fannie-mae-Home-Ready
Mortgage Compliance

Home Ready (or Not)!

Recently, Fannie Mae announced the implementation of its new “Home Ready” mortgage product. According to Fannie Mae, this mortgage product was designed to support homeownership opportunities among underserved populations. They now recognize the growth of extended-household living arrangements and by allow the existence of non-borrower income to be considered as a compensating factor in Desktop Underwriter. Articles are already being…

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Moon-rising-mortgage-market
Mortgage Industry Trends

Housing Market’s Moon is Rising

Maybe there is a little “happy” in this New Year. The latest housing market indicators all seem to be pointing in the right direction. Although all the planets are not quite fully aligned, the outlook for housing is more positive than negative (Housing Market). The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose almost 15% from November…

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Get-off-the-fence-buy-a-house
Mortgage Industry Trends

First Time Buyers Getting Off the Fence

Was it the result of the recent rate hike, the reintroduction of the low LTV home loans by the GSEs, or maybe the FHA rate cut? Whatever it was, it appears many first time homebuyers are dipping their proverbial feet into homeownership waters. According to recent reports, FHA-insured lending dramatically increased over the past year. In many cases, these FHA…

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Rocket-mortgage-quicken-loans
Mortgage Industry Trends

Will Consumer Direct Eliminate the LO?

LOQuicken Loans says, “Take off with its new Rocket Mortgage”, an easy online mortgage loan application and approval. Will this replace the traditional loan originator? Let’s examine that possibility. Most say the consumer of today and tomorrow wants ease of communication and process through online applications. I believe most of us agree. Does that mean they will make their mortgage…

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Got-helc-qc
Mortgage Loan Quality

Home Equity Lenders – Got Quality Control?

Home Equity loans are becoming popular once again.  Interest rates remain relatively low, home values have been appreciating in many parts of the country, college tuition costs continue to rise and credit card debt remains high for many homeowners. This is a “perfect storm” scenario for the resurgence in the origination of Home Equity loans as a source of needed…

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Loan-Originator-Survivor
Mortgage Industry Trends

LOs: Survival of the Fittest

With more and more emphasis being put on lenders for quality and compliance, more and more responsibility falls to the loan originator to meet these demands. Larger lenders can provide more support and technology to assist their LOs, but smaller lenders struggle with the increased costs of compliance. As a result, will the small independent mortgage broker become a thing…

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