Real estate news

• HUD Secretary Carson: Homeownership is the foundation of the economy

  01-06-2017 23:46
  
  In honor of the first day of National Homeownership Month (so declared by President Donald Trump this week), the Department of Housing and Urban Development hosted a housing forum on Thursday, replete with an appearance from HUD Secretary Ben Carson. During his opening remarks of the forum, Carson spoke of the importance of homeownership and HUD’s efforts to ensure that “every hardworking and credit-worthy American enjoys a fair chance at becoming a homeowner.”
  
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• Ten-X: Existing home sales to drop in May

  01-06-2017 23:02
  
  Ten-X predicted a slowdown in existing home sales in May, however it explains the housing market, and housing demand, will remain at high levels. Ten-X’s chief economist explains that despite inventory shortages continuing to fuel home price gains, demand is healthy and relatively low mortgage rates enabled more buyers to enter the housing market.
  
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• Wells Fargo shakes up mortgage sales leadership team

  01-06-2017 23:01
  
  Wells Fargo Home Lending named Liz Bryant as head of the company’s retail sales organization, effectively immediately. Bryant has been with Wells Fargo since 2003, most recently serving as head of home lending retail fulfillment operations.
  
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• Movement Mortgage premieres zero down mortgages for first-time homebuyers

  01-06-2017 22:23
  
  Movement Mortgage announced a new down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers that allows borrowers to put nothing down on a home. In order make this happen, the lender said it will provide grants up to 3% of a home's sales price, thus creating 97% conventional financing.
  
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• $1 Million a Week, Starting With Quality Leads

  01-06-2017 22:08
  
  In the following interview, Manny Gutierrez, broker/owner of Prime Real Estate of Florida, discusses converting high-end leads into closed transactions, working to close $1 million each week.Region Served: South Florida, including Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties
  Years in Real Estate: 14+
  Number of Offices: 1Number of Agents: 3Average Time on Market: 45 daysAverage Sales Price:$1.1 millionHow are you currently sourcing new prospects?We’re listing brokers by nature, so farming co
  
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• Mortgage Rates Bottom to New Low

  01-06-2017 22:05
  
  Mortgage rates this week bottomed to a new low for the year, with the 30-year, fixed rate averaging 3.94 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s recently released Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®). The 15-year, fixed rate, at the same time, averaged 3.19 percent, while the 5-year, Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate averaged 3.11 percent.
  “In a short week following Memorial Day, the 10-year Treasury yield fell four basis points,” says Sean Beckett, chief economist
  
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• New index rates housing markets according to property salability

  01-06-2017 21:56
  
  ATTOM Data Solutions introduced its new pre-mover housing index, which predicts markets where homes are likely to sell. The index’s first quarterly release shows buyers in 2017 are more likely to be moving to markets, or moving up within markets, that still offer relatively affordable housing inventory along with access to jobs.
  
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• How much does the Fed’s action to solve the appraisal shortage really help?

  01-06-2017 19:59
  
  A group of federal agencies put out a release on Wednesday to help create a temporary fix to the current appraisal shortage that’s impacting loan turn times. The release highlights two existing options already out there, but according to at least one veteran appraiser, the two suggestions don’t bring the clarity needed and misses the mark on effectiveness.
  
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• 10 Crucial Real Estate Contract Terms Home Buyers Should Know Before They Sign - Realtor.com News

  01-06-2017 19:39
  
  Realtor.com News
  10 Crucial Real Estate Contract Terms Home Buyers Should Know Before They Sign
  Realtor.com News
  If you ever attempt to read a real estate contract, you will quickly find that this paperwork is packed with a slew of terms you might not be familiar with—which is hardly ideal, given you're poised to sign this legally binding document. So if the ...
  
