housing wire

Following his inauguration on Wednesday, President Joe Biden revealed that he plans to sign 17 executive orders his first day in office, including a further extension of the eviction and foreclosure moratorium to at least March 31. Brian Deese, Biden’s

Before you buy a home is you should first do some research. And not just research on the best down payment or neighborhood to live in – you should also search the right mortgage lender.  The type of mortgage loan

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger announced Wednesday she is resigning from her post at the request of President Joe Biden’s administration. “As requested by the Biden administration, today I resigned as Director of the CFPB,” Kraninger said. “I

As 2021 unfolds, the real estate industry is still dealing with ongoing concerns introduced and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, leaving agents and brokers facing multiple challenges with their work. “There’s still a massive amount of buyers and

In one of former President Donald Trump administration’s last acts, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development declared Wednesday that the Federal Housing Administration will once again back mortgages for immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman to serve in the office. In his inaugural address, Biden pledged his commitment to bringing

As the U.S. rushes to inoculate the current global health crisis, the real estate and mortgage finance industries are facing their second wave of significant industry headwinds in little over a decade. Though the pandemic is causing pain throughout the

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Tuesday that it is requesting input on the current and future risk of natural disasters and climate change on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, especially as it relates to the housing financial system overall.

Homebuilder confidence in the U.S. fell to a four-month low in January as builders expressed concerns about higher house prices, COVID-related supply chain issues and construction costs. Builder confidence in single-family homes dropped to 83 in January from 86 in

Mortgage applications decreased 1.9% for the week ending Jan. 15 from one week earlier, per data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. The drop comes after a robust 16.7% jump in applications the prior week. The 30-year fixed rate

I saw a social media post recently by our local ‘mega-agent’ entitled: “Breaking News: Individual Real Estate agents added to Endangered Professions List!” This post compares the individual real estate agent to “a tennis player using a wooden racket” or

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule Tuesday clarifying that supervisory guidance is not backed by the same force as law or regulation. First proposed in October 2020, the CFPB’s final rule codifies the statement, with amendments, that

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday some insured depository institutions and insured credit unions will now be exempt from regulations to establish escrow accounts for some higher-priced mortgage loans. The final rule will take effect upon publication in the

Ensuring Americans have a “competitive economy” will be Janet Yellen’s focus as the next U.S. Treasury Department secretary, she told lawmakers Tuesday at her confirmation hearing before a vote on her nomination. Both Republicans and Democrats have indicated they will

The U.S. forbearance rate fell nine basis points last week to 5.37% of servicers’ portfolio volume, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Monday. While this decline may be the largest drop in forbearance share in the past nine weeks, it is

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will once again extend moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned evictions, this time until Feb. 28, 2021. “To keep our communities safe, and families in

Fannie Mae‘s latest forecast projects economic growth to hit 5.3% in 2021, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from what the government-sponsored enterprise projected last month. The forecasted growth is significantly more than the revised numbers for 2020, which Fannie

In December, AmTrust Title Insurance Company announced the hiring of seasoned underwriter Mary Shelley as its midwest region agency underwriter. We took the opportunity to talk to Shelley, who has 35 years experience in the field, about the challenges underwriters

The first time Lawyers Title of Arizona Sales Executive Sarah Perkins walked through an acquisition was 2006. The market was growing; it was exciting; companies were fighting to increase market share; hope for the future was high.  But that wasn’t

Let’s face it, if you’re a first-time homebuyer, you have a lot of questions about the home-buying process. That’s what real estate agents are here for. Almost 90% of buyers recently used a real estate agent or broker to purchase

President-elect Joe Biden announced several appointments Monday, including FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Chopra is a CFPB veteran, having previously served as assistant director, where he was the bureau’s top student loan watchdog. In

2020 came, and with it COVID-19. Five weeks into the crisis, demand in the U.S. housing market bottomed and then after about nine weeks, began to climb again, with purchase applications making a full V-shaped recovery by early June. The

As the calendar flipped to 2021, it didn’t take long for the rise in mortgage rates. Just two weeks into the new year, Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rates climbed 14 basis points to 2.79%, a dramatic contrast to 2020,

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced an agreement Thursday that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to retain more of their earnings, but now the FHFA is saying this money alone will