Wholesale lenders

Walter Investment Management Corp. will close its Ditech subsidiary's Irving, Texas, office by the end of 2017, according to an internal memo. It's the first step in an effort to ultimately reduce Walter's physical footprint from 13 offices to as few as four.

United Wholesale Mortgage will vacate its offices in Troy, Mich. for a bigger headquarters building in Pontiac and relocate all 2,100 employees.

Home Point Financial Corp. sold its reverse mortgage lending business to Huron Valley Financial. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

David Schneider has joined Stearns Lending as its chief executive officer, replacing Brian Hale, who will be leaving the company at the end of the month.

Nexera Holding, which has operated as an online lender under the name Newfi, is applying that branding to the company as a whole.

Walter Investment Management Corp.'s first-quarter net income included a $42 million after tax gain from the sale of Green Tree Insurance Agency.

United Shore Financial Services has agreed to pay a total of $1.4 million to consumers and California regulators to settle allegations it collected interest payments it was not entitled to.

LoanDepot Inc. is exploring the possibility of reviving a stock offering after cancelling one in November 2015

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $55 million to settle U.S. allegations of racial discrimination in home loans through mortgage brokers, leading black and Hispanic borrowers to pay higher interest rates and fees from 2006 to 2009, a person familiar with the matter said.

Through Motto Mortgage, Remax is looking to give its smaller franchisees the same ability to offer one-stop shopping to homebuyers as larger operators, in a way that will not raise red flags for regulators.

Mortgage brokers and their wholesale partners have seen a slow increase in their market share since the start of the housing recovery. Remax's Motto Mortgage franchise business could accelerate growth faster than the channel's advocates hope for.

Many big banks are backing away from the retail channel and FHA lending due to rising compliance costs. But U.S. Bank Home Mortgage President Tom Wind sees an opportunity to leverage those challenges to improve efficiency and transparency.

First Community Mortgage has added six loan products to its menu, each targeted to borrowers who are not eligible for a conforming or government mortgage.

Ellie Mae and Black Knight Financial Services offer mortgage lenders different value propositions so the competitive dynamic between the two companies hasn't changed, said Ellie Mae CEO Jonathan Corr.

Ellie Mae has launched the Encompass Lending Platform, allowing customers to integrate external systems and data, and build custom applications in the cloud.

A desire to own their own businesses led many loan officers to become mortgage brokers during the industry's growth period. As brokering regains its footing, that entrepreneurial spirit is making a comeback.

David Schneider, who became Ditech Financial's president in February, is no longer with the lender as parent company Walter Investment Management streamlines leadership under its new CEO, Anthony Renzi.

United Wholesale Mortgage has rolled out a new tool that allows mortgage brokers to receive automated income verification.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers has created a new grant program that is designed to expand the mortgage broker channel by helping mortgage professionals open their own wholesale shops.

Impac Mortgage Holdings has released the pricing of an upcoming follow-on stock offering.