By KIMBERLEY HAAS A United States district court judge in Michigan has granted in part United Wholesale Mortgage’s motion to dismiss complaints in an ultimatum lawsuit filed by America’s Moneyline. According to court documents, on Dec. 22 Judge Laurie Michelson dismissed fraud and promissory estoppel claims, as well as all but one declaratory-judgment subclaim. Lawyers for America’s Moneyline say that in 2021 leaders at United Wholesale Mortgage issued an ultimatum that forced a number of mortgage brokers, including their client, to choose between doing business with UWM and two of their competitors. AML leaders, relying on alleged promises that UWM would not enforce the ultimatum against it, continued to do business with both UWM and Rocket Pro. After UWM sued…
Leaders at Blue Ridge Bank have announced that Kirsten Muetzel is their new president of the Fintech Division of the company. Muetzel brings over a decade of experience working with the Federal Reserve system, including supervising banks involved in BaaS and related partnerships. Additional experience includes being a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer for fintech companies. Muetzel will be responsible for overseeing the Fintech Division, managing a portfolio of partners, strengthening regulatory compliance, and working to advance Blue Ridge’s fintech strategy. Muetzel said in a statement that there continue to be significant opportunities for banks to develop relationships with fintech firms and create new revenue streams while in turn enhancing products and services to existing customers. “Community banks are uniquely…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders in the industry are committed to giving back during the holiday season and throughout the year. It was announced earlier this month that Down Payment Resource in Atlanta, Ga., will help a family in Memphis, Tenn., attain their homeownership dreams by donating $10,000 to the Homeownership Council of America’s Equity Down Payment Assistance program. They provide down payment and closing cost assistance for low-to-moderate income and minority first-time homebuyers. Leaders at Down Payment Resource say that is “a mission that aligns with our company’s founding goal of expanding affordable homeownership program awareness, understanding, and participation.” Rob Chrane, founder and CEO of Down Payment Resource, said in a statement for The Mortgage Note that they are supporting the program because…
Over the past two years, a number of financial companies have relocated their offices to West Palm Beach in Florida, leading some industry watchers to dub the area “Wall Street South.” One of the nation’s leading VA mortgage lenders, NewDay USA, recently took over the top two floors of 360 Rosemary, a 20-story, 297,000-square-foot office building in West Palm Beach. In addition, the company is in negotiations to relocate its Maryland-based headquarters to West Palm Beach. NewDay anticipates the West Palm Beach office to grow to over 500 team members in 2023, according to a press release. “We continue to see a wave of financial industry giants moving to Palm Beach for a better business environment, an incredible talent pool…
Home sales plummeted by 35% in November but there are early signs that demand may be picking up. Redfin’s latest data found that home sales dropped 35.1% YOY in November on a seasonally-adjusted basis. High buying costs kept both buyers and sellers on the sidelines. “Rates have declined significantly over the past six weeks, which is helpful for potential homebuyers, but new data indicates homeowners are hesitant to list their homes,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, noted. “Many of those homeowners are carefully weighing their options as more than two-thirds of current homeowners have a fixed mortgage rate of below four percent.” Sellers have hesitated to put their homes on the market, knowing they’ll have to buy a new…
The 30-year fixed rate dipped again last week, though the 15-year inched up, breaking a downward streak, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.27%, down from 6.31% the week prior. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.05 percent. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 5.54% to 5.69%. A year ago, it averaged 2.30%. Most Americans opt for a 30-year FRM. In 2018, lenders wrote 22 times more 30-year notes than 15-year notes, according to a NerdWallet analysis. Last week’s rate increase will likely affect only a small portion of potential buyers who make enough money to afford larger monthly payments. “Heading into the holidays, mortgage rates…
Union Home Mortgage will acquire Amerifirst Home Mortgage, the company announced in a press release. The acquisition will allow UHM to expand in key markets, leaders at UHM said. Amerifirst is based in Kalamazoo, MI, and operates across the country with a special focus on Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and California. Both Amerifirst and UHM are leaders in USDA lending. Amerifirst originated $2.8 billion in loans in 2021 and is ranked the number one lender in Michigan. “We founded this company to make a meaningful difference in the lives of customers, team members, and our communities. This partnership gives us the scale and ability to make an impact like never before,” said co-founders Mark Jones and David Gahm. The…
Existing-home sales dropped for the tenth straight month in November, down 7.7% from October and 35.4% YOY, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million from 4.43 million the month prior. All four major regions saw declines. “In essence, the residential real estate market was frozen in November, resembling the sales activity seen during the COVID-19 economic lockdowns in 2020,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows.” Inventory of unsold homes fell 6.6% from October to…
Mortgage loan application volume rose again, with refinances up 6% as interest rates hit a three-month low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. Refinances remain 85% lower than the same time last year, however, comprising 31.3% of total applications. Purchases took a hit with the adjusted purchase and unadjusted purchase indices down by 0.1% and 3%, respectively. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances fell from 6.42% to 6.34%, its lowest point since September. Despite that, the adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by just 0.9%. “This is a particularly slow time of year for homebuying, so it is not surprising that purchase applications did not…
Housing construction slid again in November as inflationary pressure and high rates kept demand down. Residential starts fell 0.5% from October to an annualized rate of 1.43 million, down 16.4% from the same time last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the third consecutive decline for these data. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predicted starts would fall to 1.4 million from October’s initial estimate of 1.43 million. Single-family starts dropped 4.1% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 828,000. This is their lowest level since May 2020. Permits for new homes fell 11.2% to a rate of 1.34 million. Single-family permits tanked by 7.1% to their slowest pace since 2020. Permits offer an indication…
