The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced it is dropping the COVID-era Adverse Market Refinance Fee beginning August 1. But what does that mean for borrowers who were already in the process of refinancing loans? That depends on the lender. Rocket Mortgage notified brokers last week that it is dropping the fee immediately for loans in progress. Others haven’t publicly committed to removing the fee – or did not respond to Mortgage Note requests for comment. “As you know, we already repriced earlier today, instantly passing the savings along to your borrowers on all new registrations and your entire floating pipeline,” Rocket said in an email to brokers. “We’re also in the process of applying the 50 bps credit to your…
A startup seeking to redefine how homebuyers purchase new homes has seen significant success in its first year of business in Cincinnati. “Homeshake” has “reached $10 million in sales volume in its first year,” Cincy Inno reports, with plans to expand to other cities and eventually other states. The “peer-to-peer” service advertises itself as one that “simplif[ies] everything from start to finish” by removing much of the middlemen from real estate transactions, eliminating many fees in the process. “People are ready for this,” company CEO Nick Rabin told Cincy Inno, stating that “with the right tools and support, buying or selling a home has never been easier.”…
Smaller mortgage lenders competing with large firms face three major hurdles, according to industry experts: Automation, a labor shortage and competition from direct Internet mortgage lenders. “Significant labor shortages,” “business process streamlining” and “consumer-facing technology” are among the biggest obstacles facing smaller lenders, according to Mortgage Professional America. Fannie Mae Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Mark Palim told MPA that “small businesses are having a hard time finding workers, so the need to retain talent is a top consideration for lenders.” Online lender-to-consumer organizations were also cited by many lenders as a source of competition, though Palim argued that the mortgage lending industry is “not all going to go online,” citing younger customers who often prefer a face-to-face interaction…
A Florida real estate broker filed a federal lawsuit against United Wholesale Mortgage’s parent company and CEO Mat Ishbia over the launching the Broker Wars, in which Ishbia forbade brokers from doing business with two competitors if it wanted to continue to work with UWM. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, alleges UWM issued its ultimatum “in a desperate attempt to stifle competition” and to “mitigate its acknowledged risk of losing market share.” UWM announced in April that it would force brokers to sign an agreement that they will not work with Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage – or else be banned from work with UWM, the largest wholesale mortgage lender. Ishbia charged the two companies…
Fortune released its Top 100 Places to Work list Monday, with four mortgage/real estate companies making the list – led by Rocket Companies at No. 5. Here are the four companies that made the list (Cisco was No. 1): 5. Rocket Companies 8. Camden Property Trust 22. Bank of America 47. Zillow Group “Everything we do is framed by our culture and by our ISMs. Over the past year, we have been guided by the ISM ‘We’ll Figure it Out’ as we navigated the challenges introduced by the pandemic while still creating the best possible experience for our team members,” said Jay Farner, Rocket Companies’ CEO and Vice Chairman. “When COVID-19 began spreading across the country in the U.S., we rapidly launched…
It started innocently enough: I look at Zillow like it’s my social media. 🤷🏻♀️🏡— Whitney Ortiz (@OrtizWhit) March 30, 2021 Which Zillow appreciated: We like to think of it as research 😎— Zillow (@zillow) March 30, 2021 But then RE/MAX had something to say: You might want to try a more trusted site. 😉— RE/MAX (@remax) March 30, 2021 We’ll update you with any developments in the burgeoning Twitter war.…
The Miami Marlins have joined the growing trend of selling naming rights to banks or mortgage companies, as media reports say the Marlins ballpark will be known as loanDepot Park beginning Wednesday – just in time for Opening Day. Details have not been announced. The ballpark has been named Marlins Park since its opening in 2012. The Marlins joining the White Sox and Guaranteed Rate Field with mortgage-related naming rights. In other banking-related deals, the Braves play at SunTrust Park, the Mets at Citi Field, the Pirates at PNC Park, the Tigers at Comerica Park and the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Earlier this month, MLB announced that loanDepot – “the Official Mortgage Provider of MLB” – was named the presenting…
By Elise Daniel Tesla made headlines when the electric vehicle company invested 1.5 million in Bitcoin in February. Last week, Elon Musk announced that customers could now buy Teslas with Bitcoin. Other tech-forward companies including MicroStrategies and Square have also invested in the cryptocurrency. However, many traditional investors and financial institutions are still approaching Bitcoin with skepticism. Warren Buffet has outright condemned Bitcoin, likening cryptocurrency to rat poison and claiming it has no value. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Bitcoin is an “extremely inefficient” currency. Though historically Bitcoin has been very volatile, even skeptics may find it difficult to ignore the recent BTC bull market. The digital currency’s increasing adaptation is attributed to what Bitcoin believers have jokingly called “number go up technology” on the Twittersphere.…
United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia went on CNBC on Wednesday to assert he is the good guy in the BrokerWars by standing up for brokers and “for what is right.” “I know how different people want to portray it, but the decision was not about doing things exclusively,” Ishbia said on an interview on CNBC. “We basically said ‘Hey mortgage brokers, 12,000 of you guys, if you’re partnering with Rocket, they’re out there doing things – maybe you call it underhandedly, maybe in a gray area, to affect consumers and brokers.’ What we’re saying is, listen I can’t stop them, but if you’re going to work with them, don’t work with us.” UWM announced earlier this month that it will force brokers to…
Like Rocket Mortgage, Fairway Independent Mortgage is reporting increased interest from brokers after United Wholesale Mortgage launched the Broker Wars. HousingWire reported today: Since UWM president and CEO Mat Ishbia appeared on Facebook Live on March 4 and announced that brokers could not work with Fairway and Rocket Mortgage and still do business with UWM, Fairway has seen a dramatic uptick in business, according to its CEO, Steve Jacobson. “We typically had one or two inquiries a week for the broker channel,” said Jacobson, who founded the lender in 1996. “We’re up over 100 inquiries since March 4.” Fairway, which did about $3.5 billion in the wholesale channel in 2020 (compared to about $62 billion in retail), lost roughly 5%…
