WASHINGTON, D.C.—“These are no normal times.” With those words, Mortgage Bankers Association Robert Broeksmit, CMB, not only described the past few months, but also set the tone for the future of the real estate finance industry and life in general.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued temporary guidance regarding the eligibility of borrowers who are in forbearance, or have recently ended their forbearance, looking to refinance or buy a new home.

(One of a continuing series of profiles of participants in the MBA Education Path to Diversity (P2D) Scholarship Program, which enables employees from diverse backgrounds to advance their professional growth and career development.)

Creating frictionless experiences is imperative to customer-facing businesses, and reducing friction is now a core driver of competitive differentiation. Lending organizations are continuously thinking about how to attract and retain customers by offering consistently relevant, personalized, and frictionless experiences while taking nothing for granted.

In this ongoing article series, we report on mortgage and credit union vendor marketplace events and trends, and we then share our viewpoints. The theme for today’s article is a unique set of circumstances that is enlisting homeowners to be an active participant within the appraisal process during the pandemic – and likely into the future.

Newmark Knight Frank, New York, arranged $36 million in refinancing on behalf of DivcoWest for 180 Townsend, a four-story, 41,000-square-foot San Francisco office building.

Mortgage applications fell for the first time in three weeks—although purchase applications remained strong—the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 15.

ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), Denver, released ACESXPRESS for Early Payment Defaults to bolster lenders’ existing audit programs in light of the recent increases in required monthly EPD audit volume.