After a 2023 of real estate brokers saying they feel “neutral” or “pessimistic” about the housing market, some 48% of those surveyed for the Q1 2024 HousingWire BrokerPulse survey are optimistic that the next three months will be positive.In fact, some 60% says that interest rates will go down in th

Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with George Brady, loanDepot’s chief information officer, to discuss the company’s evolving tech strategy and how he thinks long-term about tech in a rapidly changing environment.Sarah Wheeler: You joined loanDepot in 2021 from Capital One. What drew you into t

Mortgage tech firm Blend aims to court more lenders as it now supports Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter (DU) early assessment enhancement with a direct integration from Blend’s soft credit pull function.DU early assessment gives lenders more options for their pre-qualification process in DU. Lenders

Lawmakers in Florida are getting creative when it comes to trying to solve their state’s homeowner’s insurance challenges.Due to the recent uptick in the number and severity of hurricanes facing the Sunshine State, many insurers and reinsurers have made the decision to leave the state. According to

Los Angeles-based rental management software provider RentSpree successfully passed an audit regarding its data protection strategy, obtaining the System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type II compliance. SOC 2 is regarded as the premier data security standard for Software as a Service (SaaS) pro

William Erbey, the controversial founder of Ocwen Financial Corp., is back as chairman at Altisource Asset Management Corp. (AAMC). The company appointed Erbey to the role of CEO in late December and the board of directors also appointed him as its Chairman, a position he held from March 2012 to Jan

Nonbank mortgage lender and servicer Pennymac Financial Services issued pink slips to more than 80 employees in November as it faced tough headwinds in 2023. A total of 84 staff were affected at five offices in Pasadena, Roseville, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Moorpark, California, according t

Deran Pennington, a former Movement Mortgage top sales executive sued for poaching by the lender, filed a counterclaim alleging that Movement breached the contract by failing and refusing to pay his due compensation. In total, he asks for about $13 million. In July, HousingWire reported that Penning

A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program designed to allow for the construction of rental housing units is getting a new participant: the Cherokee Nation.The Cherokee Nation announced it will participate in HUD’s Section 184 Skilled Workers Demonstration Program, which will a

As the U.S. population grows older with each passing year, looking for new and novel ways to fund long-term care for the aging population could include home equity. A reverse mortgage can certainly play into this, but another growing dynamic is the divide between higher- and lower-income homeowners.

The rising cost of homeowners insurance is weighing more heavily on American homeowners and buyers, according to a survey published Wednesday by Mphasis Digital Risk, a technology services company serving the residential real estate lending industry.The nationwide survey received 1,634 responses fro

Reverse mortgage servicing company Celink is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that it had added unlawful servicing fees to reverse mortgage loans alongside now-bankrupt lender Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF).In response to the recent recommendation by a magistrate judge against the dismiss

Housing experts expect that a boost in apartment inventory in 2024 will dampen rent growth. However, affordability woes will persist.Commercial property firm CBRE estimates that rent prices will only grow 1.2% this year, bringing the vacancy rate above the pre-pandemic level, the Wall Street Journal

Real estate agents are optimistic about the housing market and working to implement buyer agency agreement as we head into 2024, according to the RealTrends Q1 2024 AgentPulse survey.The survey, which was conducted between the end of November and the end of December 2023, garnered 136 respondents, w

A secondary school teacher in Colorado makes on average just under $63,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If a Colorado teacher making the average salary had $20,000 to put towards a down payment and were willing to spend 30% of their pre-tax salary on their mortgage payment, she coul

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as of Jan. 1, 2024, is accepting beneficial-ownership information reports from existing and newly created companies, a mandate that applies to many real estate-related entities.FinCEN, part of the U.S. Department of Treasury, has been authorized to c

The 2023 housing market faced one of the same roadblocks we saw in 2022: mortgage rates were too high for home sales growth. Now that we’re in 2024, the Federal Reserve‘s rate hike cycle is over, so let’s look at what that means for housing demand and home prices. However, a yearly forecast has limi

Affordability remains a critical issue in virtually all conversations about housing, and few people understand that reality better than leading housing and mortgage industry advocacy groups.HousingWire sat down with three industry leaders to discuss the housing affordability landscape in 2024: Mortg

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