Optimal Blue has begun a strategic alliance with Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) in which Cotality will offer Optimal Blue’s data to a broader audience, including hedge funds, capital markets participants and investment firms seeking insights into the mortgage markets.
Optimal Blue sources mortgage rate lock data directly from its product, pricing and eligibility engine, which is used to lock more than 33% of U.S. mortgages. The combination will allow Cotality’s clients to gain access to mortgage origination and pricing data alongside its extensive suite of real estate data and analytics solutions.
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) has announced a new partnership with The Appraisal Foundation, a leading authority on the valuation profession, responsible for assisting with standards and qualifications for real estate and personal property appraisers. The partnership marks a historic milestone, as NAMB becomes the first mortgage-related association to join the foundation’s Partner Program. As a partner, NAMB will work closely with The Appraisal Foundation to help promote and uphold the public’s trust in the appraisal profession.
Next Level Education, a provider of continuing education and training for the mortgage industry, has launched a new website. Next Level focuses on empowering mortgage professionals and advancing home ownership throughout the industry. The company empowers mortgage professionals through innovative education and industry-leading expertise. It leverages an advanced Learning Management System from Adobe, along with the full suite of Adobe tools, to deliver a more engaging and personalized learning experience.
Cornerstone Capital Bank, a national provider of residential mortgage finance and loan servicing solutions and consumer, commercial and institutional banking services, has launched two joint venture companies: Twin Tree Mortgage in Texas and Liberty Ridge Lending in North Carolina. With the addition of the two companies, Cornerstone has now formed and managed joint venture mortgage companies for 15 home builders nationwide.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has announced seven projects to be awarded $4.7 million for the construction or rehabilitation of mixed-used developments. The funding was raised through the sale of tax credits under the Mixed-Use Development Tax Credit Program, the proceeds of which are being used to fund the work of the Community Revitalization Fund Program.
Northwind Group, a Manhattan-based real estate private equity firm and debt fund manager, has announced the origination of a $90 million senior first-mortgage loan for the acquisition and predevelopment of 675 Third Avenue, a 32-story Class A office building slated for conversion into approximately 430 multifamily rental units, a direct response to New York City’s increasing housing demand.
The loan aligns with the firm’s strategic focus on delivering financing solutions to investors and premier projects within New York City and other major gateway markets nationwide. The Northwind Group has closed on approximately $300 million in new originations within the first quarter of 2025 alone, following a strong 2024 performance that saw more than $1.1 billion in loan originations across Northwind’s credit platform.
One United Bank, a leading community development financial institution and the nation’s largest Black-owned bank, is joining forces with the credit-building platform Esusu to increase homeownership for renters. By reporting on-time rental payments, this alliance simplifies credit building, paving the way for homeownership and delivering essential financial literacy tools and AI technology to help close the wealth gap.
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., a leader in the reverse mortgage industry, has introduced hybrid e-closings for home equity conversion mortgage borrowers. Leveraging its experience in forward mortgage e-closings, Fairway now enables conversion mortgage borrowers to e-sign most loan documents before closing, making the process more efficient and convenient.
Kind Lending is partnering with the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts, a trade organization supporting mortgage brokers in the wholesale lending channel, to bring brokers innovative technology, expert support and exclusive benefits. Brokers will have access to the award-winning Kwikie Broker Portal for fast submission, automated underwriting and customizable loan products designed for today’s market. The partnership will also include weekly training sessions and unique programs that are designed to give brokers the tools they need to succeed.
A joint venture between an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group and an affiliate of Land Strategies Management (DBA Starwood Land) has announced the acquisition of an $800 million portfolio of master-planned communities in Texas from Hines, a global real estate investment manager. The acquisition includes 11 communities that are in advanced stages of development, with more than 16,000 remaining residential lots and over 600 acres of commercial land, across three of the 10 largest U.S. new home markets: Dallas, Houston and Austin. The communities are all located in high-growth submarkets with established track records of strong homebuilder activity.
RiskExec, Inc., a leading compliance reporting and analytics platform, is offering the preliminary modified loan application register (LAR) for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) 2024 submission data. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published this data on March 31, 2025, and RiskExec downloaded, converted and verified the information before uploading it for customer use within 24 hours of the CFPB release. This year’s data includes more than 12.1 million records from 4,898 respondents. In 2024, there were approximately 6.15 million originations, compared to 5.7 million in the 2023 HMDA Peer.
Fathom Holdings Inc., a technology-driven real estate services platform, has announced the launch of its Elevate program for Fathom Realty. Elevate is designed to help real estate agents significantly scale their businesses through comprehensive marketing, lead generation, transaction support, coaching and recruiting assistance. Elevate builds upon Fathom’s signature agent-centric commission models and delivers a new level of concierge service at a competitive rate.
Dominion Financial has launched two new artificial-intelligence assistants: Harvey, designed to support real estate investors, and Donna, built for mortgage brokers. These AI-powered platforms are now live at DominionFinancial Services.com and DominionFinancialWholesale.com, giving users instant access to answers, loan information and program support.
The National Cooperative Bank, a financial services company dedicated to providing banking products to cooperatives and socially responsible organizations nationwide, announced that last year it committed $558 million to initiatives serving low- and moderate-income communities and new cooperative developments during 2024. The bank’s initiatives included direct lending and investments worth $342.7 million for affordable housing initiatives and mortgage loans nationwide and $81.2 million to finance commercial and community solar projects.
Union Home Mortgage, an independent mortgage banking company, has announced it has been named a 2025 Top Workplace by USA Today for the fifth year in a row. The Top Workplaces program, issued by Energage, has surveyed more than 20 million employees across the U.S. in the past 15 years, recognizing the top organizations with 150 or more employees across 60 markets. More than 42,000 organizations were invited to participate in this survey, with winning organizations chosen solely by employee feedback collected through the survey.
