Former Open Mortgage executive Brenda Hedeen has been hired by Utah-based Canopy Mortgage as its new chief financial officer. “I was delighted when they reached out as I’ve had my eye on this group for years … they have it all: Techcentric, innovative, cost-effective, amazing culture, truly transparent pricing, engaged leadership and outstanding retail model. I’m excited to be a part of a leadership group that I can be really proud of!” she wrote in a LinkedIn post this week. Hedeen was the CFO of Open Mortgage from May 2022 to October 2024. She also had CFO stints at On Q Financial and Mann Mortgage.Open Mortgage shut down its distributed retail channel in August and laid off more than two dozen employees. The company is now focused on third-party originations.Founded in 2018, Canopy has its own proprietary technology platform, which propelled it to becoming a HousingWire Tech100 winner in 2023. It has nearly 300 loan officers and originated about $1.35 billion in mortgages over the past 12 months, according to Modex data.

Guild Mortgage announced on Thursday that it has hired Nora Guerra, who worked at Freddie Mac for more than five years, as its senior vice president of community lending solutions.A mortgage industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, Guerra has recently served as senior manager of national affordable lending at Freddie Mac, joining the government-sponsored (GSE) enterprise in 2019. The executive has also advocated for Latino housing equality, receiving awards for her activism.According to Guild, Guerra is tasked with developing and expanding its programs, policies, and initiatives directed toward attainable homeownership. These include down payment assistance programs, financial education, and community outreach. Guild CEO Terry Schmidt said in a statement that Guerra has educated and led “initiatives to help make homeownership an achievable goal for everyone.” Guerra added that she will have “the opportunity to help shape communities across the nation with stability, liquidity and affordability.”California-based Guild has grown organically and via mergers and acquisitions, including deals to acquire Legacy Mortgage, Cherry Creek Mortgage and First Centennial Mortgage in 2023, and Academy Mortgage Corp in 2024.The lender’s net income was $37.6 million from July to September, up from $28.5 million in the previous quarter. Guild originated $6.5 billion in the second quarter, up 69% from the previous quarter.

The Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) saw significant growth in support of affordable housing and community development in 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).The report detailed FHLBanks’ activity across several programs that include the Affordable Housing Program (AHP), the Community Investment Program (CIP), the Community Investment Cash Advance Program (CICA) and other “voluntary targeted mission-activity programs,” according to the FHFA.FHFA Director Sandra Thompson lauded the development in a statement accompanying the report.“The Federal Home Loan Banks assisted close to 65,000 low- or moderate-income households and supported more than 400 targeted economic development projects in 2023 through grants and advances,” she said. “I am encouraged to see the [FHLBanks] pursue creative and innovative approaches to addressing local housing needs through the voluntary programs they undertake in addition to meeting their obligations under the Affordable Housing Program.”AHP funds awarded rose by roughly $180 million last year, while “combined advances under the CIP and CICA programs, issued to members to finance affordable housing and economic development projects in lower-income communities, grew by 44%,” FHFA said.The overall recovery of FHLBank earnings have corresponded with “increased support for affordable housing and community development initiatives,” FHFA said. FHLBanks are required to commit 10% of their net income from the prior year to the AHP, which totaled slightly more than $355 million in 2023.“Their actual AHP awards in 2023 were approximately $91.7 million — or about 26% — above that amount. FHLBank contributions to the AHP rose for the first time since 2018,” FHFA said.Still, affordable housing issues are an ongoing challenge. The presidents and board chairs of the 11 FHLBanks — which have been under pressure to allocate more money to affordable housing — sent letters to the U.S. Department of Treasury in August. They contend that raising their contribution thresholds will not address the complexities of the current housing crisis.

