 17, 2024

Better said its new tool communicates with potential and current customers by answering mortgage application questions, verifying outstanding application data and connecting with Tinman in real time. Kevin Ryan, Better’s chief financial officer, said that the average cost to sell and process a mortgage in the U.S.

Loan Officers 435

Loan Officers Tools Technology Mortgage 435

Appraisal Buzz

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) will co-host the “Mortgage Market Resilience and Access to Credit Summit” on Tuesday, October 15 at HUD’s headquarters. Independent mortgage banks play a key role in making this a reality, and this summit will shine a spotlight on their essential contributions to our housing market.”

Marketing 370

Marketing Mortgage Finance Retail 370

Housing Wire

AUGUST 6, 2024

The downward movement in mortgage rates over the past few months accelerated last week as a cooler-than-expected jobs report and indications of a Federal Reserve rate cut led to a steep drop in loan pricing. Several reported that mortgage rates rose again on Tuesday due to weaker mortgage-backed securities prices.

Mortgage 505

Mortgage Tools Government Lending 505

Housing Wire

AUGUST 1, 2024

Mortgage servicer and lender Planet Home Lending is acquiring the retail division assets of employee-owned Axia Home Loans , HousingWire has learned. Executives at Planet Home Lending were also on the call. Last year, it acquired the majority of Platinum Home Mortgage Corp.’s in the first half of 2024 with $8.38

Retail 468

Retail Lending Finance Mortgage 468

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

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. By 2024, her home was valued at $425,000.

Business 349

Business Mortgage Contracts Law 349

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

If we learned anything from HousingWire’s recent AI Summit , artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping lending by streamlining processes, reducing costs, and enhancing the overall borrower experience. That’s not sustainable for a healthy mortgage industry. Click here to nominate someone.

Lending 459

Lending Mortgage Technology Tools 459

Housing Wire

AUGUST 16, 2024

As discussed in previous reverse mortgage rate updates , the federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage ( HECM ) is the dominant reverse mortgage in America. As a result, HECM has become synonymous with reverse mortgages. Consider that 99.81% of HECMs originated in June 2024 were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).

Mortgage 448

Mortgage Insurance Lending Finance 448

Housing Wire

JUNE 7, 2024

Almost all Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) originated today utilize the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) option. In stark contrast to traditional mortgage lending, the reverse mortgage business is dominated by ARMs, representing over 99% of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured reverse mortgages originated today.

Mortgage 448

Mortgage Insurance Lending Business 448

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

How can today’s mortgage lending market be summed up in one word? For homeowners who purchased their property during COVID when mortgage rates were near 3%, the word “comfortable” may come to mind. Acra Lending has done precisely that. For them, the word would likely be “flowing.”

Lending 312

Lending Technology Tools Mortgage 312

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

In 2024, a key element for the reverse mortgage industry was a sense of newfound collaboration that many industry participants felt with forward mortgage players. He also said he is encouraged by a greater role being played by other forward mortgage organizations in seeking out such partnerships. Mayer said.

Mortgage 349

Mortgage Business Tools Lending 349

Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2024

Home-equity lending overall found its wings in 2023 as a number of independent mortgage banks ramped up product lines over the course of the year — despite a bump in the road in the third quarter when mortgage rates surged past 7%. Market indicators so far appear tentatively promising. from $490 billion in the second quarter.

Lending 488

Lending Inventory Mortgage Finance 488

Housing Wire

JANUARY 15, 2025

The study claims that the crisis can be traced back to the early 2000s when subprime lending activities were prevalent. The resulting housing market crash and the Great Recession led policymakers to overcorrect by tightening mortgage lending standards and limiting funds for new construction.

Lending 418

Lending Housing Market Inventory Construction 418

Housing Wire

MAY 17, 2024

Chase Home Lending , the consumer and commercial banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. , has raised its closing guarantee from $5,000 to $20,000 until July 27, 2024, the bank announced on Thursday. We’re focused on the things we can control in this environment and that’s supporting our customers all the way home.

Lending 481

Lending Real Estate Agent Contracts Government 481

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 16, 2025

ATTOMs Year-End 2024 U.S. properties in 2024, down 10% from 2023, down 1% from 2022, and down 35% from 2019, before the pandemic shook up the market. Foreclosure filings in 2024 were also down 89% from a peak of nearly 2.9 Foreclosure filings in 2024 were also down 89% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010.

Lending 389

Lending Investors Housing Market Marketing 389