Two former New Jersey-based mortgage loan originators have been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger.Christopher Gallo has been recogn

Vetted by HousingWire  |  Our editors independently review the products we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.While the real estate industry is forever in flux, one constant is that it’s a relationship business. One of the biggest challenges for agents is finding new

Florida-based wholesale lender A&D Mortgage appointed Satish Vishwakarma to the role of servicing manager, the company announced on Tuesday.In this new role, Vishwakarma will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the mortgage servicing department. He will ensure the successful m

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday announced new initiatives to bolster community protections against severe heat, an issue that has become more common nationwide.“For the first time in its history, HUD published a webpage on Extreme Heat that serves as a hub hig

Mortgage lenders should get used to the concept of ”higher for longer” interest rates and work to bring profitability to their businesses, according to Stan Middleman, founder, president and CEO at Freedom Mortgage. ”Your interest rates are going to be higher for longer,” he said. ”This year will lo

Realty ONE Group International has joined six other real estate brokerages in settling the commission lawsuits. The firm announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a nationwide settlement agreement with the commission lawsuit plaintiffs.The settlement, which is still subject to court approval,

Figure Technology Solutions, the parent company of Figure Lending LLC, named Michael Tannenbaum as its new CEO, the company announced on Tuesday. Tannenbaum will also be a member of the board of directors. Meanwhile, Mike Cagney, the company’s co-founder and previous CEO, will continue to serve as e

Multichannel lender American Financial Resources (AFR) appointed Michael Brenning as its head of production and Brian Collins to the role of executive vice president of capital markets, the company announced Tuesday.Brenning will be responsible for driving loan volume growth and enhancing sales prod

Hilary Saunders speaks at The Gathering by HousingWire on Monday, April 22. Photo credit: AJ CanariaHilary Saunders, the co-founder and chief broker officer at Side, sees the current challenges facing the real estate industry as yet another opportunity for brokerage models to further evolve.“I think

Vetted by HousingWire  |  Our editors independently review the products we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.Is your license renewal on the horizon? Every 12 years, a cosmic thing happens, and agents in all 50 states come due for their real estate continuing educati

CoStar Group reported a strong first quarter of 2024, with its revenue of $656 million marking a 12% increase from the $584 million figure it posted in first-quarter 2023.But the company posted a net profit of only $7 million, significantly less than in previous quarters. This dip can be partly attr

Mere hours after news broke that Judge Stephen R. Bough had granted preliminary approval of the National Association of Realtors’ nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement, NAR President Kevin Sears took to the stage at HousingWire’s The Gathering to pull back the curtain on how the agreeme

The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals and organizations that have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s 2024 Marketing Leaders award are open now through April 30th, 2024. Click here to nominate someone.The HousingWire Marketing

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Tuesday a decision to ban noncompetes nationwide, aiming to stop the practice of preventing a worker from immediately joining a rival company.The rule is designed to “[protect] the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation, a

New home sales have been one of the brighter housing stories since the home sales crash in 2022 — as we can see in the chart below, new home sales have been able to grow since then. This is one reason why the homebuilder stocks have done so well since November of 2022. The mistake some people made h

On Tuesday at The Gathering by HousingWire in Scottsdale, Arizona, Guild Mortgage CEO Terry Schmidt sat down with HousingWire editor in chief Sarah Wheeler to talk about the principles guiding much of the lender’s actions in recruiting, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and overall business outlook.Bui

New York-based multichannel lender US Mortgage Corporation previously announced that it was renewing its efforts in the reverse mortgage industry, having hired industry veteran Ken Krajewski to serve as managing director and head of reverse mortgage lending.To go deeper into the company’s renewed ef

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Tuesday announced a new rule that governs retirement advice, requiring more financial advisers to follow stricter fiduciary standards when dispensing advice about retirement-focused investments.The rule is designed to “protect the millions of workers who are sav

loanDepot CEO Frank Martell expects the current mortgage market cycle to be “longer and tougher than anybody expected.” Adding to this challenge, lenders must deal with an increased risk of cyberattacks, something that loanDepot itself experienced earlier this year. “At least around loanDepot, peopl

Do you remember the last time you received a letter in the mail, in an envelope, that was hand-addressed to you? People remember snail mail simply because we don’t receive much of it. Emails are easily forgotten, end up in the spam folder, or are never opened at all — but a letter in the mail ensure