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• Fitch: Here's the impact of Ocwen's massive MSR deal with New Residential

  01-06-2017 19:25
  
  Ocwen Financial may be facing serious allegations from the CFPB and a hefty group of state regulators about the company’s mortgage servicing practices, but that isn’t stopping New Residential Investment Corp. from contracting Ocwen to subservice a huge portfolio of loans. According to a new report from Fitch Ratings, that deal will not have an impact on Ocwen’s servicer ratings. But, as Fitch notes, the deal will certainly have an serious impact on Ocwen’s servicing portf
  
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• Risk assessment: Fewer homes face hurricane damage in 2017

  01-06-2017 19:19
  
  This year will produce less storms than in previous years, however the damage from hurricanes could reach nearly 7 million homes and cause $1.5 trillion in housing damage. CoreLogic’s report shows which coast will likely see more damage, and which states are most at-risk in 2017.
  
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• Here are tips on how to adopt HAMP's mortgage modification replacement

  01-06-2017 17:00
  
  [Commentary] Prior to the 2007 crisis, custom mortgage loan modifications were offered in certain cases, but they were left to the discretion of the loan servicer. Then the crisis hit. Now, however, the industry has stabilized, the challenge is to provide affordable mortgage relief, while enhancing the customer experience and differentiating a company’s brand. Here’s how this can be done.
  
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• Mortgage rates again hit new low for 2017

  01-06-2017 16:01
  
  Mortgage rates held relatively steady, dipping slightly to set a new low for 2017 following last week's low. However, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage countered the trend with its increase of four basis points.
  
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• May employment numbers show "rip-roaring" job growth

  01-06-2017 15:09
  
  ADP and Moody's Analytics released the May employment report which shows jobs took off last month, with a large increase in construction employment specifically. In fact, at the pace the jobs market is currently moving, one economist says that soon, the No. 1 challenge facing businesses will be a shortage of labor.
  
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• New mortgage technology only enhances value of brokers

  01-06-2017 07:00
  
  Technology is the best thing that has ever happened to the mortgage industry. From paperless mortgages to the increasing use of completely borrower-driven mortgage applications, the mortgage industry of tomorrow will be a night-and-day difference from the mortgage industry of today.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Lance Poole

  01-06-2017 06:11
  
  In 2015, Poole co-founded Maxwell, where he brought the principle of empathy to product design. During product development, the Maxwell team spoke to more than 1,000 mortgage professionals and homebuyers. Now, since its commercial launch in August 2016, Maxwell’s product has facilitated over $1.4 billion of loan volume.  
  
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• HousingWire's class of 2017 Rising Stars

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  The 2017 Rising Stars represent the best young leaders in the mortgage industry – in lending, servicing, investing and real estate. Many of our 40 winners are leading their companies as C-level executives, making strategic decisions for their organizations and developing new and inventive ways to get things done. Others are contributing through innovation, product development, enhancing processes and data analysis. Across the board, their efforts and accomplishments are transforming  
  
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• From bitcoin to blockchain: How the new ledger tech can morph the mortgage industry

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Bitcoin — that is what most people think of when they hear the term blockchain. However, blockchain has morphed into an incredible technology tool that can be utilized across industries in a variety of capacities, including in mortgage lending.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Troy Tomas

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Troy Tomas has been instrumental in driving the requirements for Ellie Mae’s Developer Connect portal, launched in March, which allows lenders and service providers to utilize APIs and improve visibility and collaboration between loan officer, homebuyers, third-party originators and developers.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Todd McGowan

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Market share for Todd McGowan’s centralized title and settlement business lines saw substantial growth from 2015 to 2016, which he credits to a “non-sales” approach. McGowan leads with an eye for process improvement, personally visiting clients to help identify and troubleshoot process inefficiencies.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Ted Krus

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  As director of executive projects for Flagstar Bank, Ted Krus has led the sale of more than $1 billion in high-risk, underperforming assets. This move transformed the bank’s balance sheet and resulted in the lowest level of non-performing assets in the bank's 30-year history. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Sarah Volling

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  In 2016, Mortgage Cadence was spun off from Accenture to become Mortgage Cadence, an Accenture company. During this process, Sarah Volling spearheaded a full rebrand of Mortgage Cadence, uniting the company around a unified brand and positioning Mortgage Cadence’s return to the industry as a go-to-market leader.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Phil Shoemaker

