Mortgages

The lender has signed a letter of intent to acquire single-family mortgage operations and staff, according to Rick Arvielo, NAF's chief executive.

A key Senator had urged Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to lower rates early this year, but although there's more consensus on making such a move, it now looks unlikely to happen until after the next meeting.

The wholesale giant touts the move as giving brokers a leg up on banks and retail lenders waiting for the next origination wave.

Aspiring buyers took out fewer loans last week, leading to the overall decline, but the average purchase-loan size also surged to its highest mark since last spring, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The company's building unit saw income slow, but the mortgage banking division number accelerated on both a quarterly and annual basis.

The net proceeds will be used to pay down borrowings on a credit line secured by its mortgage servicing portfolio.

Strategies used to falsify identities and property ownership highlight a public assistance vulnerability that could have implications for the mortgage industry.

A national gauge of prices climbed 0.2% in November from October, according to seasonally adjusted data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. That's slower than the 0.6% monthly gain in October.

Two Harbors, which also reported a gain in comprehensive income, recently completed an acquisition that made it the eighth largest conventional servicer.

Over 70 loans were allegedly sent to competitors by the independent mortgage banker, a suit filed by UWM alleges.

A potential buyer with a budget of $3,000 per month for their payments is now able to afford an approximately $453,000 home.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and three Democratic colleagues urged Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates to help bring down housing costs ahead of the central bank's policy meeting this week.

In the wake of the Surfside condo collapse, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae instituted stricter rules regarding the soundness of this crucial form of housing stock as it ages. In response to complaints about a lack of clarity on buildings deemed unfit for financing, the GSE unveiled plans to improve transparency for both homeowners associations and lenders. 

At the same time, the Hilltop Holdings unit expects its gain-on-sale margins to remain pressured in the coming year.

The National Association of Realtors' index of contract signings increased 8.3% to 77.3 after holding at a record low a month earlier, according to data out Friday.

Purchases of new single-family homes increased 8% to a 664,000 annual pace last month, after an upward revision to November's figure, government data showed Thursday.

Connecticut issued a cease and desist order, alleging that Loansnap used unlicensed originators to solicit borrowers and accept loan applications in violation of multiple federal laws.

Even with the 9 basis point rise this week, they have remained at the same level since mid-December, and that should bring people into the market, Freddie Mac said.

Loan criteria such as credit scores, loan types and loan-to-value ratios are all weaker than those included in 2022 deals, Fitch said.

Having the opportunity to customize their own tech stacks was a key reason behind many top producers' success, according to a new Floify survey.