Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

As we plan for a gradual cycle turn in 2024, a few hot topics feel especially hot right now. And how should mortgage firms rethink tech strategy? Below I run down these hot topics and look forward to going deeper with fellow mortgage CEOs on a HousingWire webinar December 5. What’s next for the inflation fight and rates?

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Mortgage Loan Officers Valuation Tools 342

Housing Wire

APRIL 18, 2024

Florida-based First Federal Bank announced on Thursday that it struck a deal to acquire Watson Mortgage Corp., expanding its mortgage retail lending footprint in the communities in which it operates. Last year, the community bank originated about $435 million in mortgage volume, per mortgage data platform Modex.

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Mortgage Realty Loan Officers Retail 370

Appraisal Buzz

MAY 3, 2024

Usherpa , which offers a customer relationship engagement platform (REP), is now a preferred partner with The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), a mortgage cooperative. TMC’s growing network of mortgage lenders account for approximately 10% of the mortgage volume originated in the U.S. “We

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Loan Officers Mortgage Technology Business 195

Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2024

In the mortgage industry, we saw a significant number of loan officers and real estate agents join the platform to share educational home-buying tips targeted toward a younger audience and first-time homebuyers. So now, the question we’re all asking: What can we expect for 2024?

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Real Estate Agent Loan Officers Advertising Mortgage 379

Housing Wire

APRIL 30, 2024

Nominations for HousingWire’s 2024 Marketing Leaders Leaders award are open now through April 30th, 2024. Savvy marketing leaders like Coleen Bogle, CMO at New Jersey-based mortgage lender The Money Store have become critical to the industry. Unlike other mortgage lenders, we prioritize substance over style.

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Loan Officers Technology Modernization Project Management 411

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Cliffco Mortgage Bankers is among the rare independent mortgage banks doing more business than last year. To get there, Cliffco, which has been in business since 1987, is going after the non-qualified mortgage ( non-QM ) market and investing in tech to get in front of buyers and non-agent referral partners.

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Loan Officers Agents Retail Technology 364

Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2024

Rocket Pro TPO , the wholesale arm of Rocket Mortgage , hopes to woo brokers with a slew of product enhancements and services. Rocket Pro TPO affirmed that it will continue to provide credit reports at no cost for brokers when closing loans through Rocket recognizing that credit report fees are going to get more expensive this year. “The

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Loan Officers Real Estate Agent Tools Business 246

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2024

The digital lender made changes in its commercial operating model to achieve this goal and will continue to invest in Tinman, its proprietary technology platform. The operating model change involved Better pivoting to hiring experienced loan officers on commission-based compensation plans. Better posted a GAAP net loss of $59.5

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Loan Officers Technology Investing Realtors 368

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Cautious optimism is prevalent in the mortgage industry for 2024 as industry professionals anticipate the recovery of lost origination volume. Our mission is to help loan originators become better at what they do in every aspect of their business and in their life,” Braheem said.

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Mortgage Marketing Loan Officers Training 363

Housing Wire

AUGUST 17, 2023

Reflecting the housing industry’s headwinds, just 16 mortgage lenders and brokers made the annual list of Inc. It’s a sharp decline from 2022, when nearly 70 mortgage lenders and brokers were named. The top mortgage lender on the Inc. Zap Mortgage (no.294) The companies are U.S.-based, Trius Lending Partners (no.678),

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Loan Officers Mortgage Development Lending 358

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Texas-based lender Thrive Mortgage plans to merge with digital multichannel rival Lower , which will create a unified lender with more than 650 loan officers and 120 active branches across the country. Financial details of the merger, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, were not disclosed.

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Mortgage Retail Loan Officers Finance 390

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Several historic events over the past few years have brought seismic changes to the way the mortgage lending industry operates. Today, as we face what appears to be the beginning of a modest recovery in the marketplace, we can see the effect of those events in the way mortgage lending has changed forever.

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Loan Officers Technology Lending Tools 355

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Amanda Phillips, EVP of Compliance, ACES Quality Management In the current mortgage landscape, ensuring the highest standards of loan quality is paramount not only during the origination process but also over the life of the loan. AP: QC is crucial for lenders to ensure loan quality and mitigate risk.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 11, 2023

After hitting a 23-year high of 8% in October, mortgage rates have cooled down to the lowest levels since July. The mortgage rate dip is welcome news for the housing market, but loan originators and industry executives emphasized that rates need to decline further and remain stable to reinvigorate buyers’ demand.

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Mortgage Buyers Inventory Technology 450

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

The product, which has no minimum down payment requirement, is expected to reach about 10% of the lender’s portfolio in 2024. We were focused on being able to take a consumer all the way through on our technology platform for just the conventional loans, and we achieved that milestone back in the summer of 2023.

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Loan Officers Finance Mortgage Lending 326

Housing Wire

APRIL 10, 2024

Nominations for the 2024 Marketing Leaders award are open now through April 30. This prestigious accolade recognizes the visionaries, innovators and strategists who have set new standards of marketing excellence in mortgage and real estate. She is always strategizing for the future to stay one step ahead of current market trends.

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Marketing Loan Officers Real Estate Training 317

Housing Wire

APRIL 30, 2024

After striking two M&A deals late last year, digital multichannel lender Lower plans to acquire at least one other business in 2024. Founded in Denver in 1981, Universal added 60 loan officers to Lower. That deal was followed by the acquisition of Texas-based Thrive Mortgage in December.

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Retail Loan Officers Lending Mortgage 365

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 18, 2023

I asked the good folks at mortgage data technology firm InGenius to run the numbers. Though virtually every mortgage lender is down because of the high-rate environment (excepting homebuilder-affiliated mortgage firms, of course), purchase volumes are still above 2019 levels. Well, it’s certainly been a down market.

