Scaling from Freelancer to Business Owner

Civil rights groups object to a $68 million settlement between the Department of Justice and Colony Ridge Development in Texas, calling the deal a sham for funneling $20 million into immigration enforcement and surveillance of victims. View the full article

Nonagency underwriting is expanding but the public sector is a different story due to recent performance issues, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. View the full article

UWM raised its Q1 and full-year 2026 revenue guidance ahead of Two Harbors' March 16 shareholder vote, citing AI efficiency gains, amid stock volatility since the merger announcement. View the full article

Several mortgage wholesale and partnership channel announcements came out coincidentally following loanDepot's return to the broker channel. View the full article

PHH Mortgage's new name comes after a recent sale of reverse lending assets and also arrives less than two years after Onity Group itself rebranded. View the full article

Contract closings increased 1.7% to a 4.09 million annualized rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Tuesday. View the full article

The offering marks a fresh attempt by Ackman to bring his long-term investment strategy to a broader base of investors, with a vision inspired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. View the full article

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell below 6% at the end of last month for the first time since 2022, bringing purchase borrowers back to the market. View the full article

Mortgage servicing rights are one of the most notoriously volatile assets in financial markets. The Federal Reserve's plan to loosen their capital treatment could foretell major problems in the future. View the full article

Former CEO Michael Strauss, who's left a wake of debts in New York, has no assets of value for plaintiffs to recover even if they secured default judgment. View the full article

Surveyed employees at top mortgage companies say pay is solid: 83% feel fairly compensated, with bonuses, benefits, and flexible options helping recognize hard work. View the full article

In the highest-priced housing markets, some buyers see adjustable-rate mortgages as the only loan they may initially qualify for, Cotality found. View the full article

While correspondent is still the bulk of Planet Financial's production, growth of its servicing portfolio helped the company increase retention volume. View the full article

Many homeowners and first-time buyers are surprised by rising property taxes and insurance, which can sharply increase monthly mortgage costs beyond principal and interest. View the full article

The announcement drove a large increase in Better's stock price, but UWM, Rocket and Pennymac all saw any gains earlier in the day more than dissipate. View the full article

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February while unemployment held steady at 4.4%, a development that could spur the Federal Reserve to question whether interest rates are truly in balance. View the full article

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization is nearing completion on the first of a three-phase Veterans Affairs loan guarantee modernization effort. View the full article

Proposed housing legislation aimed at curbing institutional homebuying could also block investment platforms that let everyday Americans own shares in rental homes, according to the CEO of Arrived. View the full article

President The President's criticism of large institutional investors prompted inclusion of a sales timeline for build-to-rent properties in the ROAD Act, which in turn pushed NAHB to withdraw its support. View the full article

Active listings grew 7.9% year over year in February, but just 0.2% month over month, reaching more than 914,000 homes on the market, according to Realtor.com. View the full article

Treasury yields swung wildly after a soft jobs report as oil's surge added a new complication for the Fed, raising concerns about the rate path ahead, according to the head of correspondent business development at AD Mortgage. View the full article

The company dropped the broker channel just months after Frank Martell became CEO; now that Anthony Hsieh is running things again, Loandepot brought it back. View the full article

TransUnion cuts Vantagescore 4.0 to $0.99, aiming to boost lender choice and affordability as FHFA pushes mortgage score modernization and competition. View the full article

An estimated 565,000 first-lien refinances closed in the fourth quarter, up 50% from a year prior and the most since the second quarter of 2022, ICE found. View the full article

The increase in borrowing costs coincides with a sharp rise in the 10-year US Treasury yield, which is correlated with mortgage rates, as war with Iran disrupted oil flows and sparked concerns about inflation. View the full article