Wall Street investors and analysts forecast that mortgage credit-score costs will rise in 2025 as lower interest rates may drive an increase in home loan applications. Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO), the company that retains the rights to the market’s widely adopted consumer credit-risk assessment methodology, is expected to raise the price for mortgage credit scores from $3.50 to at least $5, according to the estimates. This hike would mean that FICO could collect $15 for a tri-merge report and score bundle, which cost about $50 last year. The retail price difference stems from additional fees imposed by credit data distributors like TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. FICO told HousingWire that it did not wish to comment.In early October, Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a report that they “see a long runway for FICO to continue increasing its prices in mortgage and other verticals.” The report cited FICO’s dominant market position, which covers more than 95% of securitizations, and the fact that its scores make up less than 0.2% of a typical $6,000 mortgage closing cost.If FICO raises mortgage score prices to $5, alongside increases for auto loan and credit card scores, Wells Fargo analysts estimate the company could see a $200 million boost in revenue in fiscal year 2025. This represents an 11% gain for its expected $1 billion business-to-business channel. “We’re raising the fiscal year 2025 and 2026 estimated revenue growth to 22% and 18% (from 17% and 16%), baking in an increase in FICO’s mortgage score price to $5 in 2025 and $6.50 in 2026, alongside additional pricing actions in auto and card,” the analysts wrote in the report. Meanwhile, Jefferies analysts also wrote earlier this month that some buy-side investors expect the cost of the mortgage credit scores to be raised to $5.25, adding $180 million in total next year. But this seems too elevated, they added. “Most are anticipating price increases closer to last year (an estimated $110 million – $130 million),” according to the analysts. “We have chosen to be conservative and are modeling $100 million. This reflects our view that the company is poised to benefit from volume improvement and does not need to be as aggressive as it has in the past.” UBS analysts also said that pricing has been contributing to an important part of FICO’s growth, a trend that should “continue given its moated business model of low churn and scale coupled with its low percent of total mortgage cost.” Analysts estimate the firm’s revenue is poised to grow at 13% at a compound annual rate over the next five years. If the anticipated price hike occurs in 2025, it would mark the third straight year of increases. FICO scores first entered the market in 1989 and became a standard tool for major credit reporting agencies two years later. In 2012, the parties began to renegotiate their license agreements since FICO royalties had been flat for three decades. The royalties increased to $0.50 to 0.60 per FICO score in 2018. A tier-based structure of $0.60 to $2.75 per score was implemented in 2023, which resulted in prices for some lenders increasing by up to 400%. After complaints from lenders, FICO returned to a fixed royalty of $3.50 per FICO score in 2024. But it collected the same per-score price for soft pulls and hard pulls. The moves come as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are moving away from the current Classic FICO credit score model. They will require lenders to use two credit scores generated by the FICO Score 10 T and the VantageScore 4.0 models, which are considered more inclusive than their predecessors.Analysts also pointed to potential increased regulation in the credit score market, mainly from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Director Rohit Chopra said this year that lenders and consumers alike are being overcharged by the credit reporting industry. 

The Agency founder Mauricio Umansky doesn’t think that the game of “musical chairs” that is agent recruiting is good for the real estate industry, but this week his company can tally a win.Dallas-based luxury real estate agents Courtney Michalek and Andrea Childress have joined The Agency to bolster the brokerage’s Dallas office, which was launched by Megan and Damon Williamson in January 2023.“The Agency’s commitment to leveraging cutting edge technology and marketing strategies allows me to showcase my properties effectively, ensuring maximum visibility and engagement,” Michalek said in a statement. “The Agency as a brand aligns perfectly with my passion for providing exceptional service to my clients and provides me with the tools to do so in a way I have never seen done before.”A native of Cincinnati, Michalek moved to Dallas, where she high school and college. She comes from a family with a real estate development background. According to RealTrends Verified, she ranked No. 69 for sales volume in Dallas, pulling in $14 million in 2023. She also ranked No. 36 in sides with 21. She is joining The Agency from Compass.For her work in Fort Worth, Childress has received recognitions from several publications, including D Magazine, West Magazine, Fort Worth Magazine, Local Pro and Real Producers.“With The Agency’s robust marketing tools and their reputation for excellence in luxury real estate, I plan to stay ahead by curating unique client experiences and using their global platform to connect with an international audience,” Childress said in a statement. “This will allow me to highlight the best of what Dallas has to offer in terms of luxury living.”

