Real estate agents, stay safe and sell
Following the tragic 2014 murder of real estate professional Beverly Carter, it became apparent that additional safety support and resources were needed industry-wide. Beverly Carter was a real estate broker who was kidnapped and murdered after being perceived to be a wealthy broker who worked alone. According to the National Association of Realtors, 41% of […]
Jim Jumpe to speak at HW Annual Oct. 3
We’re excited to have Jim Jumpe, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Arch MI, as a part of our speaker lineup for the Marketing Leaders Success Summit at HousingWire Annual. Jumpe will be a panelist on the “1+1=3, The Marketing Strategy of M&A” panel, Oct. 3. He will rely on his vast marketing […]
New home sales are up 28% — but don’t believe the hype
New home sales came in as a massive beat of sales estimates, with a 28% month-to-month increase. And, out of the 461,000 new homes available for sale, only 49,000 have been completed and are available to be occupied. These are both crazy stats! Monthly supply data fell — in normal times this would be looked […]
How the upcoming tax season will be different for servicers
HousingWire recently spoke with LERETA Chief Operating Officer Jim Micali about tax season and how technology is solving legacy issues servicers have historically had with taxes. HousingWire: We’re about to go into the fourth quarter, which historically has been crunch time for servicers and tax providers. Will this tax season be any different? If so, how? […]
Pennymac hires chief mortgage innovation officer
Pennymac Financial Services named longtime industry veteran Jerry Halbrook as its new chief mortgage innovation officer. Halbrook, who announced his new position via LinkedIn on Monday, brings more than 25 years of experience in mortgages. The company didn’t provide comment regarding Halbrook’s hire. The executive was most recently chief executive officer at mortgage marketing firm […]
Prestwick adding more fuel to a hot MSR market
Advisory and brokerage firm Prestwick Mortgage Group is out with three new mortgage-servicing rights (MSR) offerings for agency loan pools valued in total at $2.6 billion. One of those MSR offerings involves a Ginnie Mae loan pool of 7,591 mortgages with valued at $2 billion based on the unpaid principal balance. The package is being marketed with […]
Blend strikes partnership deal with PNC Bank
Despite steep financial losses, mortgage tech company Blend continues to add some of America’s largest mortgage lenders to its client roster. On Tuesday, the fintech and PNC Bank announced a partnership that allows customers to digitally apply for a mortgage and import bank/payroll information directly into their application. Once an application is submitted, customers have […]
A Tale of Two Legal Tangles, Part III: Looking for the Next Way Out
Small employers and their advocates continue to search for ways to bypass the extra costs of regulation under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and find more affordable health insurance options. As noted in part I, they may have gained a new foothold in a case from Texas decided in the 5th Circuit on August 17. […]
Why Even Permanent Benefit Expansions Are Never Enough
Key Democratic leaders have proposed future unemployment benefit expansions that significantly exceed even recent pandemic policies, which resulted in a record $900 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits paid in 2020 and 2021. For example, instead of enacting more temporary federal benefit expansions like those in the pandemic, in April 2021 Senate Finance Committee […]