Mortgage industry trade group Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is urging government agencies to begin to have conversations surrounding the impact of the jury verdict and potential court ruling in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit on lending practices.In a letter submitted Thursday to Fe

Texas-based mortgage platform Stairs Financial launched on Thursday after completing a $3.5 million funding round. With first-time buyers accounting for just 26% of all home purchases in 2022 — a 41-year low — the mortgage market place aims to help first-time homebuyers with the right program and mo

In an update to its selling guide, Fannie Mae announced Wednesday that it was expanding the use of attorney opinion letters in lieu of title insurance.Previously, the only transactions ineligible for an AOL were those that involve loans secured by a unit in a condo project, co-op share loans, loans

In 2023, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to make it easier to buy a home and close the racial homeownership gap in the United States. Homeownership is one of the most important decisions in a person’s life and is a primary vehicle for wealth creation for the majority of households. In fac

The housing market cheered as the Federal Reserve signaled interest rate cuts next year after making a series of rapid rate hikes starting in 2022. While the central bank did not completely rule out the possibility of a rate increase in 2024, that action seems unlikely. Instead, fresh economic proje

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) are expressing their views on a recently revised Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loss mitigation proposal, stating that it needs additional adjustments to effectively address the challenges it is desig

Government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac has approved mortgage technology company Truv for both payroll verifications and consumer-permissioned income. With the new integration, lenders will have access to the Truv platform to obtain and transmit information and data required on Freddie Mac’s Loa

Compass’ chief operating officer Greg Hart will leave the brokerage at the end of the year, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.According to the filing, Hart’s position is being eliminated and Compass will not seek to fill the vacancy. As such, Hart i

The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) held its short-term policy interest rate steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% at its last meeting of the year on Wednesday. It was the fourth pause recorded in 2023. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that while inflation remains ‘elevated,’ the Fed a

Rocket Homes is looking to make your daily commute part of your home search experience. The company announced Tuesday that the Rocket Homes iOS app is now available on the infotainment screen of a user’s car via Apple CarPlay.According to the release, homes listed for sale can be seen by users in th

As 2023 winds to a close, so too does a brutal year for the housing market, a year marked by rising rates, steep home prices, scarce inventory and anemic mortgage originations, compared with the boom years of 2020 and 2021.It also has been a brutal year for the secondary market that creates liquidit

Top U.S. mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is offering discounted rates on some government loans until January for brokers to create their own “refi boom,” the company announced on Wednesday. The initiative includes three new exclusive rates – 5.749% paying 1.5 points, 5.999% paying 2

As 2023 draws to a close, housing professionals hope for relief from the high mortgage rates, terrible inventory levels and slow sales that characterized the year.They may find that relief for mortgage rates next year, according to forecasts from various industry experts compiled by HousingWire. Sal

Verifications provider Argyle announced an integration with the Exchange, an interconnected network of mortgage-specific service providers available to customers of the Empower loan origination system (LOS) from Dark Matter Technologies.The collaboration is aimed to make it easier for lenders to ord

PrimeLending, a Texas-based retail mortgage bank, added 12 new loan originators as it attempts to grow market share within its existing Texas footprint.Among the newly added LOs in the fall included two LOs — John Muhammad ($25.72 million) and Hugo Ortiz-Pulido ($21.21 million) with a production vol

Today’s inflation reports show that Federal Reserve rate cuts are in play in 2024 — not because of the labor market breaking, but because real rates are too high. If the labor market gets weaker, meaning jobless claims break over 323,000 on the four-week moving average, we can get even more rate cut

Cenlar FSB, the second-largest mortgage servicer and largest subservicer in the U.S., has partnered with financial services-focused data and analytics company BaseCap Analytics to pilot a new program designed to enhance regulatory and operational processes and compliance.The technology is designed t

The Council of Multiple Listing Services announced its new board of director members for 2024 on Tuesday. The MLS trade group said the new directors will assume their roles starting Jan. 1, 2024.The two new directors elected to the board are Justin Haag, the general counsel and incoming president an

California-based mortgage lender loanDepot on Tuesday announced the launch of its fully automated underwriting engine called melloNow.The new system, which has been in beta-testing for the last several quarters, delivers a fully conditional loan approval “in minutes rather than hours or days,” the c

The copycat commission lawsuits have made it to the West Coast. A home seller plaintiff in California filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern California, accusing the real estate industry of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions.The lawsuit