Three years into its controversial ultimatum, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) continues to engage in legal battles with its broker partners selling loans to rivals Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. UWM on Thursday when filed a lawsuit in a U.S. district court in Michigan against

After nearly three years of doom and gloom in the mortgage industry, housing experts — including Fannie Mae economists — are expecting interest rates to ease.While Fannie Mae expects mortgage rates to drop to below 6% by the end of this year, the government-sponsored enterprise also forecasts that i

Referral business is crucial to your bottom line as an agent. Imagine if you could bottle the enthusiasm your clients have for working with you and use it to capture new business in 2024. That’s where real estate testimonials come into play. In this article, we’ll show how to procure top-notch clien

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) announced that it will return to the Western U.S. for its 2024 annual meeting, which will take place slightly earlier in the year than usual, according to a member alert.The 2024 NRMLA Annual Meeting and Expo will be held Sept. 24-26 at the H

Last week, the National Association of Realtors released their December pending sales data. The headline was an impressive 8% jump over December of 2022. If you’ve been following along with the Altos data, you’ll know that home sales have been expanding for two months now. They obviously picked up i

Housing demand is up and it’s time to track the spring housing data and see what the selling season will bring. As I always stress, we are working from the lowest bar ever with demand, so let’s add historical context to the data. But, even with mortgage rates higher this year than last year, demand

Sparks and personal insults flew between Anthony Lamacchia, the broker-owner of Lamacchia Realty, and Michael Ketchmark, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Sitzer-Burnett commission lawsuit, during their virtual debate hosted by HousingWire on Friday afternoon.The hourlong debate began with

Vetted by HousingWire  |  Our editors independently review the products we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.We’ve all heard the news: over 60,000 real estate agents left the profession in the first half of 2023. This exodus left many brokerages scrambling to replac

There were a total of 361 consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) related to the reverse mortgage industry during the calendar year 2023, according to a consumer complaint database maintained by the Bureau.Of those complaints, 167 had to do with “trouble duri

A Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-sponsored Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) requires a borrower to be at or over the age of 62 to qualify for a loan, making baby boomers most of the new qualifying candidates for a HECM.A new report from Construction Coverage sourced by its researchers an

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a management alert this week, saying that the department has struggled to identify and prevent “improper payments” related to its programs for 11 consecutive years.The OIG advised HUD leadership t

The past three years in the mortgage industry were cutthroat, with origination volume shrinking, and while things are looking better for 2024, lenders are still in a position where they must make bold moves to stem losses on the production side of the business, according to a report from Stratmor Gr

Pending home sales rose 8.3% month over month in December, according to the newest data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It was the largest monthly jump in pending home sales since 2020. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) increased to 77.3 in December, up from 71.6 in November. On

Nevada’s unusual commission lawsuit is no longer so unusual. When the copycat commission suit was initially filed in early January by Nevada home seller Nathaniel Whaley, the complaint named just Realtor associations and MLSs as defendants, making it stand out from the spate of other commission suit

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Thursday that focused on the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), showing that its bipartisan support is generally intact. But senators also expressed concerns about affordability after a new

People say that housing leads the economy into a recession: this is true when new home sales and housing permits fall together. When that happens, the builders start laying off workers before the national economy goes into a recession. This is one reason I raised my fifth recession red flag for Hous

Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced this week the release of their “Mission Index,” updating or expanding their single-family social bond framework to better communicate the goals of the index to stakeholders and investors.The GSEs issued separate announcemen

Fannie Mae has announced updates to its HomeReady product, including a temporary $2,500 credit for very low-income purchase borrowers to use for down payment and closing costs. Another step the government-sponsored enterprise took was to enhance the best efforts commitments on HomeReady loans. It al

A cohort of former employees at now-defunct reverse mortgage lender Live Well Financial has been granted final settlement approval in a class action lawsuit brought against the company’s estate in May 2019.Monica Williams, a former loan account manager in Live Well’s Richmond, Va. headquarters, init

San Diego-based reverse mortgage wholesale lender Smartfi Home Loans has forged a partnership with LoanPASS to use the technology company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) product and pricing engine in its reverse lending operations.Stating its desire to expand reverse mortgage wholesale lending throug