Mortgages

Home sales probably rose in April to the highest level in more than three years, extending gains in residential real estate that are giving the U.S. expansion a lift.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has confirmed the appointment of Judd Gregg as CEO and also appointed Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr. as president of the association.

An unexpected extra in your marketing can get a prospect to re-read it closer.

San Francisco is considered to be the least affordable market in the nation for housing.

The Mortgage Grapevine is a place where people can comment, not just about what is happening in the lending business, but on many other topics, including politics and government.

A court found a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional. This could affect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Redwood Trust, which sold $424 million of mortgage-backed securities at spreads of 190 basis points, was the big gainer among mortgage stocks on Friday.

Wells Fargo and Citigroup have halted the vast majority of their foreclosure sales in multiple states following the release of new guidance by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The commission ordered Thomas Richter and Girard Finance Co. to cease discriminatory lending practices and pay a total of $668,951 to seven borrowers for damages plus humiliation and suffering.

Chicago convention managers and Mayor Rahm Emanuel advanced plans for a new arena and makeover of Navy Pier, the city’s top tourist attraction.

Third-party service providers can use review models to evaluate the legal, operational and financial effect of new rules.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Jefferies priced the $1.1 billion CMBS deal called GS Mortgage Securities Trust 2013-GCJ12.

Walker & Dunlop Inc. said that Brian Casey will join its proprietary capital group on May 23.

New compliance requirements don’t typically inspire the most innovative technology enhancements in the mortgage industry. But the upcoming overhaul of borrower disclosure forms has created an opportunity to re-engineer the way lenders and title companies execute mortgage closings, according to Document Systems Inc. CEO Dominic Iannitti.

In the past two years, 85% of Hispanics were engaged in online banking, compared to 74% of all U.S. households.

After acquiring JPMorgan Chase’s Melbourne, Fla., servicing shop earlier this year, Wingspan Portfolio Advisors is now expanding the functions this facility will provide.

Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods believe fears about a Federal Reserve Board exit from its mortgage-backed securities holdings in the near future are overdone.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is coming under pressure from House Republicans to issue a policy that would ban the Federal Housing Administration from refinancing any loans that have been seized by a county via eminent domain.

Flagstar Bancorp said that its chief executive has stepped aside after just eight months in the post.