Origination

Twenty years ago, Texas became the last state in the union to legalize the home equity loan, allowing people for the first time to use their own homes as collateral.

The year opened with hopes that regulatory and enforcement pressures would abate for the mortgage industry. The reality has turned out quite differently.

From funding sources to home prices, here's a look at five questions lenders must ask themselves before they can safely originate 1% down mortgages.

Closed for nearly 30 years, the massive Michigan Central Station in Detroit is widely known for its ornate architecture and haunting emptiness and decay, but so far has missed out on the surge in redevelopment happening in the city.

The percentage of people who said July was a bad time to buy a home increased to a survey high because of rising prices, according to Fannie Mae.

In June 2007, the Orange County, Calif., median home selling price hit $645,000 — a high point near the end of that era's crazy, risky lending and home buying insanity. In less than two years, a violent downturn slashed the typical local home's value almost in half.

Essent Group reported second-quarter net income of $72.1 million, an improvement from the $52.3 million of the same period last year.

The nonbank mortgage sector had its largest one-month employment gain in a year, as independent mortgage bankers and brokers enjoyed stronger-than-expected originations during the second quarter.

Wells Fargo & Co. settled an 11-year-old lawsuit with the U.S. government that claimed the lender overcharged veterans under a federal mortgage-refinancing program.

Old pastures, tired citrus groves and vacant land are quickly transforming into metro Orlando neighborhoods, with about 4,000 new houses underway during the most recent quarter, a new study shows.