The North Carolina Regional Multiple Listing Service (NCRMLS) is making a move to foster connectivity between real estate agents and consumers.NCRMLS — a wholesale cooperative MLS founded in 2016 — has announced its plans to rebrand to Hive MLS in conjunction with Hive Solutions. Hive MLS will charge member associations and MLSs wholesale fees to access their data.Hive MLS will release new tools and features to 18 MLS and 19,000 Realtor association members in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Users now have access to upgraded listing accuracy, better transaction efficiency, training programs for agents and community tools.These upgrades are available through Hive Solutions, a suite of real estate technology products designed for widespread use across several sectors of the industry. The “Hive” rebranding represents a companywide shift toward collaboration. The platform will serve as a space for agents to share listings and ideas while simplifying transactions with greater speed and accuracy. Hive MLS compares its platform to a bee hive, where worker bees — referring to agents — work together to gather resources and keep the hive, or the housing market, alive. “Just like bees working together, our new marketing mantra ‘Powered by Hive MLS and Hive Solutions’ signifies that each independent and participating Broker is equipped with cutting-edge education, technology, and data to elevate their business operations to deliver successful results to their clients,” Daniel Jones, CEO of Hive MLS, said in a statement.“Our new name represents a spirit of community and growth. It’s more than a name change – it conveys how we serve real estate professionals.”Hive MLS will officially launch at the North Carolina Realtors‘ Convention & Expo from Oct. 19-22. The company will have a booth to welcome agents and other professionals interested in learning more about the new tools. Individual members must pay a retail price to use Hive MLS. The Hive MLS rebranding is not the only move that NCRMLS has made this year. In July, the organization expanded into Georgia, adding Savannah MLS, Athens Area Association of Realtors and Classic MLS, and the Realtors of Greater Augusta. The Georgia-based MLSs are slated to make the move in early 2025.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a new report detailing what it says are the top management challenges for the department in fiscal year 2025 while also highlighting elements of progress made since the release of a prior report.The new report echoes some of the concerns presented by the OIG in a similar report released nearly a year ago. These include the characterization of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program’s and the HECM-backed Securities (HMBS) portfolio’s collective potential to pose a “unique” level of risk for Ginnie Mae on a counterparty basis.Much of the concern stems from the potential for an additional event that could require Ginnie Mae to assume control of another reverse mortgage lender’s portfolio. Its assumption of a portfolio formerly belonging to a leading lender that went bankrupt has caused significant strain on Ginnie Mae’s resources.‘Unique risk’“HUD plays a critical role in every American community, whether through creating homeownership opportunities, creating liquidity in the housing market, or providing billions of dollars for rental assistance, homelessness assistance, and disaster recovery,” HUD Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis said in a statement. “This report reflects the most pressing challenges that HUD faces as it strives to achieve its mission. I look forward to continuing to use our oversight to improve how HUD programs and operations deliver for the American people.” The report features a dedicated HECM section under a broader heading of “mitigating counterparty risks.” It states that the HMBS portfolio presents a “unique risk” for Ginnie Mae particularly as interest rates remain elevated.“HECM originations are much more affected by higher interest rates because higher interest rates decrease the funds available to the borrower through a HECM loan,” the report explained. “In addition, issuers must buy HECM loans out of their HMBS pools when the borrower has exhausted the amount of funding available under the loan, regardless of whether the borrower is paying off the loan.”Buyouts, which can be costly to lenders, require HMBS issuers to advance the full balance of the loan prior to assignment to HUD. As interest rate relief did not materialize for the majority of the year — and as rates have gone up recently despite a lower federal funds rate — that risk remains.“In a market with increasing or sustained high-level interest rates, the cost of financing to fund these advances becomes increasingly expensive,” the report said. “At the same time, increasing rates may result in decreased new originations and refinances, which are significant sources of lender income.”HMBS issuance is a key reverse mortgage industry performance metric, and the overall pool of issuers has fallen due to lenders going out of business, exiting the space voluntarily or acquisition deals that combine two issuers into one. Issuance also remains at historically low levels following the spike in interest rates that occurred after the COVID-19 pandemic.“Ginnie Mae’s active issuer HMBS portfolio is concentrated among a small group of nondepository financial institutions, with the top 10 MBS issuers being nonbanks,” the report said. “Higher levels of concentration of HMBS issuance, access to financing, and availability of subservicers all increase the complexity of Ginnie Mae’s monitoring, oversight, and enforcement.”RMF portfolio assumptionTop-five industry lender Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) collapsed at the end of 2022, leading Ginnie Mae to assume control of its HMBS portfolio in December of that year after the company failed to sell its portfolio to another issuer. At the time, the portfolio represented 36% of all HECM loans, and the assumption of servicing responsibilities was unprecedented. This adds to the complexity of the moment, the report explained.“This was the first time in Ginnie Mae’s history that it had extinguished an issuer with an HMBS portfolio,” the report noted. “Ginnie Mae subcontracted with a master subservicer, which RMF had also used, to administer the portfolio. Having the existing vendor relationship supported minimal disruption to the borrower and ensured Ginnie Mae’s ability to service HECM loans.”But managing the portfolio is a time-intensive process for Ginnie Mae personnel, the report noted. The company began handling both scheduled and unscheduled draw requests from borrowers, mortgage insurance premium (MIP) payments, mandatory 98% of maximum claim amount (MCA) repurchases, and investor pass-through payments. As of September 2023, these totaled more than $1.6 billion.The HMBS portfolio size of $57.9 billion is small relative to the full $2.6 trillion portfolio that Ginnie Mae manages. But this does not diminish the time-intensiveness and attention to detail required for proper management of the portfolio, the report noted.“Periods of rising interest rates have challenged HMBS issuers,” the report said. “This condition is especially concerning since the four largest issuers have approximately 86% of the remaining HMBS market. Although Ginnie Mae implemented several policy changes designed to help issuers navigate liquidity challenges, assumption of another defaulted HMBS portfolio could significantly challenge Ginnie Mae’s capacity.”HMBS 2.0The report does not mention the forthcoming policy known as “HMBS 2.0,” which would include a reduction in the HMBS pool size to 95% of the loan’s total unpaid principal balance (UPB). This move is designed to “create an additional economic incentive to protect Ginnie Mae and taxpayers against a decline in collateral value,” the company explained when it released an initial HMBS 2.0 term sheet earlier this year.The new program will also permit various property valuation methodologies, including automated valuation models (AVMs) from approved vendors or an independent broker’s price opinion, but it factors these into the pool at 90% of valuation.This is designed to “protect Ginnie Mae in the event of a variance between the estimated property value and the market value or a future decline in house prices,” according to an informational blog authored by Ginnie Mae senior policy adviser Karan Kaul.Reverse mortgage industry participants have lauded the development of HMBS 2.0, and the industry’s leading lender even mentioned its potential to improve the liquidity situation for all issuers.In a recent interview with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD), Ginnie Mae acting president Sam Valverde said that an updated HMBS 2.0 term sheet is expected within the next several weeks. But he declined to offer an implementation timeline for the planned policy.It may also be obfuscated by the upcoming general election, where the next president may be charged with implementing such policies should the timeline extend beyond the end of President Joe Biden’s term on Jan. 20, 2025. There’s no guarantee that current leaders installed by the Biden administration will remain in their posts following the next presidential inauguration.

