Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
Home-buyer purchasing power increased 6.9% this July, meaning a homebuyer with a $2,500 monthly housing budget can afford a home priced $33,250 higher than a year ago, Redfin found , which it credited to historically low mortgage rates. But with home prices up 8.2% year over year in July, this home-buyer purchasing power is essentially canceled out, data from Redfin shows.
Midtown Appraisal Group
AUGUST 30, 2020
The answer is…it depends. As an appraiser, I’m often asked some version of this question: “My house is a mess and I just found out they want to send the appraiser tomorrow. Do you think it’ll make a huge difference to the appraised value?” The standard, professional answer is, of course: “No, it won’t affect […].
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McKissock
AUGUST 30, 2020
Whether you’re a seasoned real estate agent or a newly-licensed agent trying to get your business off the ground, you may find yourself in a slump from time to time. What do you do to overcome it? We sat down with national real estate coach Sherri Johnson to get her advice on how to get out of a slump. Click the video below to watch this insightful interview.
REX Real Estate
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
Whether you are a skilled photographer or art lover, building a gallery wall is…
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
The deadliest pandemic in more than a century has failed to derail the housing market because of the lowest mortgage rates ever recorded coupled with a shift in how people use their homes. “The buyers are coming in because of the low interest rates – that’s the No. 1 reason,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors said in an interview with HousingWire.
PennyMac
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
When shopping for a home, many of us know our basic focal points, such as identifying the right neighborhood or finding a house with the ideal number of bedrooms and bathrooms. These factors are important, but there are other home features (some very large and some very small) that can greatly contribute to the enjoyment of your new home. Let's make sure you don’t miss any of them.
Property Appraisal Zone brings together the best content for appraisal professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
REX Real Estate
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
Homes sales have largely recovered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wide-spread…
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
According to Census data, approximately 21% of renter households are behind on rent payment, and it’s estimated that up to 40 million renters could face eviction over the next few months after federal eviction moratoriums expired in late July. Now, states and localities are deciding if and when to end or extend eviction moratoriums. Today, eviction moratoriums are expiring in Atlanta and Pennsylvania.
PennyMac
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
VA home loans have many well-known benefits, including low rates and the exciting combination of no down payment and no mortgage insurance. Lenders are able to offer veterans these excellent terms because VA home loans are backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition to major down payment flexibility, VA loans offer many more useful features that you may not know about.
McKissock
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
On Wednesday, September 23, 2020, McKissock Learning is hosting a FREE one-hour, non-credit Pro-Series webinar titled “Fannie Mae Q3 2020 Appraisal Update.” In this special interactive webinar, knowledgeable presenters from Fannie Mae’s Collateral Policy Team will share the latest policy updates impacting appraisers, share insights about appraisal quality and how it is measured by Collateral Underwriter ® (CU), and dispel some common myths pertaining to Fannie Mae’s appraisal policies.
REX Real Estate
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
When the clock struck midnight on Jan.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
Back in April when darkness was looking us straight in our eyes, I wrote this: “These are dark times. But even in dark times, we are preternaturally prepared to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We learned in human physiology class that the photoreceptors of the human eye can detect a single photon of light. While it may not be until nine or more photons hit the retina that we perceived dawn, we see before we can perceive.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
Black Knight has acquired DocVerify to boost its e-notarization capabilities. Black Knight announced the purchase of the privately held company on Thursday, without disclosing the terms of the transaction. “The acquisition helps accelerate Black Knight’s goal of digitizing the entirety of the real estate and mortgage continuum as DocVerify’s trusted and proven digital document verification capabilities are already seamlessly integrated with Expedite Close, Black Knight’s digital closing platform
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consent order against two companies on Tuesday following recent investigations of mortgage companies that use deceptive mailers to advertise loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Those investigations have resulted in actions against six companies this summer. The most recent cases were those against Service 1st Mortgage, Inc. , and Hypotec Inc., which found the companies had sent consumers numerous mailers for VA-g
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consent order against mortgage broker and lender Accelerate Mortgage on Wednesday following recent investigations of mortgage companies that use deceptive mailers to advertise loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Accelerate’s investigation marks the seventh company this summer to settle with the CFPB for similar actions.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
WEST , a Williston Financial Group company, announced this week that its cybersecurity service WESTprotect.com , created to aid title and real estate agents as well as lenders from potential online risks and email fraud, is now available on an on-demand and self-serve basis. The site offers free sign-up for fraud alert warnings, risk reports, and the company’s cybersecurity help desk, WESTprotect 411 – an email-analysis subscription service that analyzes suspicious emails and reports back within
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
realtor.com named Bob Evans vice president of industry relations, where he will lead the company’s long-standing efforts to engage and support its industry partners. This includes Realtor associations, MLSs, agents, brokers, lenders and title companies. Bringing 35 years of industry experience to his new positions, Evans said that he is “thrilled to move into this role at such a pivotal time in our industry and for the company.”.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
Mortgage applications fell 2% last week, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, marking the third week of declines. The refinance index also fell 3% last week, however remained 40% higher than the same week one year ago. Despite 30-year fixed and 15-year fixed mortgage rates declining to near historical lows, both conventional and government refinancing activity fell last week, said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
