Author: Michael Gersitz

Last week, the MBA reported that refinance activity rose to its highest level since May, now accounting for 65.7% of total applications – and everyone involved in the mortgage process is working hard to make sure those transactions go through.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new category of qualified mortgages called Seasoned QM, which would require loans to meet certain performance requirements over a 36-month seasoning period. The CFPB said they hope this new category will “encourage

New home construction continues to climb, as privately owned single-family housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.496 million, a 22.6% jump from June, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Privately

Seeking to alleviate financial hardships on consumers, two bills; H.R. 6370 and S.3508, ‘‘Disaster Protection for Workers’ Credit Act of 2020’,’ have been introduced in Congress that amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act by placing a moratorium on reporting any

Compared to last year, the housing market this year has seen some big changes. Notably, people are moving inland from the large cities as the pandemic has created a coastal exodus, prompting apartment dwellers to seek more space and big

The Census report on new construction showed a whopping 22.6% increase above the revised June estimate in housing starts in July. Year-over-year starts are up 23.4%. This means we can add housing starts to our growing collection of V-shaped recovery

After Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced an added 50 basis point fee to all refinances, the housing industry was quick to react. Today, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers announced growing support behind its campaign to reverse the newly

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage financiers in the world, on Wednesday night announced they would impose a 0.5% fee on every refinanced mortgage starting Sept. 1. Look for it to become an issue in the campaign.

For the past two weeks, HousingWire took a deep dive into the effects an accelerated market can have on appraisal turn times and the delta between appraisal ratings and market forecasts. This week, industry experts discuss how to navigate client

Notarize has brought on Wendy Ivanoski as its vice president of Enterprise Strategy and Nicole Booth as executive vice president of Public Affairs. Ivanoski has 17 years of experience in the financial services industry, including time at State Street Corporation

After COVID-19 paused travel, short-term rentals actually fared much better than hotels year-over-year, a new study said. As of June 21, short-term rental revenue per available room was down just 4.5%, while hotel revenue per available room was down a

The mix of working from home and renters seeking more space – albeit cheaper space – is pushing more people out of more expensive U.S. cities and moving into the suburbs. Particularly, Millennials are fleeing New York City for more

Mortgage lender NewRez is currently hiring for over 750 positions in its origination division. The company is seeking to fill positions in all four of its business channels – direct to consumer, JV/retail, wholesale and correspondent lending. Current openings include

The Community Home Lenders Association (CHLA) recently used the opportunity to submit a comment letter on proposed GSE capital levels to instead focus mostly on pending unresolved issues that are critically important to small mortgage lenders. CHLA did this not

Team member volunteer event collaborating with muralist Philip Simpson Quicken Loans and the Rock Family of Companies are built on 19 carefully thought out philosophies, or as they call them, ISMs, that compile all of their values into active ways they

In a release on Thursday, the Federal Reserve detailed some of the research it’s doing on the benefits and risks associated with central bank digital currencies. Current research is being conducted within the Federal Reserve Board’s “TechLab” on innovations in

While we know people are migrating out of urban areas to seek more room in the suburbs, these two different kinds of housing markets are showing similar trends since COVID-19 shut down much of the country. The exceptions are the