Scaling from Freelancer to Business Owner

More than three-quarters of brokers are using popular AI platforms, but application of lender-specific software lags considerably, according to AD Mortgage. View the full article

UWM Holdings is now bidding 70 cents more per share than CrossCountry for Two Harbors, with an all-cash option as an alternative to its all-stock proposal. View the full article

Refinances drove growth of last year's lending activity, with both the volume share and average loan size coming in noticeably higher, according to IEmergent. View the full article

National Mortgage News spoke with Shant Banosian of Rate, Mark Cohen of Cohen Financial and Amanda Sessa of SWBC on how they stand out in their markets. View the full article

The partnership was designed to support the growth of Redwood's Sequoia platform and give Castlelake purchasing power for fully documented loans. View the full article

Home affordability declined on a monthly basis across loan types and racial demographics, but improved from a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. View the full article

A federal judge harshly criticized the settlement of a civil suit between the Department of Justice and a Texas land developer. View the full article

The latest study from LodeStar found the ratio of average closing cost to home sales price in several states, led by Delaware, well above the national average. View the full article

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.4% on April 29 — its highest level since late March — as investor anxiety mounted. View the full article

The technology firm posted annual gains in servicing, origination and closing solutions, although the segment at large posted an operating loss. View the full article

Growth in retained and investment portfolios drove gains as the government-sponsored enterprise reported the highest refinancing share seen in four years. View the full article

Higher utilization and aggregate excess payments point to pressure, according to TransUnion. Debt-to-income averages remain below traditional mortgage caps. View the full article

Rocket, United Wholesale Mortgage and Pennymac said they will use the new government-sponsored enterprise credit metric as large lenders get on board. View the full article

Meet the top loan originators in the 28th edition of National Mortgage News' annual ranking and learn how they approach purchase business. View the full article

One-time Rocket exec Mike Fawaz founded brokerage and tech firm Origna8 with his former adversary's backing, which both say will enable it to quickly scale. View the full article

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday that he would remain on the Fed board after his term as chair expires next month, resolving the last and most significant open question about his departure and the onset of Kevin Warsh's leadership at the central bank. View the full article

President Biden had issued a rule in 2024 requiring newly constructed homes to abide by an energy mandate to be eligible for FHA- or USDA-backed mortgages. View the full article

Eligible purchases with the Better Home Equity Card, which lets homeowners instantly spend funds drawn from a home equity line of credit, earn 1% cashback. View the full article

Kevin Warsh's nomination to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve passed through the Senate Banking committee in a party-line vote. View the full article

Using a non-GAAP measurement, the real estate investment trust, preparing to be bought by CrossCountry, reported a $25 million loss for the first quarter. View the full article

The government-sponsored enterprise recorded $98.7 billion in single-family loan acquisitions to begin the year, including over $43 billion in refinances. View the full article

Bank groups said that although the Federal Reserve's eased capital plans are a major improvement over previous versions, the recent proposals still need changes to help avoid risk assessments they say may hinder banks' ability to boost lending. View the full article

Housing starts increased 10.8% to an annual pace of 1.5 million homes in March, the highest since December 2024, according to figures released Wednesday by the Census Bureau. View the full article

State mortgage regulators are increasingly treating supervision as enforcement, imposing large fines even when companies fix issues quickly, writes the head of public policy at NewRez. View the full article

Check out the next set of names in the 28th edition of National Mortgage News' Top Producers survey, including on how they approach purchase business. View the full article