News

Zillow announced Friday afternoon that it expects to close the acquisition of San Francisco-based online real estate site Trulia by February 17, following the announcement of the conclusion of a Federal Trade Commission investigation.

The hearing, entitled "Regulatory Relief for Community Banks and Credit Unions," was a gathering of the committee's lawmakers to discuss the effect of recent regulatory burdens placed on smaller banks and credit unions in response to the financial crisis.

The bureau announced it is suing reverse mortgage lender All Financial Services with the intent to halt the lender's illegal activities and has imposed civil fines on both Flagship Financial Group and American Preferred Lending. The latter two companies were ordered to cease their false advertising in addition to paying civil fines.

When it comes to major life milestones, mortgages come before marriages for a large number of millennials, according to data released Friday. In a recent survey conducted by Redfin, 38 percent of Americans age 18–34 say they either would or have put off a wedding or honeymoon in favor of saving to buy a home.

Thirty-one percent of homebuyers living in the state were able to afford a median-priced existing single-family home last quarter, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) said Thursday. While that was a slight improvement from 30 percent in Q3, it was down from a revised 32 percent in 2013's closing months, the group reported.

Federal regulators have released the last video in a series created to help bank employees meet regulatory requirements set by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

In Florida, Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC) announced the hiring of Todd Gomes as national account executive.

Late last year, real estate firm Zillow reported that renters living in the United States paid a cumulative $441 billion in rents throughout 2014, a nearly 5 percent annual increase spurred by rising numbers of renters and climbing prices. Results from a more recent survey conducted by Zillow and Pulsenomics suggest that rent prices will continue to be a problem for the aspiring homeowner for years to come.

Quality features of the bulk servicing portfolio include 100 percent fixed-rate and first lien product, a weighted average original FICO score of 755, a weighted average original LTV ratio of 80 percent, and a weighted average interest rate of 3.9 percent.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Thursday that new home purchase applications rose 29 percent from December to January, not including any seasonal adjustments. The group pulled its data from its monthly Builder Application Survey, which tracks application volumes from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders.