The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week announced several loan processing flexibilities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac designed to help their customers.

On the website of Clarifire, a Software-as-a-Service company specializing in workflow automation in multiple industries, particularly mortgage servicing, the company declares its vision: “To transform chaos into clarity.”

Howard Botts could be in Los Angeles and tell you within 15 minutes of a tornado touching down in the Midwest, if any, properties sustained damage and the severity of the damage. He’s not psychic; he’s scientific.

Like many homebuyers, Julie Felts and her husband did not have a positive experience at the closing table. With mounds of paperwork and a seller in tears sitting just across from them, the close was nightmarishly long, inconvenient, stressful and emotionally draining. “I just remember thinking there should be a better way to do this; we shouldn’t have to be in the same place at the same time,” she says.

Seniors are being especially hard hit by the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, homeowners are not entirely at the mercy of a fickle financial market. There are tools available to help retirees limit their sequence risk. One of the more effective being the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.

Mortgage application activity entered March like a lamb, but, thanks to falling interest rates, came out like a lion.