Shareholder Edge One Capital proposes Fannie-Freddie exit without higher rates

Edge One Capital has disclosed its stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, calling the government’s prolonged control of the mortgage giants the “largest shareholder rights violation in U.S. history.” It’s also proposing a road map to return them to private ownership without the consequence of higher m

Fannie Mae survey suggests lenders eye eNote growth in 2025

Fannie Mae on Thursday published the results of its latest Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey. The report details lender experiences with eMortgage technology, including challenges to date, adoption plans and business priorities for 2025. The survey found that while most lenders (75%) are familiar wit

Closinglock adds two-way text messaging for title insurance

Closinglock has introduced a two-way text messaging tool for the title insurance industry, allowing closing professionals to send and receive SMS messages with clients and partners from within the company’s platform. The feature allows real-time communication with buyers, sellers, lenders and agents

CATIC approves AI-powered title search platform for North Carolina

Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company (CATIC) has approved Dono’s automated title search system for use by attorneys in North Carolina, the companies announced Thursday. The decision provides hold harmless protection against errors or claims when attorneys use the platform — a first for arti

Cenlar’s Leslie Peeler addresses ‘disruptive AI’ solutions in mortgage servicing

Artificial intelligence may be known for its speed, but in mortgage servicing, the real opportunity is in reshaping decades-long relationships with homeowners, according to Leslie Peeler, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Cenlar FSB. Speaking at HousingWire’s AI Summit on Tuesd

Top-producing southern California agent joins eXp Realty

eXp Realty has added veteran Southern California real estate agent Vivian Lesny to its network, the company announced Thursday. Lesny — who has worked in real estate for more than 20 years — surpassed $70 million in sales in 2024 and has closed as many as 88 transactions in a single year. She has co

Mortgage rates drop to another new low for 2025

Mortgage rates reached a new 2025 low today, despite core inflation running at 3.1% year over year, according to the CPI report this week. The softening labor data and improved mortgage spreads currently overshadow any concerns about inflation. If the jobs data were exceeding estimates, the situatio

simpliHŌM founder Miku talks commission splits, goal to go public

On this week’s RealTrending, Tracey Velt interviews Sean Miku — founder and CEO of simpliHŌM — a tech-focused brokerage launched in 2018. Miku outlines the firm’s 85/15 commission split, free transaction management and its goal to go public by 2028, while sharing perspectives on today’s real estate

New Western president speaks on PadSplit partnership

New Western and PadSplit have entered a partnership aimed at increasing affordable co-living housing, effective last week. New Western cofounder and President Kurt Carlton told HousingWire the collaboration will allow investors to access PadSplit’s model for converting single-family homes into share

OneTrust challenges mortgage coaching neutrality in suit over trade secrets

OneTrust Home Loans filed a lawsuit this week challenging the long-promoted neutrality of mortgage coaching programs, alleging the services were used by a rival to gain a competitive edge. The California-based lender is suing former loan officer Broch Lassig, mortgage coach Richard Ruby, and Ruby’s

eXp Realty’s Sumanth Kamath on AI and digital twins

Sumanth Kamath — chief technology officer at eXp Realty — took the stage Tuesday in Dallas at HousingWire’s AI Summit to share how his company is using artificial intelligence (AI) to drive efficiency, empower employees and scale operations. In a conversation with HousingWire Senior Director of Data

Social Security COLA could rise to 2.7% in 2026

The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits could rise to 2.7% in 2026, up from this year’s 2.5%, according to estimates from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The COLA is based on the average Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) for July, A

Mesa, a membership platform for homeowners, announces $24M funding round

Mesa, a membership platform built for homeowners, announced on Wednesday a funding round of $24 million in debt and equity from partners in the housing, lending and home improvement space, bringing its total raised to over $33 million to date. Lowe’s and Paramount Residential Mortgage Group (PRMG) p

Qualia announces personalization upgrades to Qualia Connect

Real estate closing platform Qualia would like to reintroduce the industry to its product Qualia Connect, which is now a branded multi-channel communications platform for personalized real estate closings and no longer just a document portal. The company says that this evolution enables title and es

Bank of America, PNC share top spot in Keynova’s Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard

Keynova Group announced on Wednesday the results of its 2025 Mortgage-Home Equity Scorecard, a consumer experience benchmark that evaluates the top 12 U.S.-based mortgage and home equity lenders. Bank of America and PNC tied for first place in the annual Scorecard. The Scorecard, syndicated since 20

At AI Summit, Better, NEO execs discuss how partnership is driving productivity

Earlier this year, NEO Home Loans and Better Mortgage announced a partnership that combined Better’s AI-driven technology with NEO’s distributed retail expertise. The ultimate goal? To transform mortgage lending and find the balance of AI and human interaction in the loan process. During Better’s ea

Did lower mortgage rates already lower housing inventory?

Housing inventory growth has been slowing down since the last two weeks of June, as mortgage rates have been trending lower. However, last week we saw an actual decline week to week, which is rare for this time of year compared to recent years.  What does this mean? Has active inventory peaked? Our

Trump seems to confirm 2025 timing for Fannie, Freddie IPO

On Saturday, President Donald Trump seemed to acknowledge reporting by The Wall Street Journal on Friday that he plans to IPO Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the end of this year. Trump posted an AI image on Truth Social of him at the New York Stock Exchange with the words: MAGA LISTED NYSE and The Gr

Appeals court throws curve ball in potential class-action suit against Unison

The line between reverse mortgages and home equity sharing products got a little blurrier on Thursday when a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel reversed a lower court’s dismissal order in a proposed class-action suit against Unison. The opinion found that the plaintiffs suing Unison have shown tha

Tech Pulse: ICE integrates with Freddie Mac, AI Summit welcomes experts

Welcome back to Tech Pulse — HousingWire‘s weekly series rounding up the latest in technology news, including tools, integrations and trends that impact mortgage and real estate. Here’s what happened this week: ICE integrates Mortgage Analyzer with Freddie Mac’s borrower verification tool ICE Mortga