Category: Top National News

MarketWatch, May 10, 2016–Riquier, Andrea
The National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index rose 1 point to 93.6, slightly better than the 93.1 forecast by economists.

HousingWire, May 10, 2016–Swanson, Brena
Appraisal volume continues to struggle to lift-off this spring. With more than half the season already over, volume fell -0.4% for the week of May 1, according to the latest appraisal volume numbers from a la mode.

DS News, May 10, 2016–West, Xhevrije
Quicken Loans, the largest Federal Housing Administration lender in the country, is standing its ground in a government lawsuit for allegedly knowingly submitting claims  for hundreds of improperly underwritten FHA-insured loans.

Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2016–Brown, Eliot; Barbanel, Josh
The 1,004-foot Manhattan condominium tower known as One57 was the envy of the real-estate market as it was being constructed in recent years, garnering interest from so many wealthy buyers that it sparked a boom by developers betting demand for luxury apartments would keep climbing to the skies. It didn’t.

National Mortgage News, May 10, 2016–Passy, Jacob
First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. in Tysons Corner, Va., has purchased consumer-direct lender goodmortgage.com.

CNBC, May 9, 2016–Makortoff, Kalyeena
Investors gunning for an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve may be looking in the wrong direction, as millennials have more control of rates than the central bank, said Bill Smead, CEO and CIO of Smead Capital Management.

OurBroker.com, May 9, 2016–Miller, Peter G.
Has mortgage shopping become too quick and easy? Or, are speedy mortgages a good thing, evidence that automated loan services are a growing success, making it easier to get financing with fewer hassles?

CNBC, May 9, 2016–Belvedere, Matthew J.
Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson said Monday that the Detroit-based housing lender won’t settle with the government over allegations of filing false claims on federally insured mortgages. “For us, that’s not something we can even begin to stomach,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” saying he welcomes a jury trial.

Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2016–Rudegeair, Peter; Steele, Anne
Renaud Laplanche was the face of the online-lending industry, a telegenic French entrepreneur who argued the Internet would upend finance by allowing borrowers to connect directly with investors. On Monday, Laplanche resigned as the CEO of LendingClub Corp. after the board released a review of its loan sales.

National Mortgage News, May 9, 2016–Sinnock, Bonnie
The Making Home Affordable program has been extended and expanded so many times that it’s gotten hard to imagine life without it. But its two primary initiatives have served their purpose and the days may be numbered for HAMP and HARP.