Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

A group of investors led by the former U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital , will inject $1 billion in equity investment in struggling New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage servicers. The move strengthens the bank’s balance sheet amid a confidence crisis related to its commercial real estate loan portfolio.

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Investing Mortgage Real Estate Investors 317

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

Christie’s International Real Estate appointed Jamie Duran as executive vice president and managing director of its Beverly Hills-based affiliate, the company announced on Wednesday. Prior to joining Christie’s, Duran was affiliated with Coldwell Banker for almost 35 years. In her new role, Duran will work with owner and CEO Aaron Kirman to lead the expansion of the Christie’s brand in Southern California.

Real Estate 395

Real Estate Agents Brokerage Clients 395

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

Despite feelings of optimism expressed by loan originators in the opening weeks of 2024, the road to more normalized levels of reverse mortgage volume and securities issuances may be longer than expected. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements fell 11.8% to 1,900 loans in February, a drop telegraphed by lagging case numbers and sluggish endorsement activity in January, according to data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI).

Mortgage 363

Mortgage Marketing Insurance Sellers 363

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

Pennymac Financial Services has made changes to its technology leadership, creating a new role focused on digital innovations, the company announced on Tuesday. The changes come after the resolution of a long-standing arbitration process with Black Knight regarding its servicing platform. They also come as the mortgage industry is making efforts to adopt artificial intelligence solutions to improve productivity and better assist customers.

Technology 385

Technology Retail Contracts Tools 385

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

The typically busy spring housing market seems to already be at the doorstep despite stubbornly higher mortgage rates. Mortgage applications increased by 9.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending March 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association ’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey. It was the first increase in mortgage demand in three weeks.

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Mortgage Retail New Listings Inventory 430

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

Housing professionals already know that high mortgage rates are bad for business. And they hope that rates will soon fall. But with mortgage rates ascending past 7% according to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center , those hopes have so far been dashed in 2024. Armed with data from HousingWire sister company Altos Research , we can see in minute detail how the housing market responded to the recent 7%-and-higher rate environment and what the market may see again soon.

Mortgage 404

Mortgage Sellers New Listings Buyers 404

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

For years, customized integrations have been the sign of a healthy tech stack , seamlessly connecting the various technologies used by a particular title agency ( mortgage lender, broker or appraisal management company, for that matter) to deliver optimal performance. After all, one of the challenges remaining to our industry – even after a wave of digitalization – takes place where two systems don’t connect perfectly, creating chokepoints where humans must move the transaction along manually.

Technology 346

Technology Real Estate Business Architecture 346

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

Top-performing independent Florida brokerage Premiere Plus Realty has chosen to affiliate with Dallas-based United Real Estate , according to an announcement on Wednesday. The Naples, Florida-based Premiere Plus has roughly 1,500 agents and six office locations in downtown Naples, north Naples, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Cape Coral and Marco Island.

Realty 348

Realty Real Estate Luxury Properties Brokerage 348

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2024

It is a myth that you have to be a people person to be successful in real estate, or that you’ve got to be outgoing, gregarious, and socially confident to be great sales. Some of the most successful top-producing agents and brokers in the country are self-proclaimed introverts. How do you know if you’re a natural introvert or extrovert? Ask yourself what you’d do if you had no appointments this weekend and no worries in the world with plenty of time to spend doing something of

Real Estate 404

Real Estate Agents Marketing 404

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

California-based mortgage brokerage Loan Factory was sued by a class of loan originators, who allege that the company used their personal and professional information, without their authorization, on its website in an attempt to drive business. Loan officer Derek Daniel Bobadilla and the class members represented by Johnson & Johnson LLP claimed that they have never worked with Loan Factory, but the lender displayed their loan officer profiles on the “Find a Loan Officer” page of its website

Loan Officers 407

Loan Officers Law Brokerage Business 407

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

By and large, homeowners who are 60 and older love where they live and have a preference to age in place. They may also see the equity in their homes as a “financial reserve” and are generally confident in their retirement plans, but they are far less interested in employing their home equity in retirement. This is according to Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae , in a new blog post that explores the homeownership patterns of older Americans.

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Government Mortgage 445

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

Kiavi , one of the nation’s largest private lenders for residential real estate investors , closed a $350 million unrated securitization of residential transition loans (RTLs), the company announced on Monday. The loans bundled in the securitization were mostly investment property loans used for fix-and-flip transactions. This securitization marked Kiavi’s 16th such transaction and elevated the company’s total issuance to more than $4 billion since it launched its securitization program in 2019

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Investors Real Estate Technology Housing Market 355

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday that it has lowered the interest rates for its single-family housing (SFH) direct home loan programs as of March 1, according to an email update sent out earlier this week. Section 502 SFH Direct rates are now 4.5%, SFH non-program rates are now 5% and Section 524 rural housing site loans now have a 4.5% rate.