A record number of Americans are set to reach age 65 this year, which has put more of a spotlight on the ballooning costs and the increasing desires for older Americans to age in place in their current homes.The issue received attention earlier this week on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, a major network news broadcast that averaged nearly 6.5 million viewers during its 2023-2024 season, according to AdWeek.As part of the broadcast’s ongoing series to highlight costs of living in an era of historically high inflation, reporter Christine Romans began the segment by highlighting an older couple. In 2018, the husband, Chuck Zimmer, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, Sharon, walked away from her job a year before turning 65 to care for him.“Everything that we worked hard for is going back into his care,” Sharon Zimmer said.The result was dwindling savings and a financial burden that has become increasingly common for Americans who have to make a choice between various and often cost-heavy options to care for loved ones.The NBC Nightly News segment on rising elder care costs originally aired Oct. 15.The consequences, the report said, could have an impact on the upcoming general election. Wisconsin, a key battleground state that both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are heavily campaigning in, has roughly 580,000 unpaid family caregivers who spend more than $7,000 a year out of pocket to cover the associated costs with caring for older relatives.This total is more than $10,000 if the loved one is afflicted with dementia, and it can soar to more than $240,000 over the final seven years of a patient’s life.“If your loved one is diagnosed [at a] younger [age], they’re losing their retirement,” said Kelsey Flock, a dementia care specialist at the Aging & Disability Resource Center in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. “They’re losing their income [and] maybe losing the primary caregiver’s health insurance.”Medicare covers medications for these people, but not congregate or in-home care, according to the report. In the case of the Zimmers, they spend about $1,440 per month for a private health aide who visits for three hours a day, three days a week. The costs have led them to downsize into an apartment in an effort to save more money.“When the money’s gone, and he passes away, and I did the best I could — and I kept him home — I’m OK being broke,“ Sharon Zimmer said. “I’m OK [knowing] the state’s going to take care of you now, because I did the best I could.”Recently, Democratic presidential nominee Harris proposed an expansion of Medicare to include in-home care coverage. The Trump campaign has said that eliminating taxes on Social Security would help lower costs for seniors and any caregivers they may need.

Following the ravages of Hurricane Helene in the western region of North Carolina, federal programs designed to assist impacted homeowners with property buyouts and relocation assistance may not have much interest. This is according to local officials who spoke with Politico.Zeb Smathers, the mayor of Canton in western North Carolina, described for the outlet how he is no longer comfortable with asking impacted residents to stay. Just three years ago, the town was hit with a “once-in-a-lifetime” flood resulting from Tropical Storm Fred. It impacted 700 homes and required emergency shelter for 100 people in the town of roughly 4,400 residents.Following the impact of Helene, Smathers said he is now encouraging impacted homeowners and business owners to seek out these federal buyout programs if they don’t want to remain in the area.“There was a western North Carolina that existed before this and there’s the one that comes after,” Smathers told Politico in an interview. “I’m numb, but I experienced this three years ago — which allows us to ask some of the tougher questions.”But Smathers doesn’t expect a lot of residents to take up the buyout offers. He notes that an attachment to the community, the sweeping devastation wrought by Helene and a lack of affordable housing options elsewhere in the state are combining to potentially depress the local rate of uptake for these programs. On top of that, many impacted residents simply have a personal connection to their homes and don’t want to let them go.“Those factors will hobble programs designed to lessen personal and financial hardship as well as costly taxpayer-funded disaster responses,” Politico reported.In 2021, Congress passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed into law by President Joe Biden. It included $3.5 billion in new funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its flood mitigation assistance program, which can pay for buyouts for homes severely damaged by flooding. The idea is to reduce future taxpayer burdens tied to natural disasters while also trying to steer people away from flood-prone areas.Low-interest loans also got a $500 million boost through the law, and an additional $1 billion was added to a community grant program aimed at reducing the risks of such disasters.The payouts under the program are based on pre-disaster market prices, but Smathers —along with other local officials, aid workers and environmental organizations — don’t see the programs getting a lot of buy-in from community members.“We’re a heavy Republican state, let’s just say that,” Paula Swepson, executive director of West Marion Community Forum, told Politico. “They don’t believe in climate change, don’t believe in environmental justice, believe that DEI is from the pits of hell. So, how can we continue to fight and let people know that these things are real — and if you didn’t believe it, how do you think this happened?”But other local officials said they’re not sure how to access the federal assistance programs, since they often come with onerous application processes that take needed resources away from addressing more immediate needs. Compounding all of this is a lack of viable relocation spots for impacted lower-income residents to go, they said.Previously, it was indicated that FEMA had already exhausted half of its allocated response funding due to the back-to-back disasters of hurricanes Helene and Milton. Absent additional action from Congress, FEMA will be forced to restrict its spending as relief needs accelerate in the wake of both disasters.Home insurance is also facing a reckoning in the Southeast due to the aftermath of the storms. Experts told HousingWire that the nature of the way the mortgage industry interacts with insurance companies may have to change due to accelerating climate risk.

