Origination

A majority of consumers still think it’s a good financial decision to buy a home and most think they could sell their home for at least its initial purchase price, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The risk for mortgage fraud fell 8.9% at the end of the second quarter compared with a year earlier, according to CoreLogic.

Executives in the mortgage industry must "take a page from the real estate community" and be more active in Washington and their state capitals, said outgoing Mortgage Bankers Association Chairman Bill Cosgrove.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta has promoted an executive to oversee its consumer banking and wealth management operations

Ellie Mae has agreed to purchase St. Louis-based Mortgage Returns, which provides customer-relationship management services.

Mortgage banking represented one weak spot in Wells Fargo's third-quarter results and company officials said that would likely be the case in the fourth quarter.

Altisource has set its sights on the real estate services market with two acquisitions that will dramatically grow its business in this area.

Bank of America originated $13.7 billion of first-mortgage loans and $3.1 billion of home equity loans during the third quarter, the company said in its quarterly earnings release.

The outlook for originations, and regulators' priorities for 2016, will dominate discussions throughout the Mortgage Bankers Association's Annual Convention in San Diego next week. Earmark these eight hot topics and features to seek out at the show.

LendingTree already offers a Yelp-like community where consumers can rate loan officers. Now it has created a question-and-answer forum within its loan officer directory platform.