Buoyed by a rise in home prices, U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw their home equity increase by 8.6% year over year in fourth-quarter 2023.Homeowners saw an average increase of slightly more than $24,000 compared to Q4 2022, adding up to a collective gain of $1.3 trillion, according to CoreLogic’s

The real estate market has always been subject to fluctuations and changes, and as we enter the year 2024, many homeowners, buyers, and investors are curious about how the market will perform. With the experiences of the past year, it's important to take a closer look at the current state of the rea

Proptech company and iBuyer Opendoor is no longer facing the allegations of a copycat commission lawsuit.On Wednesday, Nathaniel Whaley, the sole plaintiff in the Whaley suit, filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss Opendoor without prejudice. The motion noted that the reason for the dismissal was tha

Guaranteed Rate hired Bijoy John, former head of marketing at Newrez, as its vice president of marketing.John’s new tasks will include consumer direct marketing and the crafting of strategies for new products. His goal at Guaranteed Rate is to increase origination volume for the company while also h

Amid an elevated mortgage rate environment, consumers are reevaluating their priorities when it comes to purchasing real estate. According to a recent nationwide survey conducted by Coldwell Banker, the price of a home carries more weight in the decision-making process than its location. Price was t

Moderation in mortgage rates led to a pickup in demand for residential real estate, but limited inventories across the country hindered actual home sales, the Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book survey of regional business contacts that was published Wednesday. Several Fed districts reported

Despite feelings of optimism expressed by loan originators in the opening weeks of 2024, the road to more normalized levels of reverse mortgage volume and securities issuances may be longer than expected.Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements fell 11.8% to 1,900 loans in February, a dro

Christie’s International Real Estate appointed Jamie Duran as executive vice president and managing director of its  Beverly Hills-based affiliate, the company announced on Wednesday. Prior to joining Christie’s, Duran was affiliated with Coldwell Banker for almost 35 years.In her new role, Duran wi

A group of investors led by the former U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, will inject $1 billion in equity investment in struggling New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage servicers. The m

A state-level program in Connecticut that pays caregivers living with loved ones who require special attention, and is designed to facilitate aging in place, is seeing a surge in demand across the state. This is according to reporting by Connecticut Public Radio.The state’s Adult Family Living (AFL)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated Wednesday that the central bank won’t be applying any cuts to benchmark interest rates until it’s sure that inflation is under control. In his prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, Powell hinted at rate cuts “at some point this y

California-based mortgage lender CMG Financial will partner with fintech Sagent for seven years as it brings its servicing business in-house. CMG Financial is “doubling down on controlling lifetime customer experience,” and the seven-year deal with Sagent is in line with the lender’s effort to prior

Fannie Mae announced on Wednesday an enhancement to its desktop underwriting system, which will facilitate the asset, income, and employment verification process through a single data source. Lenders can use a single 12-month asset verification report to identify recurring deposits in the applicant’

John Abraham, former top-producing mortgage loan officer at Caliber Home Loans/NewRez, has joined The Money Store. His team will be making the move with him. Abraham was named vice president and producing branch manager in Illinois, where he will serve as sales leader and mortgage originator.“The Mo

U.S. home price gains reached their highest rate in a year in January, according to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI). But the data provider forecasts yearly growth to begin slowing in the coming months and fall to 2.6% by early 2025.U.S. annual home price growth rose by 5.8% in January 2024. On a

LenderLogix, a provider of white-label mortgage software, has integrated with AccountChek, a digital verification service for assets, income and employment, the companies announced on Tuesday.This integration merges AccountChek’s income verification system directly into the LenderLogix point-of-sale

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday announced a series of new initiatives designed to increase the supply of affordable housing across the country.There are three core provisions of the plan. They include the reallocation of funds originally earmarked for relief from the economic impacts

Housing affordability is at its lowest level in more than  a decade, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and there are few ways to circumvent the rising costs of housing. Mortgage assumption is a niche option that gained momentum in 2023. An assumable mortgage enables a qu

The federally insured reverse mortgage known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is unique, as are the rates that impact the HECM product. For this reason, I will provide a short monthly educational focus, followed by a summary of the HECM rate market.Keep in mind that almost all HECMs are a