Co-branded ComeHome solution on Ally's website will provide would-be homebuyers with access to listings and loan options, and encourage existing homeowners to explore refinancing and HELOCs.
New products and agent partnerships could help Better make the transition from a company known primarily for refinancing to a lender that serves homebuyers.
“Why did New Jersey get all the toxic waste and California get all the lawyers? New Jersey got to pick first.” (Hey, I don’t write ‘em.) Quips aside, California accounts for 20 or 25 percent of the nation’s residential lending, depending on who you ask. The Golden State’s economy has been growing steadily while the global economy has at times faltered, and as a result it’s poised to surpass Germany to become the fourth-largest economy on the planet! It jumped seventh-place Brazil and sixth-place France in 2015, and in 2017 it passed the United Kingdom, and has been in fifth place since. The current figures won’t be published until next year, but both Germany and California have a GDP of $3.5 trillion, and one forecast puts California up $72 billion over Germany. And, of course, right in the thick of advocacy and education is the California MBA. If you have questions about the issues that lenders are grappling with out West, contac
The financial press seems enthralled with the business cycle. Expansion, contraction, rates and stocks up, rates and stocks down. Right now they’re all stumbling over themselves looking for signs of a recession. Recessions, of course, tend to lower rates since the demand for credit drops. European growth projections are poor. No one really knows what is going on in China. In the United States, the Federal Reserve has pushed the Fed Funds rate (the interest rate at which banks and credit unions lend reserve balances to other depository institutions overnight) from near 0 percent to what could be 4.75 percent by year end. There are some signs of softening in the U.S. job market (like job openings declining), but household debt service levels have dropped and savings levels are doing okay. The team at the Mortgage Bankers Association is forecasting appreciation levels near 0 percent for 2023 and 2024. There’s your snapshot! (Today’s podcast is available here. This wee
When did “beauty parlors” become “beauty shops” become “salons” and “spas?” Our industry doesn’t have a monopoly on change, and in my recent travels around the nation visiting with residential lenders, things continue to evolve. Owners of servicing continue to release pools of mortgage servicing rights, raising cash to create profitable months and quarters. Banks, credit unions, and lenders mention ongoing efforts to “digitize” the lending process but some admitted to some level of “fake digitization”, defined as a borrower interface that appears to be digital but with lots of manual steps behind the scenes. And there is certainly a renewed focus on Consumer Direct (CD) build out as the market shifts. Meanwhile, large banks and lenders are doing their best to stay out of the headlines as news and public company releases tend to reverberate around to mortgage and bank executives. There was Better.