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.

Mortgage 396

Mortgage Realty Loan Officers Retail 396

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2023

The holidays have come early for the mortgage industry. Mortgage rates fell below the 7% threshold this week as markets prepared for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement on Wednesday. The 30-year, fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.95% for the week ending Dec. on Thursday.

Mortgage 485

Mortgage New Listings Loan Officers Inventory 485

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?

Real Estate Agent 409

Real Estate Agent Loan Officers Advertising Mortgage 409

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Guild Mortgage has struck a deal to acquire retail rival Academy Mortgage Corporation , which could result in an additional 800-plus loan officers across the country, multiple sources told HousingWire. Of the total, 61% were conventional and 80% were purchase loans. billion in MSRs). billion in MSRs).

Mortgage 431

Mortgage Loan Officers Retail Finance 431

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

HousingWire recently spoke with Mack Walker, SVP of capital markets at Deephaven Mortgage , about how the year went for the non-QM sector and what’s in store for the industry in 2024. Mack Walker: The non-QM sector is similar to other sectors in the mortgage space that endured headwinds throughout 2023 relative to volume in past years.

Investors 403

Investors Real Estate Lending Loan Officers 403

Housing Wire

JANUARY 12, 2024

Guaranteed Rate has introduced a new feature that allows sellers working with a G-Rate loan officer to pay a fee that locks in a permanently discounted mortgage rate for a buyer. The final mortgage rate, however, will ultimately be different for every borrower’s situation.

Sellers 420

Sellers Real Estate Agent Loan Officers Mortgage 420

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.

Loan Officers 419

Loan Officers Technology Modernization Project Management 419

Housing Wire

JANUARY 19, 2024

Country Club Mortgage , a home lender based in California , has decided to lay off over 100 employees due to “facility closures,” documents sent to state regulators show. Job cuts include the leadership – the president and CEO, the finance manager and the credit risk officer. More than 50 mortgage loan officers were let go.

Human Resources 409

Human Resources Mortgage Loan Officers Finance 409

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

Loan Officers 263

Loan Officers Real Estate Agent Tools Business 263

Housing Wire

MARCH 20, 2024

Reverse mortgage industry veteran Tane Cabe recently left his position at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.’s s reverse division to transition back into a role as a reverse mortgage broker. Back to broker roots Cabe, who is based in the Pacific Northwest, left Fairway in early January 2024.

Development 411

Development Mortgage Tools Loan Officers 411

Inman

JANUARY 2, 2024

As Shant Banosian gears up to speak at Inman Connect New York in January, he sat down with Inman to discuss the landscape for mortgage lenders heading into 2024.

Loan Officers 187

Loan Officers Mortgage Marketing 187

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.

Mortgage 388

Mortgage Marketing Loan Officers Training 388

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

The coming winter is expected to be an existential test of survival for many independent mortgage banks (IMBs), according to leaders of several mortgage advisory firms. “We’re really at the darkest part of the market this winter,” Brian Hale, CEO and founder of consultancy Mortgage Advisory Partners , said. .

Mortgage 441

Mortgage Loan Officers Finance Buyers 441

Housing Wire

MARCH 23, 2023

Buyers continue to feel the pinch from high mortgage rates and still-elevated home prices. An increase in MBA’s PAPI – indicative of declining borrower affordability conditions – means that the mortgage payment to income ratio is higher due to increasing application loan amounts, rising mortgage rates or a decrease in earnings.

Mortgage 356

Mortgage Loan Officers Inventory Buyers 356

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) Zap Mortgage (no.294) The companies are U.S.-based,

Loan Officers 366

Loan Officers Mortgage Development Lending 366

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.

Mortgage 415

Mortgage Retail Loan Officers Finance 415

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2024

The operating model change involved Better pivoting to hiring experienced loan officers on commission-based compensation plans. Previously, the lender had higher fixed-cost components and no commissions for its loan officers. About 80% of the mortgages at Better are now being funded as one-day products, Garg noted.

Loan Officers 397

Loan Officers Technology Investing Realtors 397

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.

Mortgage 374

Mortgage Technology Inventory Lending 374

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.

Loan Officers 383

Loan Officers Agents Retail Technology 383

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.

Retail 326

Retail Loan Officers Lending Mortgage 326

Housing Wire

MAY 1, 2024

Longtime reverse mortgage industry professional, advocate and leader Scott Norman has been appointed as the new CEO of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA). Norman is currently serving his fifth consecutive term as co-chair of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).

