How will President Biden’s executive action to erase $10,000 in federal student loan debt affect homeownership? While industry watchers don’t expect the debt forgiveness to move the needle in a significant way, it could have a net positive impact on homeownership long term. About 45% of borrowers, or almost 20 million people, would have their […more]
It has been a nonstop year for the housing industry. From sky-high home prices to fluctuating mortgage rates and staffing changes, it is no wonder that Realtors, loan officers and other industry professionals are feeling burnt out. Not to worry, there are panels at HW Annual to re-ignite your passion for the housing industry and […more]
We’ve all been there: fuming while a neighbor shatters the silence with some loud racket. So whose job is it to curb the commotion, yours or your landlord’s?
For the past two years appraisal gap clauses have been de rigueur in many markets, much to the disdain of frustrated homebuyers. Mortgage startup Tomo feels, however, that it has a solution. On Wednesday, the firm launched Tomo Appraisal Coverage. Tomo says its appraisal coverage product protects home buyers from having to bring more cash […more]
Title and closing software provider SoftPro has released a new integration with Doma Title Insurance, Inc., the firm announced Wednesday. Through the integration, Doma agents who are customers of SoftPro can now issue closing protection letters, as well as commitment and policy jackets within their title insurance software. SoftPro says that this eliminates the need […more]
Top wholesale lender United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is the latest originator to join the resurgent home-equity lines of credit (HELOC) market. The Pontiac, Michigan-based lender has started to offer standalone and piggyback options, as fast-rising home values allow homeowners to tap the equity in their houses to pay debts, expenses or investments. UWM’s products announced […more]
Mortgage loan application volume in the U.S. dropped another 3.0 percent over the past week from what was already a 22-year low, with a 2 percent drop in purchase mortgage activity, which is now down over 20 percent on a year-over-year basis. At the same time, the average purchase loan size, with which the median […more]
Homepoint has launched a new program to reduce rates for borrowers with lower income, the wholesale lender announced Wednesday. The initiative comes after the company reported a loss in the second quarter of 2022 amid a price war, mainly from its wholesale-only rival United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM). Homepoint is offering a 75 basis point pricing bonus for conforming […more]
Demand for mortgage loans continued to decline last week, remaining at the lowest level in two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 1.2% for the week ending Aug. 19, compared to the previous week. It was also down 63% compared to the same week […more]
Having dropped a downwardly revised 7.3 percent in June, the seasonally adjusted pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. fell another 12.6 percent in July to an annualized rate of 511,000 sales, which is 29.6 percent lower than at the same time last year and the slowest pace of sales since November of […more]