Bitcoin, the internet’s virtual currency, is slowly becoming an acceptable alternative method of payment for items, including real estate. Whether it will supplant the more traditional process of purchasing a home remains to be seen. Thomas Bayles, chief executive officer of Urban Asset Group, a house-flip firm in Los Angeles, last year facilitated a record-setting purchase of a mid-century house in Eagle Rock, CA, using bitcoins. The remodeled, five-bedroom residential property in ...
Adopting a digital origination process can help lenders win market share, according to analysts at Strategic Mortgage Finance Group. Michael Grad, a senior partner at Stratmor, stressed that it takes more than upgrading a loan origination system to see results. “As an industry, we’ve approached digital originations by allowing technology to drive business instead of setting business strategy that drives our technology choices,” he said in a recent analysis. “Our industry needs to ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development may need a huge cash infusion to modernize its antiquated information technology system, but Congress does not appear eager to provide the funding. Testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, HUD Secretary Ben Carson told lawmakers it would cost approximately $500 million to shift the agency’s archaic information technology system to the cloud. Carson said it is costing the department about $250 million annually to repair and maintain the legacy IT system, which is more than 40 years old. “We can keep patching and throwing away money or we can do what needs to be done and fix it for good,” he said. Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart, R-FL, appeared unfazed by Carson’s cost estimate but made no commitment during the ...
Fannie Mae adjusted its automated underwriting services last summer to make more loans with higher debt-to-income ratios eligible for approval without lenders needing to provide compensating factors.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Congress it would cost approximately $500 million upfront to convert FHA’s archaic information technology systems to a modern technology platform.
“Borrowers continue to move away from applying for loans fully in-person, as they look for a process combining both high-tech and high-touch,” according to Ellie Mae.
Caliber Home Loans has announced a new mobile platform designed to simplify the loan process for borrowers and key players in the homebuying and mortgage financing chain. The platform features three mobile phone apps customized for borrowers, Caliber’s sales force, real estate agents and homebuilders. The apps provides efficient and effective communication among all parties from home shopping to as far as servicing the loan. “We are a retail shop that provides ..