San Diego-based Smartfi Home Loans, which primarily is active as a wholesale lender in the reverse mortgage space, will launch a retail division that offers reverse mortgage products and has hired industry veteran Paul Fiore as its president of retail sales.“I am thrilled to announce that I have sta

As a majority of older adults continue to express an overwhelming preference for aging in place in their homes, any decision needs to be made with a full understanding of a particular senior’s needs, capabilities, and access to essential services and people.This was an idea shared by Wayne State Uni

California Regional MLS (CRMLS) has decided to remove fields listing seller concessions from its platform.In late May, CRMLS added a seller concessions-in-price data field to its platform, allowing listing agents and brokers to list how much a seller was willing to contributes toward the buyer’s tra

In response to a poaching lawsuit filed two months by Home Mortgage Alliance Corp. (HMAC), wholesale lender OCMBC Inc. has denied the allegations while countersuing HMAC and its co-founder, Alfred Hanna, on behalf of an employee, Michael Turturro, and his corporation, Jet Alliance.The OCMBC counterc

Mortgage-related consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fell between the first and second quarters of this year, according to a review of the CFPB’s consumer complaint database conducted by HousingWire.A total of 5,652 mortgage-related complaints were submit

Fannie Mae recorded $4.5 billion in net income in the second quarter, pushing its net worth to $86.5 billion as of June 30.Its net income was up only $164 million from the first quarter, despite a large uptick in purchases of single-family mortgages. Fannie Mae purchased $85.9 billion in single-fami

As Federal Reserve policymakers meet this week amid a high likelihood they’ll keep benchmark interest rates unchanged, the recent downward movement in mortgage rates leveled off.HousingWire‘s Mortgage Rates Center showed that the average 30-year conforming loan rate was at 7.01% on Tuesday. That fig

Perchwell, a New York City-based real estate data firm that works with MLSs, brokers and agents, announced Tuesday that it has raised $25 million in a Series B financing round. The financing round was led by Lux Capital, which also participated in the company’s Series A round. The newest round also

As the mortgage and real estate markets continue to face challenges, nearly 800,000 low down payment home purchases in 2023 leveraged private mortgage insurance (PMI), with first-time homebuyers accounting for 64% of the total. This is according to a new report published by U.S. Mortgage Insurers (U

Rate has hired a new head coach. The Chicago-based mortgage lender announced Tuesday that it’s bringing on Daniel Manginelli to lead its sales coaching program, which is designed to help mortgage professionals implement best practices and improve performance.According to the company, the coaching pr

Officials in Montana continue to promote the specialized Reverse Annuity Mortgage (RAM) program for the state’s seniors, with one official saying that it could be a big difference-maker for those in Montana looking to age in place while gaining access to additional cash.The program was passed by the

A payroll tax in Washington state that is designed to establish a fund for older residents’ long-term care needs could be undone by voters this fall through a ballot initiative.“WA Cares” is a payroll tax that is described as a “public long-term care insurance program” in which all working Washingto

A coalition of Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have reintroduced a bill designed to address housing issues by rehabilitating or constructing millions of additional units in an effort to bring down costs for renters and homeowners.Known as the American Housing and

Any sales growth momentum in the real estate market we might have had early in the year is gone. New home sales contracts are coming in pretty consistently fewer than last year — 4.9% fewer in the most recent week. Our Immediate sales measure of homes that get listed, take offers and go into contrac

Home equity lending in 2023 grew by only 1.5% compared to the prior year, while outstanding debt increased by 8.3% in the same time period, according to a study released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).The data includes total originations of open-ended home equity lines of credit (H

There are plenty of challenges for renters and homebuyers this year, especially when it comes to affordability. But technology — particularly leveraging generative AI — can help solve these challenges in new ways. At least, that was the premise of the FHFA’s 2024 TechSprint last week, which focused

The rising supply of homes for sale has yet to put a serious dent in affordability concerns, but it might be starting to.That’s according to First American’s monthly Real House Price Index, which shows a national price decline of 1.3% from May to June. The index measures nominal home prices and adju

Warmer summer weather has brought cooler housing market conditions to Montana.“The market right now just feels like it’s a bit lukewarm,” said Brian Huskey, a Billings, Montana-based ERA American Real Estate agent. “There is still moderated demand from buyers, but there are a lot of people just sitt

Mortgage lenders loanDepot and Movement Mortgage have agreed to end a one-year dispute over the poaching of employees, according to a document filed Friday in a district court in Delaware.  In June 2023, California-based loanDepot accused its competitor of damaging its business by hiring more than 2