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Phil Shoemaker assumed the role of executive vice president at Caliber Home Loans in 2014, and has since doubled the sales force and led Caliber from the No. 7 lender nationwide to No. 2, with a 291% increase in volume. Caliber Wholesale also achieved its biggest funding month during his tenure, funding $1.6 billion in total volume for August 2016. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Matt Humphrey

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Matt Humphrey started his first business at 17 and LendingHome is his seventh tech startup. He founded his previous company, an e-commerce platform called HomeRun, when he was 23 years old and successfully exited for north of $100 million less than 18 months later.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Leo Pareja

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  As CEO of Remine, Pareja has become a full-blown technologist. Remine delivers big data visualizations and predictive analytics to agents exclusively through their MLS. Demand for Remine from the MLSs is strong and more than half of all Realtors will have access to Remine through their MLS by the end of the 2017.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Kyle Gunderlock

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Since 2013, the company has funded more than $1 billion worth of non-QM/non-prime loans. Until 2013, secondary market participants did not exist for this loan product, but four years later there are multiple major Wall Street banks and hedge funds looking for this asset class due to the efforts of Kyle Gunderlock’s team. For 2017, CSC is on a run rate to fund more than $1 billion in this year alone. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Justin Tucker

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Justin Tucker was one of the visionaries behind WFG’s MyHome Consumer Dashboard and a principal architect in WFG’s TIP’s Ecosystem. He was also the driving force behind the SPARK and REFRESH conferences — onsite events for title agents and Realtors.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Julie Norberg

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  As National MI’s vice president of planning and analytics, Julie Norberg works with the company’s front line sales and operation teams and is responsible for developing sales plans and revenue projections in addition to developing the company’s expense plan. Norberg was instrumental in defining system functionality to account for mortgage insurance premiums and she helped incorporate revenue recognition principles into the company’s client transaction system.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jorge Vidaurrazaga

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Since joining Columbus Capital Lending in 2013 as its first employee, Jorge Vidaurrazaga, the company’s vice president of information technology, has implemented technological advances that have increased the company’s production and decreased closing times post-TRID by over 16%, which represents a multimillion dollar revenue gain.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jonathan Kirst

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Jonathan Kirst is the co-founder and CTO of Roostify and has been the driving force behind product development with the company as it has evolved from a bare-bones startup to a thriving company with a robust sales team, product management team and a customer success team.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Joel Gottsegen

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  As co-founder of Qualia, which provides title and closing software, the past two years have been a whirlwind for Joel Gottsegen. He leads Qualia’s product development and in less than two years, Gottsegen and his cofounders, Nate Baker and Lucas Hansen, have secured $10 million in funding, grown the team to 50 people and expanded product usage to 30 states. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jessica Murray

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Jessica Murray established PeerStreet’s voice on social media, blog, customer communications and placed media channels and she built out all marketing, social, communications and internal press channels. Murray is now managing new business and capital markets, utilizing her previous experience at J.P. Morgan as a commercial mortgage-backed securities trader.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jesse Roth

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Jesse Roth joined Auction.com in 2012 as the senior vice president of business development and client management, where he oversees the business development and strategic initiatives of Auction.com’s national real estate disposition business. Under his leadership, Auction.com’s client base increased over 200% and asset volume increased over 270%.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jeremy Stewart

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Jeremy Stewart is president of Orion Lending, a national wholesale lender and DBA of American Financial Network, which funded its first loan in January 2015. That year, the company funded 1,105 loans at $273 million, then grew significantly in 2016 to 4,467 loans at $1.328 billion. For 2017, the company projects a loan volume of $2 billion.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Jeff Sandman

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Jeff Sandman is co-founder of Pendo, a nationwide appraisal management company, where he and his partner, Mike Peck, developed a standardized process for employee and appraiser relations which produced a significantly higher quality professional appraiser network and employee base. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Fenn Meents