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Retail Loan Officers Brokerage Mortgage 509

Housing Wire

MARCH 30, 2023

Donny Kirby, former vice president of national direct-to-consumer sales at Wyndham Capital Mortgage , spent more than 12 years at Charlotte, North Carolina-based company before leaving to start a mortgage broker shop, Cornerstone Home Loans. Connie Kim: You had a long run at Wyndham Capital Mortgage dating back to 2011.

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Mortgage Retail Loan Officers Brokerage 343

Housing Wire

APRIL 1, 2024

In October 2023, the firm — which is known for its “buy before you sell” product that enables a mortgage lender to treat the client’s current home as sold while giving them the ability to sell their home on the open market for up to 90 days after buying their new property — launched a partner channel.

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Loan Officers Clients Mortgage Construction 343

Housing Wire

JANUARY 23, 2024

Constellation Software ’s Dark Matter Technologies rolled out an automated workflow in the Empower loan origination system (LOS) that makes it easier for lenders to identify and qualify loan applicants who could benefit from evaluation of their positive rent payment history.

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Technology Loan Officers Design Development 254

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

For most of its history, New American Funding (NAF) has focused on organic growth, but earlier this month, the company acquired Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp. We recognize that loan officers have a choice, and when they choose to join a company on their own, it just seems to work better. That’s why we started NAF Cash.

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Loan Officers Retail Clients Real Estate Agent 369

Housing Wire

JANUARY 4, 2024

What drew you into the mortgage industry? But for a technology executive, coming in at a time like that is where you get to pull back and calibrate with the executive team on what’s really important. The company was founded on an LOS and a dialer technology back then. Does that qualify as legacy technology?

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Technology Loan Officers Modernization Development 298

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

Mortgage tech firm Blend Labs has added an assets-derived income capability to its existing “Blend Income” product. Blend, which aims to be profitable in 2024 , rolled out a number of products and services this year, including an AI-powered chat tool and soft credit pull function. million in Q1 and $45.1 million in Q2 2022.

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Mortgage Tools Sellers Loan Officers 303

Housing Wire

MARCH 15, 2024

David Peskin, formerly from Senior Lending Network and Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF), has purchased an ownership stake in top 10 reverse mortgage lender HighTechLending (HTL) and will lead the company’s new pursuits alongside co-owner and COO Erika Macias. Peskin spoke to RMD about the move. We’re very excited to work with her.

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Loan Officers Business Mortgage Clients 339

Housing Wire

JULY 20, 2023

Lenders point to cost-cutting as their top business priority amid the mortgage industry facing a number of challenges – including high home prices , tight inventory of homes available for sale and interest rate hikes. We are] looking at technology that will help streamline and reduce appraisal costs for the borrower.

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Lending Technology Business Construction 335

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

The government-sponsored enterprise saw a 20% growth in its single-family mortgage portfolio from 2020 to 2021, driven by soaring home prices and an increase in the average size of loans it acquired. He was most recently CEO of Hayden Consulting , which advises mortgage banks, commercial banks, thrifts, REITs, and private equity firms.

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Landlords Tenants Finance Government 388

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 21, 2023

HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Kathryn Amor, senior vice president and head of enterprise products at Guaranteed Rate , to talk about the intersection of product and technology. We’re on the brink of seeing that in 2024. Sarah Wheeler: You joined Guaranteed Rate in January of 2023.

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Technology Investors Development Loan Officers 317

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

The Federal Reserve ‘s effort to temper inflation has cooled the housing market that remains subdued with mortgage rates north of 7%. this week, Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan believes that mortgage rates will stay elevated before the Fed makes further rate cuts. “We’ve Kim: Spreads in the mortgage space are wide.

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Housing Market Marketing Buyers Investors 418

Housing Wire

JUNE 2, 2023

Mat Ishbia is optimistic about the mortgage market. The Pontiac, Michigan-based United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) CEO believes that 2022 and 2023 are equally challenging years, but the market will improve in 2024. What does Ishbia think about surging mortgage rates , lack of housing inventory and monetary and policy pressures ?

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Sadly, those hypotheticals are still a reality for some , even as we approach 2024. According to the CFPB, hundreds of loan officers at BofA failed to ask mortgage applicants demographic questions and falsely reported that they had chosen not to respond.” Back to Bob’s American dream.

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Real Estate Agent Real Estate Agents Lending 407

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 5, 2023

As the housing market suffers through a drought of home sales and related mortgage originations in the current high-rate environment, home prices and home equity continue to climb, helping to spark a revival of another sector — home equity lending and investment. billion, according to a review of bond-rating and industry reports.

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Housing Market Marketing Contracts Finance 374

Housing Wire

APRIL 17, 2023

From a compliance perspective, there is a lot of scrutiny from regulators , but that’s not new: it’s been the case since the mortgage crisis. Today, we can’t justify the expense to implement that technology , but in the future, if we see enough demand, we’d definitely consider it.

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Loan Officers Investors Valuation Real Estate 300

Clear Capital

APRIL 1, 2024

Mordor Intelligence estimates that as of 2024, the home equity lending market size is estimated at nearly $31 billion, and is expected to grow to $36 billion by 2029. As home prices appreciate and homeowners make mortgage payments over time, the share of the home that they own grows — this is home equity. What is home equity lending?

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Lending Valuation Home Value Design 36

Appraisal Today

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Appraisers are being told by their AMC clients and loan officers to appraise these as residential properties. Topics include: The Fed, Home Sales, Employment, Mortgage Rates and Commercial Real Estate.In For the remainder of the year, mortgage originations are expected to remain stagnant. Varies widely around the country.

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