Flagstar Bank [1]and Detroit FinTech Bay today announced the first startups to participate in the Flagstar Mortgage Tech Accelerator Program. [2] The three companies are Brace, which focuses on servicing non-performing loans, boost.ai [3], which develops A1-based chatbots for the banking sector, and Home Captain, a real estate SAAS technology company that acts as a conversion optimization system.
The Flagstar Mortgage Tech Accelerator Program has been jointly designed by Flagstar Bank, the fifth largest bank mortgage originator in the country, and The FinTech Consortium [4]the leading global fintech ecosystem builder. Detroit FinTech Bay is FinTech Consortium's dedicated hub in Detroit.
The program focuses on startups active in developing innovative technology solutions for the mortgage industry. It is the first and only accelerator program in the United States exclusively dedicated to mortgage technology.
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The Hendersonville, Tennessee, branch of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc [5]. (PRMI) recently hosted their second annual fundraising golf tournament and auction, with all proceeds benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project [6].
This fundraising event was part of PRMI’s continued commitment to and support of veterans who have diligently served their country. Uniting as a community for one cause, attendees gave back to veterans right in their own backyard.
“Our team feels privileged for the opportunity to support the Wounded Warrior Project and all they do for our veterans,” said PRMI Division Manager, James Harper. “This organization is one of a kind, and we are thrilled our event was well attended by so many, showing their support and gratitude for our country’s heroes.”
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The Seattle-based real estate brokerage firm, Redfin [7], has announced that it will publish the commission offered to the buyer's agent for homes that a Redfin agent is hired to sell on Redfin.com. The company said it believes that displaying the commission will help consumers better understand the costs and incentives in the real estate transaction.
The announcement came after a Redfin survey [8]revealed that more than half of recent homebuyers don't fully understand how their agent was paid. Of people who successfully bought a home in the last year, 38% had "some idea how much money my agent made on my transaction, how the amount was determined and who paid it," while 13% responded that they had "no idea."
"Across the country, the Multiple Listing Services that agents use to share listing data are now considering whether to follow the lead of the Seattle-area MLS and let brokerage websites publish the commission each listing pays a buyer's agent," said Glenn Kelman, CEO, Redfin. "But with more than 20,000 homes listed for sale each year by a Redfin agent, Redfin doesn't have to wait for the MLS to give us permission to show the commissions offered to buyers' agents on our own listings. Today, for most of the homes that Redfin has listed for sale ourselves, Redfin.com visitors can now see exactly how much of a commission the homeowner is offering the agent representing a buyer of that listing."