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Design Construction Development Mortgage 431

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

After attorneys made their cases for both the U.S. government and former Live Well Financial CEO Michael Hild regarding a restitution amount owed to the company’s creditors, a magistrate judge overseeing the issue has recommended that Hild pay more than $46 million. The final amount will be determined by the trial judge. The funds will ultimately go to companies including Mirae Asset Securities , Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services (ICBC), Flagstar Bank , Customers Bank an

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Government Legal Fees Market Value Legal 341

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

It is no secret that there is a housing affordability challenge in the U.S. According to the National Association of Realtors ’ (NAR) Housing Affordability Index , since spring of last year, a typical family with a median income have not been able to afford a median-priced home. While mortgage rates will likely fall this year, conversations about how to increase accessibility to homeownership are still top of mind — and should be top of mind — across the real estate industry.

Insurance 364

Insurance Property Taxes Real Estate Sellers 364

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

Last year was a tough one for the Indiana real estate market. “Sales from 2022 to 2023 were down 14%,” Mark Fischer, the CEO of the Indiana Realtors Association , said. “We were up year over year in inventory , but we were at a 25 year low on new listings.” But as the calendar flipped to 2024 and as we inch closer to the spring selling season, Fischer said things have started to pick up.

Housing Market 416

Housing Market Marketing Inventory Construction 416

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Warburg Pincus -backed fintech Sagent launched on Wednesday its new servicing software platform called Dara, which has a single real-time database and user experience across the entire core, consumer and default servicing life cycle, according to the company. It’s the first launch for Sagent under the leadership of recently appointed CEO Geno Paluso , a retired U.S.

Technology 345

Technology Modernization Clients Mortgage 345

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Sure, your real estate landing pages look great — but do they convert? A good real estate website includes more than just drool-worthy images of homes priced to sell. Your real estate website should serve multiple functions, almost like a digital business card with an MLS listing storefront, a booking platform, a home valuation page, and even your background story and biography.

Real Estate 429

Real Estate Real Estate Agent Agents Brokerage 429

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Top 10 mortgage lender and servicer NewRez is restructuring its distributed retail mortgage business, which has resulted in cuts to regional and divisional managers. The restructuring also includes reduced compensation for loan officers, and sources said that many are seeking new opportunities at rival lenders. Nonproducing regional and divisional managers were let go on Wednesday as part of the restructuring, multiple sources told HousingWire.

Retail 396

Retail Loan Officers Business Real Estate 396

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

For the past 12 years, HousingWire’s Tech100 program has recognized the industry’s most innovative and impactful technology companies that are continuing to bring long-awaited solutions to the challenges that mortgage and real estate professionals have struggled with for decades. The award uncovers the innovators that are unleashing insight with analytics, powering growth and efficiency with AI and automation, providing leaders and production teams the tools they need to accelerate.

Real Estate 354

Real Estate Mortgage Tools Technology 354

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

In a bizarre turn of events, the National Association of Realtors posted, then removed before reposting, a video featuring the trade group’s interim CEO Nykia Wright “setting the record straight” on agent commissions. The video was first posted on Wednesday around 9 a.m. ET before being removed roughly two hours later. It reappeared on NAR’s website later in the day around 6 p.m.

Realtors 414

Realtors Brokerage Real Estate Agents 414

Housing Wire

JANUARY 23, 2024

Mauricio Umansky, founder of The Agency and star of Buying Beverly Hills, and Compass agent and NAR Accountability Project founder Jason Haber are making good on a promise to explore a real estate professional trade organization alternative to the National Association of Realtors. The two industry professionals are asking agents to “Trade Up” and give their new group, the American Real Estate Association, a try.

Real Estate 439

Real Estate Agents Realtors Brokerage 439

Housing Wire

JANUARY 23, 2024

A large portion of Florida ’s economy relies on tourism, especially as major Orlando-area theme parks including Universal Studios Florida and Walt Disney World. But the parks — which employ an estimated 110,000 people collectively — are also facing headwinds due to their employees’ struggles to afford housing , and now both NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company — owners of the major parks — are aiming to address it, according to reporting from Bloomberg.

