Homespire Mortgage has announced the continued expansion of its operations with five new branches on the eastern seaboard. The five new branches are located in Atlanta, led by Ryan Jacobs; Clayton, North Carolina led by Kea Blevins; West Warwick, Rhode Island led by Dinorah Hernandez; Newport News, Virginia, led by Roberta Lane; and Washington, D.C., led by Valentina Wilber.
Blend has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Title365, a provider of title, escrow and settlement services, from Mr. Cooper for approximately $422 million. Blend will integrate new capabilities from Title365, including its closing and settlement experience and a marketplace of title agencies, including TitleVest. Title365’s services will be integrated with Blend’s cloud-based platform. Title 365 President Kristen Estrella will continue to lead the Title 365 team across its U.S. and India offices after the acquisition closes. Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to finalize in the second quarter this year.
Sprout Mortgage announced further simplifications to its Premier Jumbo Full Doc program, with its new Automated Underwriting System Express (AUS Express) feature going live on March 18. Available for jumbo residential applications begun any time in March, AUS Express will provide a streamlined documentation approach by eliminating “tedious and unnecessary Appendix Q documentation.” This means that, for Desktop Underwriter (DU) recommendations marked “Approved/Ineligible” because of loan amounts above agency limits, AUS Express can approve financing with employment an dincome documentation that followed guidelines from Fannie Mae along with Sprout’s loan-to-value, reserve and appraisal requirements.
Angel Oak Home Loans has opened its newest location in Reno, Nevada, and announced that three additional branches are expected to open soon. The new branches are located in Houston; Carson City, Nevada; and Natchez, Mississippi. The firm now operates 35 retail offices across the country, with plans to open branches in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington later this year.
Gateway Mortgage has announced the opening of a new mortgage center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, located in the Shoppes on Peoria at 1717 North Peoria. The mortgage center will be managed by Tina Johnson, mortgage sales manager.
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has officially launched its new Prime Jumbo product, offering “competitive rates, simplified guidelines and [giving] brokers the ability to run DU for approved eligibility and fast closing on loans up to $2M with an LTV up to 89.99%.” The new product is available on purchases, rate/term refinances, and cash out as well as on primary, secondary residences and investment properties. UWM previously offered two jumbo products — High Balance Nationwide and Jumbo Bank Buster — but removed both from rate sheets in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WFG National Title Insurance Company’s Default Title Services division has expanded its offerings to include forbearance, loan modification and foreclosure information reports on a nationwide basis. These expanded offerings complement the organization’s existing roster of comprehensive, national title and closing services offered by the company’s Enterprise Solutions group.
Lev has announced the opening of its second office, led by Greg Goldstein. Goldstein joins the firm from JLL to start Lev’s Los Angeles location as the company continues to expand its product offerings and geographic footprint.
Black Knight has acquired a cloud-based loan origination system (LOS) from NexSpring Financial to broaden its ability to serve mortgage brokers. Black Knight will integrate the broker-specific platform into its own Empower LOS ecosystem. Via a press release, Black Knight touted the newly acquired LOS as “highly configurable and allows for rapid deployment of new business rules into production in a highly transparent and controlled way. Users can also leverage proprietary content management system-enabled marketing tools, which can be accessed via a drag-and-drop lead form generator with embedded analytics.”
PollyEx, Inc., has announced today an extensive rebranding effort in response to accelerated company growth and evolution of its products and services. Effective immediately, the company will begin doing business as “Polly” for marketing and branding purposes. In addition, a newly redesigned company logo has been revealed and a new website launched at www.polly.io, which prominently features the company’s focus on expanding its products and services beyond its loan trading exchange (the “Ex” in PollyEx) and its vision for the future of mortgage capital markets.