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  In July 2016, Fenn Meents joined the iEmergent executive team as its chief growth officer. He has developed and launched a strategic growth plan for iEmergent, including a content marketing strategy, a five-year resource plan, and a structure for improving client partnerships – all of which have resulted in 100% retention and a tenfold increase in sales activity. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Erik Richard

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Erik Richard founded Landmark Network in 2007 and has been instrumental in expanding the company through the acquisition of five companies (a tech firm and four AMCs). His efforts have helped the company secure a place for three years on Inc.’s fastest growing companies listing.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Drew Vandermay

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  When he joined Digital Risk in 2009, valuation services were viewed as a labor source, but due to the appraisal team’s accomplishments, appraisal services became its own revenue-generating entity and eventually transformed into its own unit. Vandermay was a large part of that transition, as he was responsible for managing several successful client relationships and project scopes. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Cheri Lines

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Cheri Lines reached the director level in her career at the age of 33. While working with Nexsys’ sister-company Title Source, Lines created a unique-to-the-industry technology platform, Nexsys Clear Path, from the ground up. She also influenced the implementation of the new technology with another sister-company and major industry lender.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Bob Hart

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Bob Hart is vice president of partner development at Ellie Mae, with a focus on supporting Ellie Mae partnerships and ensuring they have a pathway to success.Within the first year of being at Ellie Mae, Hart has achieved recognition to not only be included in the Ellie Mae Circle of Excellence, but the elite Inner Circle of Excellence as well. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Ashley Gunn

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Ashley Gunn started a nonprofit to provide homes to low-income, inner-city families when she was still in high school. Gunn was recognized as the country’s National Young Entrepreneur of the year and addressed the 2008 Republican National Convention as one of the youngest speakers on record.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Andrea Hall

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  United Wholesale Mortgage became the No. 1 wholesale mortgage lender in the country in 2016. That growth was facilitated by employees like Andrea Hall, vice president of operations, who leads a team of 300 people with passion and purpose. In the course of one year, the 31-year old and her team improved efficiency and output by 50%, a major factor in UWM’s $23 billion in loan volume, and one reason HousingWire chose Hall as its cover subject to represent the 2017 class of Rising Stars.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Ali Vafai

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Under Ali Vafai, The Money Source had a record-breaking year in 2016, funding $1 billion in originations in a single month, and $10 billion total. Prior to his position at The Money Source, Vafai was the president of Pacific Union Financial, where he grew volume by 450% in 18 months while increasing profit margins. 
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Alec Hanson

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Alec Hanson joined loanDepot in 2010, managing three branches and 65 employees. His volume has since grown 225% and branch infrastructure has grown 456% — now including 14 total branches.
  
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• 2017 Rising Stars: Aaron Moody

  01-06-2017 06:01
  
  Most recently, Aaron Moody’s leadership contribution drove impressive operational efficiency objectives for REO inventory turn-rate, contract closing efficiency, downstream vendor performance and revenue and EBITDA success for the company. Moody also recently assumed leadership over Xome’s full service REO asset management business unit.
  
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• Jared Kushner built luxury condos using real estate grants meant for poor communities: report - Raw Story

  01-06-2017 01:33
  
  Raw Story
  Jared Kushner built luxury condos using real estate grants meant for poor communities: report
  Raw Story
  Late Observer editor-in-chief Peter Kaplan (left) and President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner (right) at a real estate showcase in 2008 (via Wikimedia Commons). Don't miss stories. Follow Raw Story!and more »
  
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• Home Point Financial completes Stonegate Mortgage acquisition

  01-06-2017 00:09
  
  Home Point Financial Corp.’s $211 million acquisition of Stonegate Mortgage Corp. is now complete, as disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of the deal, Stonegate is now wholly owned direct subsidiary of Home Point. Here's all the details.
  
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• Perfect Your Email Campaign

  01-06-2017 00:00
  
  What makes a newsletter subject line oh-so-clickable? Learn tips for personalizing your outreach and get inspired by some top-performing emails....
  
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