Mortgage 252

Mortgage Finance Loan Officers Retail 252

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) loans through its Tinman platform. The product, which has no minimum down payment requirement, is expected to reach about 10% of the lender’s portfolio in 2024. In third-quarter 2023 , it posted mortgage volume of $731 million, down from $900 million in Q2 2023 and $1.1 billion in Q3 2022. “VA

Loan Officers 354

Loan Officers Finance Mortgage Lending 354

Housing Wire

APRIL 16, 2024

Reverse mortgage volume dropped in February compared to the month prior, and new data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) shows that the primary culprit for the month was retail reverse mortgage originations. The reverse mortgage industry, he added, is adding its own brand of perseverance to the table.

Retail 333

Retail Mortgage Business Loan Officers 333

Housing Wire

MARCH 15, 2024

Mortgage pros have closely monitored the commission lawsuit developments since a Kansas City, Missouri jury determined that NAR, HomeServices of America , and Keller Williams conspired to inflate or maintain high commission rates through NAR’s so-called Participation Rule. Assisting homebuyers and their agents adds more to an LO’s plate.

Buyers 504

Buyers Agents Mortgage Real Estate Agent 504

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.

Loan Officers 372

Loan Officers Clients Mortgage Construction 372

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Shannon Hoff, a California-based branch manager at American Pacific Mortgage (APM), finds herself both enthusiastic and cautious as she assesses the prospects of the mortgage market in the coming year. “Lenders and loan officers right now are just in survival mode,” Hoff said in an interview.

Loan Officers 397

Loan Officers Investors Mortgage Clients 397

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.

Loan Officers 380

Loan Officers Technology Lending Tools 380

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.

Mortgage 368

Mortgage Retail Loan Officers Brokerage 368

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Mortgage rates this week saw the biggest one-week decline in a year and potential homebuyers waiting for rates to drop responded, said Josh Mettle, division president and co-creator of NEO Home Loans. “I I think we were up right around 15% increase in the number of initial mortgage applications.

Mortgage 428

Mortgage Inventory Marketing Retail 428

Housing Wire

JANUARY 17, 2024

1 With over 12,000 Americans turning 65 every day in 2024, this burgeoning market will undoubtedly continue to bring more buyers and sellers to the table over the next decade. They own the home with their name on the title, as with any mortgage, traditional or reverse.

Finance 443

Finance Real Estate Agent Real Estate Insurance 443

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.

Retail 515

Retail Loan Officers Brokerage Mortgage 515

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

In the mortgage space, the parent of multichannel lender Newrez earned most of its profits from the servicing business. Lower interest rates, however, reduced the value of mortgage servicing rights (MSR) in the final three quarters of the year and affected the company’s overall performance during the period. Rithm had $1.9

Valuation 363

Valuation Business Mortgage Loan Officers 363

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Mortgage rates have pulled back in recent weeks giving consumers and loan originators some breathing room, but headwinds in the industry are far from over. Piper Sandler expects a drop in prepayment speeds to continue despite the near-term dip in mortgage rates, because very few borrowers have mortgage rates above current levels.

Mortgage 380

Mortgage Investing Government Real Estate 380

Housing Wire

APRIL 20, 2023

Denver-based brokerage franchise Motto Mortgage , owned by RE/MAX , has accused broker shop UMortgage of “tortious interference” in its contract with a former franchisee called TRB Solutions, whose controlling member was Breon Price, the top-producing loan officer. He was set to hold the role until 2024, the lawsuit says.

Contracts 367

Contracts Loan Officers Legal Best Value 367

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 29, 2023

After nearly two years of trudging through a frozen housing market , the consensus among mortgage professionals is that the worst of it is over. The Federal Reserve recently signaled plans to slash interest rates three times in 2024, shifting toward the next phase in its monetary policymaking. “It There’s still going to be a lag.

Mortgage 450

Mortgage Loan Officers Inventory Business 450

Housing Wire

MARCH 16, 2023

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ’s (FHFA’s) decision to delay implementing the controversial upfront fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers with higher debt-to-income (DTI) ratios gave mortgage lenders a breather. Though it’s undoubtedly a victory for the industry, it’s a partial one.

Mortgage 379

Mortgage Finance Loan Officers Law 379

Housing Wire

APRIL 9, 2024

In a message to mortgage brokers, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) defended itself from the Hunterbrook Media report that claims the lender orchestrated a scheme to steer loans. He worked for an independent mortgage broker that actually shopped between options.

Legal 391

Legal Brokerage Mortgage Loan Officers 391