housing wire

The VA loan is an important financing tool for VA-eligible borrowers to achieve their homeownership dream. In 2021 one in two VA borrowers was a first-time homebuyer (FTHB).  Last year, mortgage interest rates reached record lows. The average VA FTHB’s interest rate was 2.90% and the quarterly FTHB VA purchase loan volume stayed elevated. In

Maryland has over a dozen Eastern European stores that sell products like caviar, pumpernickel bread and salo, a Ukrainian-style bacon. Apart from selling produce that is popular in former Soviet countries, these stores represent a marketing opportunity for Alex Naumovych,

Mr. Cooper, one of the nation’s top servicers, and Sagent, a loan servicing software developer, announced on Friday that they will join forces to create a cloud-native servicing platform. The definitive agreement reached by both parties stipulates that Mr. Cooper

Forecasts take on a new meaning this year as we enter our second year of economic forecasting in a COVID-19 world. This 2022 forecast event brought together some of the top economists and researchers in the housing space, equipping attendees

Zillow CEO Rich Barton. When Zillow stunned the housing world last November by announcing a wind down of its iBuying program – and beginning the process of laying off a quarter of its workforce – the question became what’s next.

Back in August, Christian Wallace spoke effusively about her future at Better.com. The digital lender generated so much money through mortgage refinancing that it bankrolled a formidable real estate division. And Wallace, a former Sotheby’s agent and Opendoor manager, was

Reverse mortgage software solutions and loan origination system (LOS) provider ReverseVision announced on Thursday morning that it has been acquired by a division of Toronto-based Constellation Software, a holding company that bought another mortgage LOS in 2019. Staff at San

Just like other “Big Four” member Old Republic last week, First American Financial announced record-breaking earnings during its fourth quarter earnings call on Thursday. The company’s total revenue for 2021 was up 30% from 2020 to a record of $9.2

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is making good on its threat to take legal action against partnering broker shops that also send business to Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage, a violation of the wholesaler’s controversial broker agreement. UWM filed a

The appraisal space has seen its share of challenges and changes in the past two years. Facing the difficult combination of record-breaking volume and a shortage of appraisers, many mortgage and appraisal professionals have turned to appraisal technology solutions. HousingWire

This week’s HW+ member spotlight features Gary Scott, president at Allen Tate Realtors. With more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry, Scott has held positions with multiple brokerage firms across the East Coast, which includes B.

After two months of disappointing job growth, the U.S. jobs report released Friday shows that 467,000 non-farm payroll jobs were added in January. Despite this increase, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.0% in January from 3.9% in December. The

This article is part of our HousingWire 2022 forecast series. After the series wraps, join us on February 8 for the HW+ Virtual 2022 Forecast Event. Bringing together some of the top economists and researchers in housing, the event will

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 467,000 jobs were created in January. This was a big surprise as some people, including me, thought the rise in the number of sick days being reported could impact this month’s job

As Los Angeles’s homeless problem escalated, the very part of L.A. government charged with helping the homeless left millions of federal dollars on the table. That is the finding of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development Inspector General report released

Stacey Onnen, who recently served as president of eXp Realty and, before that, operations manager of Realty ONE Group, has been brought into the Keller Williams fold as a member of the executive leadership team. This comes on the heels

California-based nonbank mortgage lender Pennymac Financial Services posted record loan production last year, but a significant decline in net profits. Reflecting the higher rate landscape, in the last three months of 2021, the servicing segment brought more returns to the

Freddie Mac recently announced that its credit-risk transfer (CRT) program is projecting note-issuance volume of at least $25 billion in 2022. The government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) has made its first down-payment on that projection by issuing two single-family CRT note offerings

U.S. home sellers made a pretty penny in 2021, with the nationwide realized profit growing by 45% year-over-year, according to a new analysis published by real estate data vendor ATTOM this week. Per ATTOM’s year-end home sales report, on average

Consumer advocates, fair housing groups, banks and mortgage lenders don’t always play on the same team, but today they joined forces to critique the Federal Housing Administration’s proposed servicing defect taxonomy. In a joint letter to Lopa Kolluri, FHA’s principal

The controversial author Christopher Booker suggested in a tome-length book, that all narratives belong to one of seven types. In his conception, all of history’s fiction is reducible to seven story typologies. In other words, there are no new stories

Milo, a Miami-based digital lender, announced last week that it is rolling out a crypto mortgage product to clients with digital currency. Josip Rupena, the CEO of Milo, hopes that his mortgage product will allow borrowers who may not be

Hosted by Stavvy Collateral valuation is a critical component of mortgage lending and the home sales With the federal foreclosure moratorium expiring in 2022, the market will undoubtedly see growth in foreclosure transactions as it tries to catch up on

The second annual Finance Leaders award will be closing today, but there’s still time to nominate someone before the end of the day! In its second year, this new award recognizes the senior executives who drive growth and are moving