In this week’s episode of the RealTrending podcast, host Tracey Velt sits down for an informative conversation with Paul Carlson, the president of Five Star Real Estate. Carlson explores his early career journey, including insights into how he grew the brokerage. He also explores key lessons he learned as he inherited the president’s seat from his father, Greg Carlson, Five Star Real Estate’s founder. And Carlson offers some key tips on centralizing management, building a brand and creating a successful succession plan.Following a brief introduction, Carlson shares his background in the industry. The young executive started his career in 2006 before transitioning into key management roles at Five Star Real Estate in 2012. Before that, Carlson was forced into adversity by the 2008 recession and minimal support from his father. This adversity pushed him to learn and grow as a real estate professional and photographer before joining Five Star. Today, the company has about 740 agents and 22 offices, and it closed some 8,000 transactions in 2024. Velt follows up with a question on Carlson’s transition into the president’s role at Five Star. Carlson says that the company enforced an anti-nepotism clause, forcing him to work his way up the ranks. His father started inviting him to marketing meetings with other executives. From there, Carlson started to push for change within the company, which inspired his father to offer him the leadership role. Carlson emphasizes the importance of establishing a unique style of leadership rather than attempting to mimic a predecessor.“The best thing I could do is realize I could never be him, and the company doesn’t need me to be him,” Carlson says. “I see a lot of people taking over their parent’s business trying to imitate the president or founder, and it just doesn’t work. I’m good enough as I am.”Carlson still had to work to earn the respect from some of the senior members of the company, and he faced further criticism overall as he attempted to get the staff on board with Five Star’s future-facing strategies. Following that, Velt asks Carlson to share his initial strategy for growing Five Star. First, Carlson focused on rebranding the company. Internally, he focused on shielding his team from outside noise and tech companies reaching out to pitch products and AI tools. Instead, he chose to focus on building a strong culture without relying on widely available technology to augment Five Star’s productivity.“I was trying to create something unique because, in my opinion, if everyone can get kvCORE, if everyone can get Cloud CMA, if everyone can get Adwerx, any one of us can go buy it,” Carlson says. “Realtors can go to get it themselves too, and that’s not truly differentiating yourself from the marketplace.”Next, Carlson explores a few strategies he used to grow Five Star over time. The company focused on three primary areas to drive growth — lowering costs for agents; offering real-time, centralized brokerage support via phone; and internally designed personal branding managed by a dedicated team. By offering these three forms of assistance, Carlson says he established Five Star as more of a consulting firm than a traditional brokerage. Carlson and Velt close the conversation by exploring the criteria for a good succession plan. Carlson believes that it’s essential for a child to take a company and morph it into their own through hard work and visionary thinking. Companies that don’t implement these principles during a succession may experience shrinkage. He advises successors to find their internal motivation before taking the reins of a business.

Speakers:Dan Snyder, CEO & Co-Founder at LowerBrett Ludden, Managing Partner at Sterling Point AdvisorsDan Hanson, Executive Director, Enterprise Partnerships & Acquisitions at loanDepotJames Kleimann, Managing Editor at HousingWire

In this session, experts will discuss mini-corr challenges and opportunities going into 2025, including whether the channel will continue to see market share growth and the latest on warehouse lender risks.Speakers:Nate Clear, President at First FundingWade Betz, Head of Correspondent Lending at Mpire FinancialSarah Wheeler, Editor in Chief at HousingWire

Two artificial intelligence startups are teaming up to make searches through multiple listing services (MLSs) more accessible to the visually impaired. The combined technology of Restb.ai and Lundy will allow users to search listings through voice commands. Restb.ai leverages AI to produce computer vision for the real estate sector, while Lundy provides a voice-driven property search platform.Together, the two startups will provide a voice-driven search option for agents, buyers and sellers. The new product is being offered to MLSs, and any MLS that already uses Restb.ai’s tagging technology get a complimentary upgrade to one of Lundy’s “Finding Homes Pro” features.“Our mission is to provide the most comprehensive search engine available by voice to ensure the homebuying journey is accessible to everyone,” Lundy CEO Justin Lundy said in a statement. “By joining forces with Restb.ai to leverage their market-leading computer vision technology, we’re dramatically advancing our efforts at Lundy to make voice search a staple feature for every MLS. Together, we’re setting a new standard for accessibility and user-friendly technology.”Restb.ai’s technology is an image tagging system that automatically analyzes photos of properties and provides visual insights. Lundy said it goes beyond a simple screen reader by offering natural language home searches that aren’t interrupted by display ads or pop-up screens.“MLSs are leading the way in delivering practical AI to hundreds of thousands of real estate professionals nationwide,” Nathan Brannen, chief product officer at Restb.ai, said in a statement. ”By teaming up with Lundy, we’re accelerating the momentum of AI adoption in the industry, allowing agents to match homebuyers and sellers to deliver the perfect home with unparalleled speed and precision. “This partnership will profoundly impact how agents serve their clients, bringing more AI innovation to the forefront of real estate.”In April, Lundy extended its partnership with Stellar MLS.

