News

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

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,

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

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

HousingWire’s people mover section covers the latest hiring announcements in the real estate and mortgage industry. Kicking off this week’s leadership announcements, Cherry Creek Mortgage changed its structure and ownership. Through the restructuring, the company stated that it is 100%

Wells Fargo, the second-biggest mortgage lender in the nation, continued to cede market share to nonbank rivals in the fourth quarter of 2020. The lender originated $53.94 billion in the fourth quarter, a 12.5% decline from the prior quarter, when

President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion financial plan, unveiled Thursday as the American Rescue Plan, includes a call for extending the national moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until Sept. 30, while also setting aside funds to provide legal assistance to households

Nine days after participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, federal criminal charges were filed against Frisco, Texas-based Realtor and broker Jenna Ryan. Ryan is charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful

As the Biden/Harris administration takes office, it faces many crises and challenges – including bridging the partisan divide, ramping up vaccines to end the COVID-19 crisis, jump-starting the economy, and facing huge budget deficits at a time when many believe

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Association issued a joint statement Thursday announcing they will not restructure the taxpayers’ stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In other words, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) will not

Mike Cagney, SoFi SoFi co-founder Mike Cagney’s latest digital mortgage operation Figure Lending closed on a $100 million funding facility from JPMorgan Chase this week. The warehouse facility will allow the company, a subsidiary of Figure Technologies, to originate conventional

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest depository bank, increased mortgage origination volume to $32.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a 12% gain from the prior quarter. But that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The Jamie Dimon-led bank increased overall mortgage

Fresh off a SPAC merger and public offering that loaded the company with roughly $200 million in fresh capital, proptech firm Porch made four acquisitions this week, notably investing $100 million in an insurtech company. Porch, led by CEO Matt

It’s 6:30 in the morning on September 25, 2020, and a small team from The Home Loan Expert is beginning their long climb up Mount Elbert, the highest summit in the Rocky Mountains of North America and the highest point

A $12 million funding round will enable digital mortgage marketplace company Own Up to expand nationally, company officials said Wednesday. Own Up, which loosely resembles a mortgage brokerage, will expand to 15 new states in 2021, including California. Consumers already

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Thursday it has extended relaxed lending and appraisal standards put in place due to COVID-19 another month for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The flexibilities surrounding alternative verifications of employment and appraisals

The mortgage industry has not traditionally been the vanguard in the adoption of digital solutions particularly in data intelligence and applied machine learning. Investments in proper infrastructure, an innate fear of losing process control, and converting the workforce to a digitally

Ahead of its independent public offering, Homepoint‘s parent company plans to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to replenish its owners’ wallets. The wholesale lender’s parent company, Home Point Capital, is seeking to raise $500 million in debt

As more and more mortgage tech companies enter the scene, competition for accessibility and personalization gained speed this week as proptech touched down in more niche submarkets. Data analytics giant Black Knight unveiled a new self-service style platform aimed at

The average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan rose from its previous record low by 14 basis points this week to 2.79%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This marks the first time mortgage rates have risen in