October 2025

Loan onboarding challenges reveal servicing pain points

Camila Silva is highly organized and detail-oriented, especially when it comes to paying her bills on time — including the mortgage on her townhouse in the quiet outskirts of Washington D.C. Car, utility and mortgage payments are all color-coded in the calendar on Silva’s phone. Since the origination of her home loan in 2021, Silva […]

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John Bell III, former VA mortgage program executive, dies

John Bell III, the former executive director for loan guaranty service at the Department of Veterans Affairs, has died. His passing was noted in a Facebook post by Rick Bettencourt, president of Veterans Mortgage Brokers, Danvers, Massachusetts. “For the last 10 years John has been a Titan in the VA home loan world,” Bettencourt, who

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Newrez posts fourth straight quarterly profit

Newrez posted a fourth straight quarterly profit, as parent company Rithm Capital pointed to a new servicing deal with Wells Fargo and falling interest rates as drivers of recent momentum.  Technology, particularly investments in artificial intelligence, also paid dividends that drove profits for Newrez, said the lender’s President Baron Silverstein.  “Even with increased production, our

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Mortgage rates tick down following Fed’s cut

Mortgage rates declined for the fourth consecutive week on the back of the Federal Reserve’s second rate cut of the year. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.17%, just a 0.2-percentage-point drop from last week‘s 6.19%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market survey. The 30-year rate was 6.72% a year ago. “The last few months

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Climate change increasingly worries potential homebuyers

After hurricanes in Florida, floods in Texas and wildfires in California plagued the United States this year, homeownership worries Americans, a survey released Wednesday showed. More than two-thirds of Americans believe homeownership is riskier now than it was 10 years ago due to climate change and natural disasters, according to a survey conducted by Clever

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Credit provision shifts drive Freddie Mac’s earnings

Freddie Mac, like larger counterpart Fannie Mae, reported another profitable quarter that could fuel more interest in a potential new public offering for some of their shares. The government-sponsored enterprise earned $2.8 billion in net income during the quarter, compared to $2.39 billion the previous fiscal period and $3.11 billion a year earlier. The pattern in

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Powell sends mortgage rates higher as he questions December cut

The Federal Reserve cut the Fed funds rate today but mortgage rates shot higher. This was not shocking to me as yesterday I wrote about whether Powell would ruin the year’s lowest mortgage rates with his remarks at the Fed press event — and that’s exactly what happened. When mortgage rates are near 6% and

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ALTA’s David Townsend on housing affordability and title insurance regulations

As new American Land Title Association (ALTA) President David Townsend steps into his role, he’s wasting no time setting an agenda that includes expanded housing access and a halt to right-to-list agreements — also known as non-title recorded agreements for personal service (NTRAPS). Townsend said these initiatives, along with efforts to improve affordability, streamline permitting

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Scroll, swipe, sold: Klipster app brings the TikTok effect to real estate

Klipster, a new real estate platform aimed at younger homebuyers, has launched with a mobile app that combines short-form video, automation and marketplace features. Created by co-founders Arlinda Dine, Eric Benaim and Michael Taus, the platform is designed for what the company describes as a “content-first” home shopping experience, targeting Millennials and Gen Z with

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