AI-powered real estate assistant Sidekick unveiled a partnership with the San Francisco Association of Realtors (SFAR) on Monday. The collaboration will allow the region’s 4,000 agents to leverage Sidekick’s integrated datasets and workflows, making SFAR the first association to offer a generative AI assistant to its members. Launched in November 2023, Sidekick features many functionalities, including real-time market and property data retrieval abilities, valuation analyses and a suite of productivity tools for real estate professionals. “As the AI capital of the world, San Francisco is the i ..read more

AnnieMac Home Mortgage appointed Ian Aubourg to the role of senior vice president of retail sales, the Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based lender announced Monday.  In his new position at AnnieMac, Aubourg will tap into his leadership skills to drive growth and improve the mortgage experience for clients. Aubourg has a track record of leading successful mortgage lending teams and divisions across the Northeast region, including at Mortgage Equity Partners and Movement Mortgage. “AnnieMac has become innovative and creative in their solutions for the industry-wide conundrums of inventory shortag ..read more

Following an announcement that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Office of Policy Development and Research is seeking public comment related to application and origination documents for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) have submitted a joint letter with their feedback. MBA and NRMLA each state that they are generally supportive of the proposed changes, which include wholesale revisions to the lender table ..read more

Inventory increases aren’t occurring at a super fast pace, but the number of homes on the market across the country keeps expanding.  As mortgage rates stay elevated and the number of unsold homes on the market grows — especially in the South — the leading indicators for future home sales prices continue to be softer than the current headlines suggest. These attention-grabbing headlines point out that home sales prices are 5%, 6% or even 7% higher than at this time last year. But keep in mind that May 2023 was the weakest comparison point in sales pricing. At that point, the headlines wer ..read more

After exiting the wholesale channel in February, top U.S. mortgage lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. has decided to grow its retail footprint organically by hiring origination teams from various competitors. The company announced last week that, in April, it welcomed production teams that collectively originated more than $500 million in mortgage volume in 2023. These groups are bringing a total of 92 mortgage professionals to Fairway. According to Inside Finance Mortgage (IMF) estimates, Fairway ranked as 13th-largest U.S. mortgage lender in the first quarter of 20 ..read more

Legendary investor Warren Buffett and Greg Abel, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, addressed the commission lawsuits and HomeServices of America’s recently announced settlement of the suits, during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday. “There is no question that the industry will go through some transitions because of the settlements — ours and every other major player in the industry settled, the National Association of Realtors settled for more than $400 million,” Abel said. “So, effectively everybody was swept up in the suit and for the industry to move forward th ..read more

U.S. home prices continued to climb in March as a persistent shortage of homes for sale helped to buoy the housing market, according to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Home Price Index. And while prospective homebuyers cope with the challenges of rising housing unaffordability, existing homeowners are reaping the benefits of historically strong price gains. Nationwide equity on mortgaged homes soared to a record $16.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2024, with $11 trillion available for leverage while maintaining a 20% equity cushion — also an all-time high. The ICE index showed that home ..read more

A coalition of four lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives — two Democrats and two Republicans — have come together to found the Bipartisan Congressional Real Estate Caucus, a group designed to “support policies that allow [the real estate] industry to prosper” due to its overall importance to the U.S. economy. The group, announced on Monday, includes Reps. Mark Alford (R-Miss.), J. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) and Brittany Petterson (D-Colo.). It is publicly supported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National As ..read more

Representatives of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the Housing Policy Council (HPC) are urging leaders at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to delay a mandatory compliance date with the agency’s Veteran Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, which aims to prevent foreclosures against military personnel who experienced financial hardship due to the ongoing economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter is addressed to John Bell, executive director of the VA’s Loan Guaranty Service, and Josh Jacobs, undersecretary for benefits at the VA’s Veterans Benef ..read more

The Asian Real Estate Association of America, along with the National Fair Housing Alliance, the Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc., and the Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches, have filed a lawsuit that contends Florida Housing Law Senate Bill 264 violates the federal Fair Housing Act. The suit was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami. Defendants in the suit include a variety of Florida state officials including, J. Alex Kelly, the Secretary of Commerce; Patricia Fitzgerald, the chair of the Florida Real Estate Commission; as well as several state attorn ..read more