housing wire

With the recent downturn in volume of new originations, many lenders are using this time to take inventory of the available tools geared toward risk mitigation and workflow optimization. There is also a renewed interest in the future state of

What’s unique about President Biden’s housing administration compared to past administrations? From regulations and enforcement to innovation in policies and technology, there’s a lot to talk through when it comes to addressing this question, which is why we’re stoked for

Add mortgage lender Mountain West Financial to the list of victims of the price war in the wholesale channel.     The Redlands, California-based company informed its broker network last week that it has “made the difficult decision to take a step back

Mortgage tech firms FormFree and Docutech are teaming up to make verification of assets (VOA) and verification of income and employment (VOI/E) available in the initial disclosure phase of the mortgage process.  FormFree’s AccountChek, a service that allows lenders to

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, an Alexandria, Virginia-based advisory and brokerage firm, has unveiled a mortgage-servicing rights (MSR) offering for a $598 million package of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Prestwick’s offering comes on the heels of a separate bulk offering announced recently by New

There’s only one month left until HW Annual kicks off on Oct. 3rd. As the conference quickly approaches, so does the deadline to lock in the exclusive room rate for the Fairmont Princess Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Take advantage of

Digital mortgage lender Better.com and blank-check firm Aurora Acquisition Corp. extended the deadline to conclude their merger agreement, but the companies have already started to discuss options in case the deal fails.  In May 2021, Novator Capital-sponsored special purpose acquisition company Aurora announced plans to

Rocket Companies, the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, extended the second round of voluntary career transition offers to employees amid the company’s forecast of much lower origination volume in the third quarter.  “We recognize career growth options in certain areas

A San Francisco real estate investor with political ties was found guilty of bank fraud and making false statements to Quicken Loans as part of a larger federal investigation targeting public corruption in the city.  A federal jury convicted Victor

Inflation slowed more than expected in July, the result of a dip in gas and energy prices. But soaring housing costs continue to weigh heavily on family budgets. Rents and home purchase prices are up – 17% and 20% respectively – from

What a crazy day for my economic model! On the same day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that we’ve recovered all the jobs lost to COVID-19 and I am raising my sixth recession red flag. When I wrote

Guild Mortgage’s second-quarter earnings suggest that a high share of purchase loans won’t necessarily be enough to protect lenders from the most challenging and volatile mortgage market in years. They’ll have to cut costs and grab opportunities as they emerge. The

With tech solutions and automation dominating more and more of the mortgage experience, the appraisal process can feel a bit dated, often causing significant slowdowns. HousingWire recently spoke with Erin Reed, vice president of originations, valuations and operations at ServiceLink

Stakeholders on all sides of the issues sounded off on the proposed changes to the federal redlining statute in comments to the banking agencies marshaling the changes. Some of the nearly 360 comments came in late on Thursday, a day

Amid fears and talk of a recession, job growth in the U.S. remained strong in July, with nonfarm payroll employment rising by 528,000 jobs from the month prior, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After

In recent months, interest rates have risen to their highest level in years as the Federal Reserve has embarked on an aggressive tightening campaign in an effort to fight inflation. Despite rising rates, demand for home equity lines of credit

With just under two months until HW Annual, it is important to make your hotel reservations now to join us in person for this power-packed event. HW Annual will take place from Oct. 3-5 at the Fairmont Princess Resort in

The current administration has been in office for over a year and a half, and with that tenure, a lot of the new housing officials have had time to create and announce their core initiatives. To help bring you the

Finance of America posted steep losses in the second quarter and has pledged to eliminate a significant percentage of its workforce to contain the financial fallout. As with other lenders seeing huge declines in mortgage origination volume, Finance of America’s

During this period of rising rates and general rate volatility, having the cash and credit lines on hand to ride out the rough patches in the market — known as liquidity — can be what separates the winners from the

The national mortgage delinquency rate rose in June after hitting consecutive record lows in each of the previous three months. The overall delinquency rate rose nine basis points to 2.84% in June, according to Black Knight. The delinquency rate is

Pink slips will arrive for 58 employees working in the mortgage business at Texana Bank in California, according to a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) sent to the state’s Employment Development Department.  Lauren Witherspoon, director of human resources, wrote: “Circumstances will force

Rising interest rates and a slowing economy overall are already taking some of the air out of the rapid home-price appreciation the housing market has experience over the past year, according to the recently released Federal Reserve Beige Book for July. Several

Gone are the days that loan originators received hefty signing bonuses to crank out refi after refi. But make no mistake, even in a down mortgage market lenders are still dangling signing bonuses to recruit high-producing LOs who can eat