The likely next leader of the federal agency that oversees a key part of the mortgage industry testified told members of Congress last week he is prepared to lead the effort to “usher in the Golden Age of housing and mortgage accessibility.” William J. Pulte, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), was one of four administration nominees to appear at a joint confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Housing and mortgage experts are beginning to see a market shift in favor of buyers but remain cautious as to whether that will bring more originations for mortgage processors and underwriters. National real estate brokerage Redfin reported last week that the U.S. housing market tilted in favor of buyers for the first time this decade in January. The 3.7 months of for-sale inventory was the highest in six years.
Real estate brokerage Redfin reported that new listings of U.S. homes for sale rose 7.9 percent from a year earlier during the four weeks ending February 2. Meanwhile, pending sales are improving slightly, but still down 8.1 percent year over year. The uptick in new listings and lack of sales is contributing to a growing pool of supply for homebuyers to choose from.
Fannie Mae economists interpret a recent rise in the 10-year Treasury yield as a sign that home sales are far from rebounding from 30-year lows. In Fannie’s first monthly commentary of 2025, its Economic and Strategic Research Group raised its forecast on where 30-year mortgage rates will land by the end of the year. Fannie now sees rates closing this year at 6.5 percent instead of its previous forecast of 6.2 percent.
The mortgage industry will face its share of challenges, opportunities and unknowns in 2025. Here are a few trends on the horizon: Perhaps the biggest unknown for mortgage underwriters and processors is the effect of a second Donald Trump administration on the industry. The Biden administration’s priority in the housing sector was making housing more affordable and accessible. Vice President Harris and Trump both indicated a desire to make housing more affordable using different approaches.
In today’s world of FHA underwriting, I think it can be said that we cannot assume that an automated underwriting establishes a positive credit risk. AUS approvals are really unreliable in today’s marketplace. Quite frankly, I consider them pretty much worthless. Manual underwriting is a much more sensible approach to analyzing credit risks and rendering loan decisions and the more documentation included in the loan file, the better the chance of catching any risk factors that might have otherwise escaped an automated underwriting system.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
As I am sure everyone is aware, just about every lender out there is utilizing 3rd party tax transcripts for all mortgage transactions. When we began to utilize the service there were generally limited to self employed borrowers, however, over the past year or two most lenders have determined that they were a very useful tool when trying to detect income fraud. I personally have found them to be a useful tool in many other ways as well.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
We all know that a real estate contract of sale is an agreement between a buyer and a seller regarding the purchase of a property, as well as the terms and conditions each participant is required to execute within certain time frames to be “in contract”.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
I don’t know about anyone else but these past two weeks have been exhausting not only in dealing with extremely heavy loan volume due to the expiration of the Homebuyer Tax Credit Incentive but also because it seems the lenders are once again cracking down and changing policies left and right.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
The mortgage universe of 25 years ago was quite different than it is today. Around this time I took my first mortgage banking position. It was as a Loan processor in the Equity Lending division of a big bank in Baltimore City, Maryland. Although the position implied the processing of second mortgage applications, more particularly Home Equity Lines of Credit, it was actually a closing position whereas I completed the closing documents for HELOC’s.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
If you want to get credit policy people like me all fired up, here’s the topic to drop in passing. Fannie Mae’s Loan Quality Initiative has gotten so much press and has stirred up so much controversy it’s ridiculous.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
Ten years of experience in the real estate industry and last week I went through four contract extensions, a six hour settlement waiting for HUD-1 approval and scrambling around getting documents signed the following day so that the loan wouldn’t be recalled, all for the same transaction!
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
How many times have you suspended or possibly rejected a loan and then listened politely as the processor or loan officer provided a very long dissertation as to why the case should be approved which usually ended with one or both of them stating very strongly, “but it meets guidelines!” Yep me too, lots of times.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
You know, the more I’ve thought about things lately the more I have to admit I was wrong on one thing and I’m sure I’m not the only one in this category. For years we all frowned on having to do all of the extra processing and qualifying steps on VA loans.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
Hello Everybody – Hope everyone is staying busy. In my hunt for a topic every week, sometimes it is easy and other times, I haven’t a clue what I will write about until the last minute. This week was one of those last minute thoughts – so I hope this blog is helpful.
Opinion-Editorial (Op-Ed) Disclaimer For NAMU® Library Articles: The views and opinions expressed in the NAMU® Library articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official NAMU® policy or position. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world application as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of NAMU®. Nothing contained in this articles should be considered legal advice.
Written By: Stacey Sprain
As an FHA originator, processor or underwriter, it’s likely that in the ongoing foreclosure market you’ll run across a HUD REO loan at some point. The purpose of this multi-part article is to provide you with some useful information to help in your endeavors.