VestaPlus is gaining more traction with its artificial intelligence-powered compliance system. The company announced that Firelands Association of Realtors in Ohio and Northwest Wisconsin MLS have signed up for CheckMate, the firm’s listing compliance violation detection software. In July, Staten Island MLS and San Diego MLS entered similar partnerships with VestaPlus, and the company now serves five MLSs in total.“We are excited to support Firelands Association of Realtors and Northwestern Wisconsin Multiple Listing Service in optimizing data accuracy and streamlining internal processes, while at the same time reducing costs,” VestaPlus CEO Annie Ives said in a statement. “With the removal of offers of compensation from the MLS, it is imperative that MLSs implement new compliance technology that enhances the experience for both MLS staff and real estate professionals.”CheckMate uses AI to find compliance infractions in listings and photos, eliminating the need for MLSs to manually look for individual violations. It is integrated into the MLS platform much like CoreLogic’s Matrix.Compliance software has gotten considerably more important for MLSs in the wake of new rules mandated by the commission lawsuit settlement agreement from the National Association of Realtors. Some agents have gotten creative on how to make offers of compensation to buyer agents, such as placing three items in photos to indicate an offer of 3% commission.VestaPlus is a wholly owned subsidiary of TheMLS.com, which 20 years ago decided to build its own software. In 2018, TheMLS.com created VestaPlus to continue building the software with the intent of licensing it.“The technology is here and it is a resource we should be adopting,” David Freitag, CEO of Firelands Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “We want the best compliance resource available and that is Checkmate.”

Sam Valverde, the acting president of Ginnie Mae, has overseen the work the government-owned company is currently engaging in to better improve the liquidity situation for the companies involved in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. These include efforts to establish an additional HECM-backed Securities (HMBS) instrument to complement what is currently available.Dubbed “HMBS 2.0,” the forthcoming program’s development was initially announced early this year before Ginnie Mae released a more detailed term sheet over the summer. To get a better idea about where the new program currently stands, HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily asked Valverde about it.Coming soon?In part one of this interview, Valverde spoke about the work being done at Ginnie Mae and the FHA to bolster the HECM program. This follows in the wake of liquidity concerns created by the collapse of a major lender in the space two years ago.“Even with all this great work from FHA, it was clear more needed to be done,” he said. “So, we began exploring a new securities program — what we and the industry have been calling ‘HMBS 2.0.’ For HMBS 2.0, we’ve consulted closely with issuers and industry experts to identify the needs of the market and get their input.”Sam Valverde, acting president of Ginnie Mae." data-image-caption="Sam Valverde" data-medium-file="https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?w=240" data-large-file="https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?w=819" tabindex="0" role="button" src="https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?w=819" alt="Sam Valverde, acting president of Ginnie Mae." class="wp-image-460379" style="width:200px" srcset="https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg 1280w, https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?resize=120,150 120w, https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?resize=240,300 240w, https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?resize=768,960 768w, https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?resize=819,1024 819w, https://img.chime.me/image/fs/chimeblog/20241017/16/original_7f21d97a-bfb7-4a4e-a1de-d4256dfb684a.jpg?resize=1229,1536 1229w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" />Sam ValverdeIndustry reaction following the release of the term sheet has been largely positive. Leo Wong, an analyst at Waterfall Asset Management, previously told RMD that the detailed work and proactivity on the part of the government housing agencies has been a source of optimism.But the industry itself also plays a role in policy development, which Valverde discussed while offering a possible timeline for a final term sheet.“That’s why we offered a draft term sheet for public comment in June, and we took those comments in July,” he said. “We’ve received a lot of helpful feedback from the industry on the term sheet, and across Ginnie Mae we’re working through how those comments can lead us to a viable solution. “We’re assessing that feedback, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to complete a final term sheet for public consumption over the next several weeks. We want to make sure stakeholders understand where we’ve landed and why.”Industry collaborationThe public comments play a sizable role in the development of policy at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA and Ginnie Mae. Requests for public comment from the industry can span individuals and larger corporate stakeholders, as well as trade associations. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) have previously submitted comments on the initial term sheet to Valverde in a joint letter.This feedback, Valverde said, plays a key role in the development process.“I want to underscore the importance of our relationship with our industry partners and the constructive conversations we’ve had with them throughout this process,” he said. “Once we’ve elaborated those final terms through the final term sheet, we can focus exclusively on implementation.”Valverde also wanted to make clear to the reverse mortgage industry that HMBS 2.0 remains a “top priority” for Ginnie Mae, but the industry has also been vocal about its desire to learn more about the implementation timeline. Still, the sensitivity of the work will require patience from private stakeholders.“The program remains a top priority, but I can’t provide a timing assessment at this point,” he said. “We’re weighing program effectiveness against speed to market. It’s critical that what we deliver works well for the industry and reflects prudent risk management for taxpayers.”Valverde also addressed inbound suggestions from the industry about how HMBS 2.0 can be implemented.“Some in the industry are advocating for a phased approach, focusing on the initial product rather than a multi-class structure,“ he said. “We’re taking those perspectives into consideration. HMBS 2.0 presents our best — and perhaps last — opportunity under existing authority to stabilize the program. “So, we want to make sure that what we deliver to the market brings meaningful relief. That’s going to be the goal that determines the scope of the program and our timeline.”

