Scaling from Freelancer to Business Owner

This year it took a homebuyer seven years to save for a typical down payment on a house, compared with 12, according to Realtor.com. View the full article

New Jersey-based OceanFirst Financial slid in its planned $579 million acquisition of Flushing Financial just before the end of the year. The private equity firm Warburg Pincus is also participating in the transaction. View the full article

National home prices grew monthly and annually in October, but considerably less than last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. View the full article

AI's capabilities far exceed how the technology is being used in mortgage, but an all-in strategy will quickly put companies ahead of the pack, leaders say. View the full article

Yields gravitated back toward session lows — down three to four basis points on the day — after the December ISM manufacturing gauge unexpectedly dropped. View the full article

Largely strong credit qualities were offset because by loans on single-family homes in the pool dropping by 0.5%, and that the percentage of loans that received due diligence decreased by 0.4%. View the full article

Lenders shouldn't expect the latest jobs numbers to yield major monetary policy moves after the unemployment rate came in mostly flat last month, experts say. View the full article

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has been served grand jury subpoenas and been threatened with criminal indictment, moves he called "pretexts" to influence interest rates through "political pressure or intimidation." View the full article

The latest Lower acquisition comes after several previous mergers with lenders as well as two last year that incorporated technology and real estate platforms. View the full article

Hot securitization sectors such as non-qualified mortgages and home equity are set to expand further amid market shifts this year, recent forecasts suggest. View the full article

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has backed off enforcement and supervision of consumer protection laws, leaving states to fill the void — and potentially creating a "patchwork" of state laws that banks will have to comply with. View the full article

After the announcement last fall, Embrace added local staff and increased marketing nad outreach in New Jersey to assist potential Oceanfirst borrowers. View the full article

The estimated range for net income to common shareholders at the company formerly known as Ocwen rose in part due to a deferred tax asset valuation. View the full article

Rocket denied the allegations, saying the lawsuit is a retread of a case the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed that was quickly dismissed. View the full article

Rising defaults, fraud risks, and collapsing rents are converging in urban multifamily, threatening lenders and taxpayers, according to the Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors. View the full article

The brokerage alleges Zillow uses "anticompetitive tactics" to bar listings that haven't been posted to a local multiple-listing service, or MLS, within 24 hours of them being publicly marketed. View the full article

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its January Consumer Price Index Friday, showing that inflation rose 0.2%, while the annual rate eased to 2.4% after holding at 2.7% for several months. The data reduce the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the near future. View the full article

Dubbed Fairway Home Insurance Agency, the new business is the latest to emerge from agreements struck between mortgage lenders and The Baldwin Group brokerage. View the full article

Industry participants are turning to trade organizations, vendors and each other to barnstorm ways to get more out of their marketing spend and remain compliant. View the full article

Treasury yields look oversold after a rough week, but technical patterns still point to a broader uptrend that could push the 5- and 10-year closer to 5%, according to the head of correspondent business development at AD Mortgage. View the full article

A first look at the capital plan suggests it moves the real estate finance industry closer to changes it lobbied for, but the devil may be in the details. View the full article

While the tone is still generally upbeat, the market is mired below October's price highs and yields are range-bound. View the full article

The new cap of $88 billion per company tops this year's $73 billion limit, but keeps pace with multifamily mortgage volume growth in recent months. View the full article

If cumulative loss or a delinquency trigger event is in effect, then the deal will distribute principal among the class A notes before any principal allocation the class M1 or class B certificates. View the full article

Billions in home equity sit untapped as second-lien loans struggle to gain traction, writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors. View the full article