RE/MAX Holdings and its mortgage franchise Motto Mortgage announced Tuesday the acquisition of wemlo , a mortgage processing startup, for an undisclosed amount. Dustin Morton, vice president of product and strategy at Motto Mortgage, recognized wemlo’s potential right away. “Our network has grown so fast, and we’re always kind of hungry for more solutions when it comes to processing,” Morton told HousingWire.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
Proptech company RealPage has entered the smart building space. The company paid an undisclosed amount to acquire STratis IoT , a property management tech firm based in Philadelphia. Stratis IoT connects smart apartment systems and devices into one app, integrating over 100 of the largest providers of smart apartment devices and systems. “Stratis IoT positions RealPage to enter a burgeoning market for smart access control, smart home devices and revolutionary new bulk Wi-Fi networks,” Steve Winn
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
“What is the single greatest factor standing in the way of remote online notarizations?” Even as I asked it, I knew the answer. “I can answer that in one word, and then I’ll explain.” Regulations. He’s going to say state regulations. I knew what the answer was, I just wanted to hear him say it. I was wrong. The rest of this content is for HW+ members.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
The banks need bodies. Documents need to be collected, credit scores need to be checked, appraisers need to be arranged. There’s a lot of mortgages to be processed. Across its mortgage footprint, “ Citizens Bank has hired close to 100 underwriters, processors and loan officers this year to keep up with the demand and further their commitment in the mortgage retail space,” said Ace Watanasuparp, who heads residential lending for Citizens in New York City.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
This year’s low rates have led to high loan volumes, and lenders overwhelmed with applications are looking for the best way to handle the increased workload. Scaling up staffing can help, but it can be difficult to find enough people to take care of the manual processes to keep up with the demand. And hiring in a wave of high volumes can mean layoffs when the market is less robust.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
An analysis of recent real estate licensing trends released by Agent Advice this week reveals that licensing rates are beginning to recover from a precipitous drop caused by COVID-19 in March and April. Guest Author, Jasen Edwards. Data pulled from California, Texas, and Florida (which together capture 36% of real estate licensees in the United States) indicates that prospective real estate agents, and the real estate industry as a whole, experienced a collective slow-down in March and April as
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
Digital lender Beeline plans to hire over 300 new employees total by September 2021 – with over 100 new positions opening in Charlotte, North Carolina and Providence, Rhode Island, the company said Monday. After its initial launch by industry veterans Nick Liuzza, Peter Gonzalez, Jess Kennedy, Greg Ellis and Jay Stockwell in May with $7.6 million in funding, the once 30-person company said it is looking to expand beyond its Northeastern home base.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a net gain of $4,548 on each loan they originated in the second quarter of 2020 – nearly tripling the average first-quarter gain of $1,600 per loan, according to a report by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Average production volume rose from $728 million per company in the first quarter to an average of $1.02 billion per company in the second quarter.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
[ Update: The story has been updated to include a comment from a CoreLogic spokesperson. The subhead has also been updated to reflect the views of both firms as it had originally stated that CoreLogic was bound to hold a special meeting as a result of the written consent. ]. Cannae Holdings and Senator Investment Group announced on Monday that written consent to call a Special Meeting of Shareholders was delivered to CoreLogic for consideration of director nominations previously introduced by th
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
Insurers will have to fork over billions of dollars to pay for damage that property owners incurred from Hurricane Laura last week. Data and analytics provider CoreLogic estimated that residential and commercial property damage in Louisiana and Texas could come in anywhere between $8 billion and $12 billion, with the vast majority of the damage coming in Louisiana.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
The federal government’s jobless data that tracks new claims for unemployment benefits tumbled 13% last week to the lowest reading since mid-March – before schools, offices and stores closed amid the worst pandemic in more than a century. It’s good news for a number tracked in the mortgage and housing industries as a gauge of America’s home-buyer power , but it comes with a catch: The Department of Labor changed the way it computes the seasonally adjusted number and it didn’t apply it retroactiv
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
Mr. Cooper , a nonbank mortgage lender and servicer, announced on Wednesday the company plans to hire an additional 2,000 mortgage professionals and support staff by the end of 2020. The company is hiring for positions with multiple experience levels including loan officers, mortgage underwriters and loan processors. Mr. Cooper is also looking for potential Home Advisors, a company curated hybrid role that focuses on servicing customer loans and originating mortgage products.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
With the world in need of more hope right now, Academy Mortgage is taking action to make a difference. Academy was built on a vision to Inspire Hope, Deliver Dreams and Build Prosperity — a set of values that are not simply listed in a mission statement hanging on an office wall. Academy teams walk the talk in serving and lifting others, whether by helping families achieve homeownership or by donating time, talents and resources to those in need.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
Citadel Servicing Corporation returned to origination in July, bringing in new leaders as part of its strategy to remain best-in-class. HousingWire spoke to Doug Perry, Citadel’s new managing director of Wholesale and Retail Sales, about his plans for Citadel and the current state of non-QM lending. HousingWire: Tell us a bit about your background and your plans for Citadel Servicing as its new managing director of Wholesale and Retail Sales.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 31, 2020
Finding an appraisal management software for real estate and commercial that works the way each individual lender does is difficult – usually resulting in time-consuming configurations, development work and training. Global DMS knew there was a better way for lenders to have a workflow that truly worked for them. Drawing on 20 years of experience, the company set out to create something revolutionary.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
As the world continues to navigate the impacts of COVID-19, HousingWire sat down with TMS to learn more about their customer service philosophy, and how it has served them during the pandemic. HousingWire: So, right off the bat, let’s talk results. How has TMS fared relative to other subservicers during COVID-19? TMS: In short, we’ve fared well — and it’s all because we saw this coming.
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