A new startup wants to help real estate agents get more out of their multiple listing service (MLS).Realoq has launched a MLS platform that features customized branding and direct access to consumers, and the company believes it will provide savings on lead generation.“This new solution is ideal for MLS organizations seeking a more affordable option,” Realoq CEO Anvesh Chakravartula said in a statement.The company’s MLS platform and existing listings portal puts it in direct competition with many giants of real estate, including Zillow, CoStar Group and Move Inc. Competition in this space is already fierce, with the “portal wars” growing more intense.Realoq operates on a subscription model in which an MLS pays a monthly fee per agent. The platform provides agents with property listings, web analytics and lead management tools.The company was founded last year and has received $3 million in seed funding from TRK Ventures. In June, Realoq expanded into three new states. It is now active in California, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Texas, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington.

Carol Dujanovich, senior vice president and director of reverse mortgages at University Bank, has been reappointed to a new three-year term as a member of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee (HCFAC).The committee is designed to advise HUD “by helping shape the direction of its Housing Counseling Program and providing guidance on how to better serve prospective buyers, homeowners, and renters with their housing needs,” the department said in a statement.Housing counseling is a critical element of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. Prospective borrowers are required to attend a HECM counseling session with a HUD-certified counselor prior to closing their reverse mortgage.Dujanovich was first appointed to HCFAC in late 2021. She told RMD at that time that she hoped to illuminate the realities of reverse mortgage lending for her colleagues on the committee. Dujanovich is one of four returning members to HCFAC for the new term that begins in January, and an additional seven appointments were made to fill out the 11-person committee.“I am so proud to be able to continue to serve on the Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee for another three years,” Dujanovich said when reached by HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD). “By serving on this committee on behalf of the reverse mortgage industry, I feel that I will be able to bring forward what issues our seniors face daily.”These include the ways in which reverse mortgage counseling is delivered and how seniors can find needed assistance for aging in place, she said.“We have made strides; however, we still have a lot of work to do and I am privileged to accomplish positive results,” she added.David Berenbaum, HUD’s deputy assistant secretary of housing counseling, expressed well wishes and gratitude to both the incoming and outgoing committee members.“We are excited to collaborate with the Committee to drive our mission forward and provide consumers with vital resources to secure, uphold, and preserve their homes,” Berenbaum said in a statement. “We’d also like to express our appreciation to the departing members for sharing their expertise to foster the impact of housing counseling providers nationwide.”

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have published a new report identifying the locations of people seeking Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rental and homeownership assistance programs. They found that homeownership program beneficiaries generally live in more affluent, racially homogenous neighborhoods than those seeking rental assistance.HUD researchers have dedicated much time and effort studying the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. They published the most recent location report to determine if households receiving HCVs are located in “higher opportunity” neighborhoods, which HUD defines as census tracts with lower rates of poverty.“The latest report, which examined program data from 2010 to 2020, found no meaningful change in neighborhood poverty for program participants,” the report explained. “Studies examining the intersection of race and income in the HCV program, however, indicate that Black and Hispanic voucher holders tend to live in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates than do white voucher holders.”A voucher location report published in 2003 said that white recipients of HCVs were “more likely to live outside of central cities than Black or Hispanic voucher recipients, indicating that the race and ethnicity of program participants may be determining factors for where they live.”The locations of households that have received FHA-backed mortgages have been studied far less, HUD explained. But one analysis from the 2008 mortgage crisis found that “loans in majority-Black ZIP Codes were more likely to be FHA loans, suggesting that FHA played an outsized role in post-crisis homeownership in majority-Black neighborhoods,” the paper explained.The 2008 study, however, did not account for information on the borrower’s race and only examined data in metropolitan areas. This was “a decision that undoubtedly influenced the results,” the researchers said.Among the paper’s other key findings, HUD found that roughly 35% of occupied housing units are rentals while 65% are owner-occupied.“Owner-occupied households are more likely to be located in census tracts that are whiter and have lower poverty rates,” the study said. “If federal homeownership assistance programs follow national trends, we would expect FHA loans to be associated with whiter and lower-poverty census tracts.”The paper framed its findings by comparing the context for federally assisted homeowners and renters around three key neighborhood variables — poverty; resident race and ethnicity; and location in an urban, suburban or rural county.The report also points out a need to examine the potential role that federal housing assistance programs could play in the racial homeownership gap.“Because of the historical role of agencies such as FHA and [the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC)] in perpetuating segregation and promoting investment in white communities, investigating whether investment from federal housing assistance programs continues to flow to majority-white communities is important,” the paper said.“We find that census tracts with higher shares of white residents also have higher shares of homeowners receiving FHA-backed mortgages. Notably, nearly half (45%) of FHA-backed mortgages are issued to homeowners in census tracts where 75 percent or more of the residents are white.”Census-tract demographics and poverty have a relationship with “the prevalence of FHA-insured mortgages and [tenant-based housing choice voucher (TBV)]-supported households,” the paper said.“Whether white residents make up most of the census tract population has less of an impact on where households receiving TBV rental assistance are located; however, nearly half of renters supported by TBVs live in high-poverty census tracts (defined as census tracts with a poverty rate of at least 20%).”This drives the need for accompanying industries to examine the broader, long-term impacts of their actions on exacerbating racial disparities in homeownership and rental assistance programs, the researchers said.“Without intervention, the private mortgage and rental markets could perpetuate a status quo that widens racial and economic disparities,” the paper concluded. “Federal rental and homeownership assistance programs provide housing market interventions that can increase housing stability, promote home equity gains, and build intergenerational wealth.“Present-day disparities in access to quality, stable, and affordable housing punctuate the need to continue to advance racial and economic equity through federal housing policy.”

About a week after the Federal Reserve lowered benchmark interest rates for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortgage rates reached their low point for 2024.The news has not been so positive since then for U.S. consumers or the housing industry.According to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center, the average 30-year conforming rate bottomed out at 6.24% on Sept. 27. That was the lowest figure since February 2023. But after muddling along for another week, rates rose again and stood at 6.49% on Wednesday. The average 15-year conforming rate jumped even more sharply during this time, going from 5.58% to 6.02%.It’s not an unexpected turn of events. Mortgage industry experts said that last month’s Fed cut of 50 basis points (bps) was already baked into loan pricing. And with the economy remaining resilient as job creation exceeds expectations, lenders are betting that Fed policy will not loosen quickly in the final two months of the year.According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, interest rate traders say there is a 94% chance of a 25-bps cut next month. They’re also giving 86% odds of an additional 25-bps cut in December. But two small cuts, if they materialize, would still leave the federal funds rate at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%. And many market observers believe that is still far from the “neutral rate” needed to spur more demand for purchase loans and refinances.Mortgage rates tend to move in tandem with Treasury yields, and HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami wrote last week that the 10-year yield has increased by 35 bps since the Fed’s decision to cut rates. This was the result of stronger-than-anticipated economic data, including a September jobs report that blew past expectations with 254,000 jobs created — well above the 12-month average.“Mortgage rates had already reached the bottom of my 2024 forecast so the risk of rates going higher was a legitimate concern,” Mohtashami wrote. “As I have noted, once the 10-year yield gets below 3.80% we need to see weaker economic data for rates to drop and the opposite happened last week. This explains the rise in mortgage rates since the Fed cut rates.”Some economic data supports the theory that the economy is cooling and could support lower interest rates. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September showed seasonally unadjusted inflation of 2.4% over the past year, which was higher than forecasted. And weekly unemployment claims for the week ending Oct. 5 jumped to 258,000, their highest level in more than a year.Higher borrowing costs are already showing up in mortgage application data. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday that applications took a 17% nosedive during the week ending Oct. 11. Refinances have been showing recent signs of life, but demand dropped by 26% during the week and the refi share of all applications fell below 50% for the first time in a month.Melissa Cohn, regional vice president for William Raveis Mortgage, said that it’s not outside the realm of possibility for the Fed to stand pat in November with its current policy rate. For prospective homebuyers, she said, waiting may not be the best approach.“You can’t just sit around and wait for rates to drop,” Cohn said in a statement. “You have buyers who say they’re waiting for rates to drop before they want to buy. Well, this is a wake-up call, saying that no, you better find a house you want to buy and then worry about rates secondly. […] You cannot wait for a rate that may never exist.”Even with lower mortgage rates than a year ago, home-price appreciation continues to negatively impact affordability. Fannie Mae reported Tuesday that U.S. single-family home prices rose 5.9% during the year ending in third-quarter 2024. This was lower than the annualized growth rate of 6.4% in the second quarter, but the government-sponsored enterprise said that prospective buyers are likely weighing prices more heavily than interest rates or available inventory.  “In fact, consumers have told as much: In September, high home prices supplanted high mortgage rates as the top reason for our survey respondents’ overwhelming pessimism toward homebuying conditions,” Fannie chief economist Mark Palim said in a statement. “Overall, the strength of this latest home price reading confirms the ongoing challenges with tight supply; however, the index’s continued deceleration shows that we’re slowly moving toward a better balance between supply and demand.”