Development 360

Development Tenants Investing Design 360

Housing Wire

JANUARY 23, 2024

Private equity giant Blackstone is set to acquire Tricon Residential in a deal valued at around $3.5 billion, the company announced last week. Blackstone entered an agreement to acquire all outstanding common shares of Tricon, with a price tag of $11.25 per common share. The proposed transaction comes at a premium, marking a significant 30% increase over Tricon’s closing share price on the New York Stock Exchange as of Jan. 18, 2024, the final trading day before the formal revelation of t

Development 481

Development Construction Marketing Finance 481

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Wire and title fraud risk reached an all all-time high in Q4 2023 with 51.8% of transactions having issues that led to a risk of wire and title fraud, according to FundingShield ‘s quarterly report. On average, problematic loans had 2.2 issues per loan indicating the lack of appropriate controls by closing agents to identify and fix issues. With the fourth quarter traditionally being the highest risk quarter of the year for fraud, 2023 was no exception with higher-than-average findings acr

Valuation 421

Valuation Real Estate Business Technology 421

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

The city of Laguna Beach, Calif. recently offered details of its city-sponsored aging-in-place program, dubbed “Lifelong Laguna,” in a profile published by CNBC. It provides new insight into the measures cities can explore to more easily facilitate aging-in-place goals for older residents. 2021 research from AARP indicates that 77% of adults at or over the age of 50 want to stay in their homes as they get older, but the figure in Laguna Beach is much higher.

Realtors 402

Realtors 402

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Closing software provider Qualia is accusing a former employee and startup title production software firm Settlor of stealing trade secrets. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, Qualia claims that its former senior manager of product at Resware Krista Myers , who is now a product manager at Settlor, secretly stole data from Qualia before she resigned from her position.

Contracts 392

Contracts Government Business Marketing 392

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Japanese homebuilder Sekisui House, Ltd. has struck a deal to acquire its U.S.-based peer M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. in an all-cash transaction that values the target at $4.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday. The acquisition turns Sekisui into the fifth largest homebuilder in the U.S as it expands the company’s presence to 15,067 combined home closings across 16 states.

New Listings 337

New Listings Housing Market Inventory Sellers 337

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 27, 2023

With its four largest firms all at least 100 years old, the title insurance industry has a bit of a reputation for being antiquated and technology averse. “I always joke that we work in an industry that literally researches the past, and because of that, sometimes, I feel like our marketing, sales, and technology live there too,” Sam Trimble, vice president of strategic growth and development at Fidelity National Financial , said.

Technology 421

Technology Business Insurance Development 421

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Guild Mortgage has an ambitious plan under the leadership of its new CEO, Terry Schmidt. The California-based retail lender has set a target of becoming a top-10 lender in the markets in which it has a presence, which would give it about 2% in overall market share. It won’t be easy. United Wholesale Mortgage , the top lender in the country by volume, claimed just under 8% total market share over the first nine months of 2023.

Mortgage 386

Mortgage Retail Lending Sellers 386

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 22, 2023

The year ahead promises to offer the housing industry some relief, compared with a grueling 2023, but it is likely to be only a small bounce forward toward a healthier market. The housing industry, including the secondary market it feeds, is still likely to be sluggish in 2024, with marginal improvements in some sectors as others tread water or retreat slightly, industry players who spoke with HousingWire predict.

Mortgage 417

Mortgage Marketing Housing Market Buyers 417

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 5, 2023

When individual mortgages are originated by lenders like banks or credit unions , they may bundle groups of these mortgages together into financial vehicles called mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are then sold to investors on a secondary market. This allows investors to gain exposure and returns from the mortgage market, while the lenders gain immediate capital to issue new mortgages.

Technology 392

Technology Mortgage Investors Lending 392

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Real estate agents are facing a contracting issue that could seriously upend the traditional housing landscape. The Sitzer/Burnett trial out of Kansas City found the National Association of Realtors (NAR) guilty of conspiring to inflate agent commissions — sparking a debate over agent commission fees and the longstanding role of buyer agents in real estate transactions.

Agents 404

Agents Buyers Real Estate Agent Loan Officers 404

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives are introducing a new bill to the legislature today designed to both “preserve” and “revitalize” manufactured home communities across the United States. Spearheaded by U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) introduced the bicameral legislation in the House.

Home Improvement 429

Home Improvement Valuation Design Construction 429

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Rick Arvielo, co-founder and CEO of New American Funding (NAF), to talk about AI, why he chose to start NAF Technology India and how to keep NAF innovative. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Sarah Wheeler: New American Funding is known for building rather than buying technology.

Technology 357

Technology Development Contracts Investing 357

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Mr. Cooper Group announced on Thursday that certain systems it locked down in early November after a cyberattack have resumed operations. Still, the incident will bring additional costs to the company in the fourth quarter. On Oct. 31, Dallas-based Mr. Cooper disclosed that it had experienced a cybersecurity incident. An unauthorized third party accessed certain of its technology systems and customer data.

Legal 396

Legal Law Finance Technology 396

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

As mortgage rates hover around 8% for agency mortgages, lenders handling conventional mortgages are struggling to find business. But how are the non-QM lenders faring? According to Acra Lending CEO Keith Lind, the company is currently locking its pipeline at rates of about 9.25%. “Our pipeline is up about 24% since July and we’re going to fund almost 23% more loans in 2023 than we did in 2022,” he said.

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Lending Investors Business Mortgage 350