News

As interest rates continue to lower and home values rise, mortgage fraud application risk has fallen 8.9 percent from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015, according to CoreLogic's October 2015 Mortgage Fraud Report. The Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index showed that approximately 12,814 of mortgage applications, or 0.67 percent, contained fraud in the second quarter of 2015.

As the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule came and went, mortgage applications experienced some drastic ups and downs in the week prior to regulation's implementation date and the week after.

HUD Secretary Julián Castro, whose name has been bantered for months as a possible vice presidential candidate, plans to announce his endorsement for former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Thursday.

The availability of mortgage credit to borrowers declined slightly in the second quarter of 2015, despite impactful federal efforts to expand the credit box.

Refinances appear to be cooling off after volume levels decreased in August, while mortgage rates rose for three consecutive months through July, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's August 2015 Refinance Report.

Matt Martin Real Estate Management, a national real estate finance services provider, recently announced that the company has changed its name to Chronos Solutions and expanded its brand and service offerings. This update signals the firm's intentions to make its wide array of real estate finance services known to its national market, which will lead to another period of growth.

ComplianceEase, a provider of automated compliance solutions to the financial services industry, recently announced that the company's co-founder, Jason Roth, has been named chief technology officer.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America posted strong 2015 third quarter financial results, with net incomes reaching $5.8 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard warned against visceral reactions, such as pushes in the marketplace for an increase in interest rates, given the economy’s fragile growth, while speaking at the 57th National Association for Business Economics Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

With the costs of labor and materials increasing, investors and contractors are constantly searching for ways to lower the cost of doing business when it comes to renovating or rehabbing their rental properties. The key is removing waste from the process.