Technology

Churchill Mortgage Corp. is promoting from within, naming Doug Walker as its vice president of sales support. Walker has been employed with Churchill for more than a decade, and his new role will encompass lender support for home loan specialists in all branches of the financial institution.

Technology provided a big boost for Bank of Idaho giving the company an estimated 67 percent increase in loan officer productivity. Utilizing Mortgagebot to integrate point-of-sale transactions, Bank of Idaho has shortened its average closing time for mortgage loans by 22 percent.

On of the country├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós largest independent mortgage companies, Mortgage Master, Inc., has opened its first office in Manhattan. MMI cites the city├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós relatively resilient housing market as the catalyst behind its recent expansion in New York. The Manhattan branch will serve the Tri-State area, which includes Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, and Massachusetts-based MMI holds licenses in all three states.

Promoting from within, SunTrust Mortgage Inc. is set to strengthen its internal structure. Both Debi Minton and Jeff Calvert were recently named as assistant vice presidents with the Georgia-based financial institution. Minton, hired by SunTrust in April, boasts more than 23 years of finance-related experience, and additionally, she├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós spent over eight years within the mortgage lending space, prior to her promotion.

Keeping trends on track for mortgage rates, real estate Web site Zillow revealed a 15 basis-point plunge for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. The current rate beached on a record all-time low made possible last month. According to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, which the Web site creates by tracking thousands of anonymous loan quotes reported daily, the 30-year loan fell from 4.07 percent last week to crest at 3.92 percent. Meanwhile, rates for the 15-year loan hovered at 3.17 percent.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Company has added a loan officer to its mid-Atlantic, southeast, and southwest regions with the hiring of Scott Heath. Based in the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Atlanta office, Heath will serve as an originator of commercial, mortgage-backed loans for securitization by newly-formed Liberty Island Group.

First United Bank has reason to celebrate, with the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós recent announcement that its mortgage servicing division├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós portfolio has ballooned to more than $1 billion. The Oklahoma-based financial institution will now be able to serve even more customers in its home state and Texas thanks to its achievement.

As of Thursday, appraisers and realtors must now use a new universal grading rubric when it comes to their assessments for properties with government-backed mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently revised their appraisal guidelines to streamline a sometimes unclear process, but some warn of the potential for fallout among appraisers, realtors, and homeowners unfamiliar with the new standards. Appraisers will need to weigh property values against new codes and abbreviations.

Lewisville, Texas, will gain 700 new employment opportunities courtesy of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The financial institution is set to open a major mortgage servicing center in the area, adding to 2,000 area workers.

Private holding company JGWPT, which recently announced the acquisition of J.G. Wentworth and Peachtree Financial Solutions, has made another advancement, with the launch of its reverse mortgage division. The newly formed reverse mortgage segment will operate as part of the Peachtree group of companies and will be based in Boynton Beach.