Movement Mortgage has named Steve Smith, a mortgage veteran who most recently served as Movement’s executive advisor, as its new president and chief financial officer. Smith will lead teams across sales, operations, finance, servicing and corporate functions at the South Carolina-based mortgage lend

The Home Depot Foundation — the philanthropic arm of the home improvement retail conglomerate — announced that it is investing $10 million for the purpose of enabling older military veterans to age in place in their homes. The goal is to help them avoid homelessness by funding affordable housing con

The U.S. finds itself in a “troubling environment” for bolstering Black homeownership as evidenced by two key — and lagging — metrics. This is according to the 2024 State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report published this month by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB).“The t

The NYC rental broker fee is dead. The New York City Council voted Wednesday afternoon to enact the Fairness in Apartment Rentals Act (FARE) Act, a bill that would end tenant-paid rental broker fees when brokers are exclusively representing landlords, as part of a broader effort to address the city’

Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, paid a reported $14 million to acquire the domain name Rocket.com.The purchase, which was initially reported by DomainInvesting.com, was said to be from defense contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. Rumors of the deal began in early September. The tra

Keller Williams has dramatically expanded its presence in New Jersey. The brokerage announced Wednesday that the KW Integrity market center has merged with Sparta, New Jersey-based Clearview Realty, bringing 25 agents and tens of millions of dollars in annual sales volume to KW Integrity.“This merge

For the first time in seven weeks, mortgage demand rose as applications were up 0.5% during the week ending Nov. 8, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday.Purchase loan demand drove the slight increase in the MBA’s Market Composite Index, which measures loan application volumes. T

Detroit-based Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, saw its strategy of investing in technology and expanding its servicing portfolio start to pay off in the third quarter of 2024. It originated $28.5 billion in loans during the period — up 28% year over year.Short-lived relief in mortgag

Bill Pulte, the philanthropist and CEO of Pulte Capital — and who shares a name with his grandfather, the founder of Atlanta-based homebuilder PulteGroup — is reportedly under consideration for the post of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary in the new Trump administrati

As 2025 approaches, state-funded down payment assistance (DPA) programs are helping veterans, service members and surviving spouses achieve their dreams of homeownership.This comes from a new survey by Down Payment Resource — a nationwide database designed to connect prospective homebuyers to financ

Digital mortgage exchange platform and loan aggregator MAXEX announced on Tuesday the hiring of mortgage technology veteran Daniel Wallace as its new chief operating officer. Wallace brings more than 30 years of experience as a leader of tech-focused mortgage, asset management and capital market pla

Finance of America (FOA), the leading reverse mortgage lender, presented a robust outlook last week in its third-quarter 2024 earnings and is aiming to hit the ground running with business in 2025.While the reverse industry has faced unique headwinds over the past couple of years, the company is see

Cornerstone Financing, a venture co-founded by former Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) CEO Craig Corn, has secured $285 million in financing through global investment firms Aquiline Capital Partners LP and Nomura.The funding will go to support the company’s specialty home equity-tapping product known

One month into her presidency, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a new initiative to address her country’s housing deficit by building 1 homes and offering zero-interest mortgages, a development first reported by Newsweek.The program is designed to support vulnerable groups, including fe

Housing markets across the country have stalled since mortgage rates began to rise in 2022, but relief may be on the way.That’s according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), whose latest forecast calls for a 9% increase in home sales in 2025 and a further

For Nykia Wright, CEO of the National Association of Realtors, 2025 is going to be all about turning NAR into a trade association for the future while rebuilding relationships with members.“NAR is really focused on rebuilding the association for today and tomorrow,” Wright told NAR members gathered

Downpayment assistance programs are available to first-time homebuyers across the country in the form of more than 2,400 such offerings at the local and state levels, but they have not had an appreciable impact on the level of U.S. homeownership.This is why a zero-down Federal Housing Administration

The national housing shortage, the benefits of increased density, an ongoing shift in consumer tastes toward smaller homes closer to where the urban action is, and other factors have pushed state legislators to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units. In 2024 alone, Colorado, Arizona, Massa

Inventory, new listings, sales, and prices all dipped this week. The autumn seasonal decline is upon us. The election took up a lot of peoples’ lives last week, and that obviously delayed some listing and sales activity, plus we’ve had spiking mortgage rates. It’s actually not uncommon for housing a

The headlines might suggest that National Association of Realtors (NAR) members are struggling to find common ground on many issues. But any hint of division was nowhere to be seen during Monday morning’s NAR Board of Directors meeting.According to NAR president Kevin Sears, 886 directors attended t