It’s well known that home price increases in the Washington, D.C., Metro area have made it difficult to acquire affordable housing in and around the nation’s capitol.

It’s too early to speculate on whether price appreciation will remain a trend heading into 2016—with the market already facing an interest rate hike from the Fed and economic uncertainty.

Franklin American Mortgage Co. agreed to pay the U.S. government $70 million this past week to resolve allegations that the lender originated loans which failed to meet Federal Housing Administration guidelines.

WFG National Title Insurance Co., recently appointed Morton “Mo” Manassaram as senior vice president and regional manager for the agency’s Florida operations.

New single-family home sales experienced continued growth in November, with the number of new home sales increasing on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday.

Fannie Mae has unleashed a new tool that will help servicers analyze additional borrower information to determine more quickly whether or not a distressed homeowner qualifies for a Fannie Mae loan modification.

As the mortgage lending industry moves into the future, the next clear step for most lenders is to fully embrace next-gen tech solutions that will allow borrowers to complete their loan originations completely online.

Prior to these additions, the data available to investors remained limited to loan level data and loss data on 30-year, fixed-rate single-family loans.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard warned against visceral reactions, such as pushes in the marketplace for an increase in interest rates, given the economy’s fragile growth, while speaking at the 57th National Association for Business Economics Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Commentary is an ongoing series on theMReport.com that focuses on opinions, ideas, and insights from experts across mortgage banking. In this blog post, Kerri Panchuk, executive director, Membership Groups at The Five Star Institute discusses how all firms in the mortgage finance space–from lenders, servicers, title companies and appraisers–are officially ‘on notice’, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issuing a bulletin Thursday, providing guidance on what constitutes a mortgage kickback or referral fee when setting up marketing services agreements.