Atlas VMS, the appraisal and valuation company led by Erik Morin, announced this week the appointment of Joe Pravettone as chief appraiser. The company describes the hire as a “significant addition” to its leadership team.Pravettone began his valuation career roughly 25 years ago, starting as an ind

With a 90-day average median list price of $4.3 million, Santa Monica, California doesn’t seem like a place where one would expect to find many first-time homebuyers. But local real estate professionals would beg to differ.“Most of the demand is coming from first-time buyers,” Trevor Levin, a local

As the U.S. reaches its peak homebuying season, mortgage rates continue to ease week over week. HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center showed the average 30-year fixed rate for conforming loans at 7.45% on Tuesday, below the rate of 7.51% one week ago. At the same time one year ago, the average rate wa

Despite persistently high interest rates, big four title firm Fidelity National Financial recorded a much stronger start to 2024 than it did a year ago.In first-quarter 2024, Fidelity reported total revenue of $3.299 billion, up from $2.474 billion a year ago. Its net earnings were $248 million, com

As the U.S. hits peak homebuying season, the signals across the country are mixed at best as some markets are accelerating while others are slowing quickly. Inventory continues to build  at the national level, something that’s happening most rapidly in the South. Home sales continue to run just a li

In 2023, home purchases slowed across the board due to low levels of inventory, high mortgage rates and soaring home prices. Simultaneously, the appetite for second homes also diminished substantially. Nationwide, 90,772 mortgages for second homes were originated in 2023, down 40% from a year earlie

The former reverse mortgage team from Norcom Mortgage in Avon, Connecticut — which elected not to move to CMG Financial following its acquisition of Norcom last month — has selected Texas-based Supreme Lending as its new home, with John Luddy serving as SVP of reverse lending. He begins in the role

The Social Security Administration (SSA) late last week announced that it is making changes to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit program. Notably, it is expanding the definition of a “public assistance household” to those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) paymen

Chicago-based mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate rolled out the second wave of its Community Engagement Initiative, the company announced on Monday. Launched in 2023, the program aims to improve funded loan volumes in underserved communities nationwide. “Traditional lending practices have overlooked Bl

A coalition of trade organizations — including the American Bankers Association (ABA), the Housing Policy Council (HPC), the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and U.S. Mortgage Insurers — sent a letter on Monday to the Federal Housing Finance Age

The HousingWire award spotlight series highlights the individuals and organizations that have been recognized through our Editors’ Choice Awards. Nominations for HousingWire’s 2024 Women of Influence award are open now through May 31, 2024. Click here to nominate someone.HousingWire’s Women of Influ

Rocket Mortgage, the third largest U.S. mortgage lender, has entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to resolve allegations of discriminatory housing practices, the parties announced on Monday. The complaint filed by a couple alleges that

Inventory is still low and that’s exactly why it’s important to target the sellers who are more likely to move. This increases your chance of listing opportunities. I suggest finding at least one new opportunity from the list shared below. Perfect your process. Then choose another! To find the listi

Residential sale-leaseback platform EasyKnock has acquired the assets of home equity investment firm HomePace, the company exclusively told HousingWire on Monday. Goodwin Procter, a global law firm, acted as legal adviser for the deal, but further terms were not disclosed.HomePace, founded in 2020,

Mortgage rates and the bond market have fallen a bit recently and the spreads betweenthe 10-year yield and 30-year mortgage rate have improved over last year’s levels. In the past two years, demand has always picked up whenever mortgage rates have moved lower with some duration. Even last week, purc

Holding company Better Home & Finance hired Chad Smith to be the president and chief operating officer of its mortgage business, it announced on Friday. Kevin Ryan, who previously held the position of president, will continue serving the company as chief financial officer. Before joining Better, ind

New York-based assumable mortgage platform Roam rolled out a new partnership with national lender Spring EQ to provide second-lien loans to Roam customers, the company announced on Thursday. The new service, Roam Boost, will cater to people with credit scores of at least 640 and down payments of at

In the competitive world of real estate, where countless sources offer strategies to help agents generate more leads and drive business growth, a simple but often overlooked method stands out: rental properties.According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Rental Housing Finance Survey, there ar

In March, we explored the difference between Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) “expected rates” and “note rates” and why most reverse mortgages depend on these two interest rates. In April, we specifically focused on expected rates. We showed that when expected rates increase and round up to th