The Lede

Bloomberg News, Mar. 29, 2018The U.S. Department of Justice has reached an agreement with Barclays Capital and affiliates to settle a civil action filed in 2016 related to the mis-selling of residential mortgage-backed securities.

National Mortgage Professional, Mar. 29, 2018--Phil HallRay Williams is Vice President of Business Development at MortgageBanc, a branch of Fairway Independent Mortgage in Birmingham, Ala., and current President of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Alabama.

Washington Post, Mar. 29, 2018--Kathy OrtonAccording to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 4.44 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 4.45 percent a week ago and 4.14 percent a year ago.

Wall Street Journal, Mar. 29, 2018--Rolfe Winkler (subscription)Open Door Labs Inc., which buys and resells houses, is in talks with investors to raise at least $200 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation, a deal that would help it purchase more homes and expand to new cities.

HousingWire, Mar. 29, 2018--Jason FrazierWeb 2.0, a.k.a social media, a.k.a "the current state of the Internet" (credit: Gary Vaynerchuk) has won the war. In fact, it won a couple of years ago. Why are we talking about this? Because I am tired of Loan Officers and Agents asking me for statistics, net ROI, or any other transactional measurement that the old guard thinks matters. Guess what? It doesn't.

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 29, 2018First American Financial Corp. said risk of fraud on home-loan applications says that risk on loans with adjustable rates is lower than on fixed-rate mortgages. The report indicated a year-over-year rise in overall risk.

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 29, 2018The loans are just part of a $420 offering Freddie Mac announced on Feb. 15.

DS News, Mar. 30, 2018--David WhartonMost of the country is currently experiencing a mix of increasing home prices and decreasing inventory, especially for lower-income homebuyers. But now a new report examines how the affordability situation in Hawaii is being exacerbated by the local rental market.

Reuters, Mar. 29, 2018--Lucia MutikaniU.S. consumer spending rose marginally for a second straight month in February as households boosted savings, the latest indication that the economy lost momentum in the first quarter.