There was a modest 1.8 percent increase in refinance business, and refi loans accounted for over half (52.1 percent) of GSE business in the first quarter – the first time refi activity exceeded purchase lending since early last year.
The call-center business model used by Quicken Loans won praise from real estate agents who often prefer to deal with a local loan officer, according to the results of a new survey by Campbell Surveys and sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. “It is clear that agents like Quicken for loan programs, lead time on closing dates, policy on providing closing status to agents and performance on meeting closing dates,” said Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. He said...
A potential shortage of residential real estate appraisers has some concerned that the decline could have far-reaching effects on the housing and mortgage industry. This prompted the Appraisal Foundation to issue a request for comment and examine possible changes to the recently revamped criteria used to qualify appraisers. While new criteria for becoming an appraiser went into effect in January 2015, the Appraiser Qualifications Board published a concept paper in July that was followed by a public hearing in October 2015 to voice its concern about the qualification criteria. Nationwide, the numbers of licensed appraisers has trended...
Pulte raised concerns about the way PulteGroup is being managed, including the relocation of the company’s headquarters from Detroit to Atlanta in 2013.
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