According to Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey, 57 percent of consumers expect prices will continue to rise in the next 12 months--a survey high. The average price change expectation was 3.8 percent, a slight drop from May's high of 3.9 percent. More notable was the pickup in mortgage rate expectations. The number of consumers expecting rates will rise over the next 12 months spiked 11 percentage points to 57 percent, another survey high. Only 4 percent said they expect rates will drop.
Read More »United Wholesale Mortgage Launches Escrow Advantage Program
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the fourth largest wholesale mortgage lender in the United States, announced the rollout of a new program designed to give brokers the option to waive escrows up to 90 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) on all conventional products.
Read More »Connecticut Home Sales, Prices Increase in May
May was a strong month for home sales in Connecticut, the Warren Group reported. According to the group, sales in the state rose 2.9 percent year-over-year to 2,356.
Read More »Stewart Lender Services Hires Strategic Relations Manager
Stewart Lender Services (SLS) announced the appointment of Jessica Thorne as SVP and strategic relationship manager.
Read More »Mortgage Rates Recede After Dramatic Jump
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.29 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending July 3, down from last week's two-year high of 4.46 percent. The 15-year FRM averaged 3.39 percent (0.7 percent), down from 3.50 percent the previous week. Bankrate's weekly national survey showed similar trends, with the 30-year fixed falling to 4.48 percent.
Read More »RE/MAX of New Jersey Selects EverBank as Preferred Lender
Working together, the two companies will strive to provide a wide range of residential real estate and home mortgage financing products and services to RE/MAX clients across New Jersey.
Read More »Citi to Pay Fannie Mae $968M in Repurchase Claim Agreement
Citigroup and Fannie Mae announced Monday an agreement to resolve future repurchase claims for breaches of representations of warranties on millions of loans originated between 2000 and 2012. According to release from Citi, the agreement covers 3.7 million residential first mortgage loans sold to Fannie Mae. As part of the agreement, Citi will pay Fannie Mae $968 million, ""substantially all of which was covered"" by the bank's existing mortgage repurchase reserves as of the end of the first quarter.
Read More »Report: Housing Market 61% ‘Back to Normal’
May's percentage is the first time the recovery has passed 60 percent since the crash, according to the latest Housing Barometer from Trulia. April's barometer was 54 percent. A year ago, the barometer was at only 35 percent. The monthly report measures three key housing market indicators--construction starts, existing-home sales, and the delinquency-plus-foreclosure rate--to track how quickly the market is recovering to its normal, pre-bubble state.
Read More »First American Title Insurance Announces New National Sales Director
In California, Rudy Casanova joined the mortgage services division at First American Title Insurance as national sales director, the company announced in a release.
Read More »LenderLive Selected by Pingora for Subservicing
LenderLive Network, an end-to-end mortgage services provider headquartered in Colorado, announced a partnership to provide subservicing for Pingora, a specialized asset manager focused on investing in and managing the servicing of newly produced mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolios.
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