The now defunct First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation (FGMC) and former employees – who sued the mortgage lender in a class-action suit after an abrupt layoff – are seeking a Delaware bankruptcy judge to settle a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) Act lawsuit for $1.75 million. … Continue readingDefunct FGMC, former employees seek $1.75M settlement on WARN Act suit
Residential sale-leaseback platform EasyKnock has acquired home equity investment platform Balance Homes, the company announced on Tuesday. The latest acquisition comes on the heels of a series of other proptech startup purchases. Last May, EasyKnock gobbled up Ribbon, a power buyer firm, and in September, … Continue readingEasyKnock acquires home equity co-ownership firm Balance Homes
The National Association of Realtor’s ongoing battle with the Department of Justice is heating up again. On Friday, a three-judge appellate court panel in Washington, D.C. heard oral arguments from both NAR and the DOJ, over whether the federal agency will be able to reopen … Continue readingAppeals court hears arguments on reopening the DOJ’s probe into NAR
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has a new chief marketing and communications officer. The trade group announced Tuesday that Suzanne Bouhia would lead NAR’s marketing and communications group starting Dec. 11. Bouhia is joining NAR’s senior vice president team, which is responsible for supporting … Continue readingNAR names new chief marketing and communications officer
Industry veteran Adam O’Daniel is transitioning to Guild Mortgage as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, a newly created role, after about two years at Open Mortgage, the company announced on Tuesday. “We’re going to expand Guild’s brand presence nationally, deliver best-in-class marketing tools, technology and support for our … Continue readingGuild hires Adam O’Daniel as chief marketing officer
An arbitrator conclusion issued last week caps a four-year legal battle over allegations of trade secret theft involving two of the biggest companies in the housing industry, Black Knight Servicing Technologies and PennyMac Financial Services. In a 2019 lawsuit, Black Knight accused Pennymac of copying its mortgage servicing … Continue readingBlack Knight awarded $155M in trade secrets theft lawsuit against Pennymac
When individual mortgages are originated by lenders like banks or credit unions, they maybundle groups of these mortgages together into financial vehicles called mortgage-backedsecurities (MBS) that are then sold to investors on a secondary market. This allows investors to gain exposure and returns from the … Continue readingHow technology can help mortgage lenders combat repurchase risk
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and December is well under way, we can start looking ahead to the 2024 housing market. New listings and home sales remain low this week while available inventory of unsold homes is finally falling across the country after rising with … Continue readingPromising signs abound for 2024 housing market
FirstHome IQ, a nonprofit focused on homeownership and financial literacy education, has expanded its ambassador program and now has 60 mortgage and real estate professionals who donate a portion of every loan to further this mission. The nonprofit, founded by industry leaders Kristin Messerli, Dave Savage and Todd … Continue readingFirstHome IQ now has 60 ambassadors boosting financial literacy
Prospective homebuyers are slowly growing less sensitive to home prices and high-interest rates, and fewer of them are willing to wait for a better market to buy a home. According to Bank of America’s 2023 Homebuyer Insights report, only 62% of prospective homebuyers are willing … Continue readingImpatient homebuyers are gradually accepting the reality of the housing market: BofA