On September 14, 2020, USDA released a bulletin stating that the funding for USDA’s Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program will be temporarily unavailable for approximately two weeks beginning on October 1, 2020. At the beginning of each fiscal year the funding is not available for a short period of time and the USDA anticipates this brief lapse to continue for Fiscal Year 2021.

During the temporory lapse, the Rural Housing Development will issue Conditional Commitments “subject to the availability of commitment authority” for purchase and refinance transactions. In order for purchase transactions to be eligible, lenders will be required to provide the Conditional Commitments Form RD 3555-15/18E.

Even with economic uncertainty, consumers are still looking to buy or sell homes, which means as we enter the fall season it’s important to be more intentional with your purchase lead acquisition spend to help you stay ahead of the market shift. Traffic to Zillow Group mobile apps and websites reached a record 218 million average monthly unique users, an increase of 12% year-over-year last quarter.*

Why are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looking to increase refinance rates by 0.5% when refinance loans have been surging for mortgage companies? Interest rates have been at record lows, and lenders have applied stricter qualifying requirements to lower risks due to the uncertainty of the market, yet the agencies are looking to increase the price of Limited cash-out refinance and Cash-out refinance loans up 50 basis points starting December 1.

Letters were distributed to lenders from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on August 12 stating the increase was due to the uncertainty of the market and economic risk due to COVID-19.

At Mortech we pride ourselves in the great partnerships we have with various companies in the mortgage space. Whether it be an integration with a point of sale platform, loan origination system or mortgage offer marketplace - our ultimate goal with these partnerships is to bring simplicity and automation to our lender’s workflow so they can spend more time growing their business and creating lasting relationships with their customers.

This past month, Partner Relationship Manager, Mike Russell, got to speak with Brett Siegal, Founder and CEO of the home buying management platform, Ruuster. New to the industry, Ruuster has created a space that educates and empowers thoughtful and ambitious home buyers throughout their entire home buying journey. By targeting home buyers at the earliest stages of their journey, Ruuster is looking to not only be an education resource, but also the solution home buyers use to conquer every step of the process. 

We are excited to announce that Mortech is now integrated with FreeRateUpdate.com, a mortgage rate marketplace that showcases available mortgage offers from industry leading lenders in your preferred location. With this new integration, the two solutions are looking to simplify the digital mortgage experience not only for lenders, but homebuyers too.

FreeRateUpdate.com is looking to save borrowers time during the stressful mortgage process by providing them with an easy to use platform where they can compare rates among lenders based off their specific scenario. Whether it be looking for refinance options or for financing a new home purchase, FreeRateUpdate.com wants to help consumers connect with a qualified lender without the need to input personal information including; credit score or SSN, before getting started. FreeRateUpdate.com partners with hundreds of qualified lenders to give mortgage rate shoppers one convenient place to get multiple rate quotes. It makes rate comparison shopping easy! For additional information on FreeRateUpdate.com you can give their team a call at 888-99-LEADS or email them at sales@freerateupdate.com. 

Recently the long-term viability of LIBOR was undermined due to cases of rate manipulation, low volumes for underlying interbank transactions and the reluctance of panel banks to submit quotes used to calculate LIBOR. As a result, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee has now recommended SOFR as a replacement index for USD LIBOR-indexed contracts.

Let’s take a step back and dissect what this means for the industry, what these products are and what the future looks like. To start let’s talk about what LIBOR products are. LIBOR (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) is an interest rate set in London by major banks. It is an average interest rate (varying from a single day to a 12-month period) estimate of what major banks would be willing to lend to other banks.

At Mortech we pride ourselves in the great partnerships we have with various companies in the mortgage space. Whether it be an integration with a point of sale platform, loan origination system or mortgage offer marketplace - our ultimate goal with these partnerships is to bring simplicity and automation to our lender’s workflow so they can spend more time growing their business and creating lasting relationships with their customers.

One of these valued partnerships is with Credit Karma Home. Credit Karma Home, the mortgage division of Credit Karma, has created a platform to help guide their more than 100 million members through the complicated and frustrating process of purchasing or refinancing a home. By leveraging insights they have on their members, they are able to match them with financial products that make sense for their specific scenario. 

We are excited to announce that Mortech is now integrated with Ruuster, a homebuying management platform looking to empower thoughtful and ambitious homebuyers throughout their entire homebuying journey. With this new integration, the two solutions are looking to increase transparency into the homebuying process as well as simplify the digital mortgage experience not only for lenders, but homebuyers too.

Over the past several weeks lenders have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by tightening mortgage eligibility standards. Since mid-March, numerous lenders have stiffened the credit requirements such as increasing the minimum FICO credit score, increasing the debt-to-income ratio, and lowering the allowed percentage for loan-to-value. Lock-day restrictions have also been imposed for 45 days or greater. 

Lenders have also suspended various types of products such as Cash-Outs, HELOCs, Non-Conforming Jumbo Loans and Non-Conventional Portfolios, among other specialty programs.

As a lender, you have most likely been shifting your focus these past couple of months to borrowers looking to refinance their mortgage. The time is now though, especially moving into the month of June, to start thinking about your purchase leads again. Amid the current world state people are still looking to buy or sell homes and when the time comes for them to need financing, you want to make sure you are top of mind for these borrowers. 

Overall visits to for-sale listings rebounded in April, and was even slightly higher than April 2019. 

For-purchase mortgage applications are now up year-over-year, 54% higher than lows hit in April.