The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas in partnership with  member financial institutions has awarded $14 million in Affordable Housing Program grants to 29 projects in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas, which will result in the creation or rehabilitation of 1,853 housing units.

FHLB Dallas annually returns 10 percent of its profits in the form of AHP grants to the communities served by its member institutions. AHP funding is utilized for a variety of projects, including home rehabilitation and modifications for low-income, elderly and special-needs residents; down payment and closing-cost assistance for qualified first-time homebuyers; and the construction of low-income, multifamily rental communities and single-family homes.

“FHLB Dallas’ AHP provides millions of dollars for housing in our District, which our member institutions use to develop and support their communities,” said FHLB Dallas President and CEO Sanjay Bhasin. “It is our privilege to provide a program through which our members can positively impact their communities.”

Fires in California Place $18B of Houses at Risk

Houses with a reconstruction cost value of $18 billion, or 48, 390 homes, face high or extreme risk of wildfire damage from the Camp and Woolsey fires in Northern and Southern California, according to a CoreLogic analysis. While other hazards may cause partial destruction but rarely eliminate an entire property, wildfire events are more likely to cause total loss to structures affected.

Also, not all structures within a fire perimeter will suffer damage or be destroyed by the fire. Once the wildfires are contained, CoreLogic will assess the damage and provide a post-catastrophe loss estimate for the affected areas.

NRL Mortgage has deployed Riivos Mortgage Lending's forecasting, planning and reporting application to help them analyze and capitalize on growth opportunities. NRL Mortgage is majority owned by St. Christopher's Holdings LLC, a privately owned holding company based in Houston.

The technology integrates key, disparate mortgage lending data and systems, LOS, payroll, hedging execution systems and others, to provide executives and their teams transparency into the financial effects of changing market conditions and business decisions.

"We are expecting a challenging environment over the next few years and need a financial budgeting, reporting and forecasting solution that can help us continue to maximize profitability," said Joe DeDominicis, chief financial officer at NRL Mortgage. "The Riivos team serves as a trusted advisor to independent mortgage banks and banks, so they delivered a solution that is customized to our operation and reduces our dependence on manual, Excel-based planning."

The technology is designed to help executives and their teams drive accountability and improve performance across the entire mortgage origination value chain, delivering more basis points to the bottom line. And Riivos mortgage applications calculate and track key metrics—such as gain on sale, including valuation of IRLCs and loans held for sale—so teams have up-to-the-minute data on where they stand relative to financial and operational goals.

"For mortgage originators interested in driving more money to the bottom line, the first step is to put the right planning and forecasting system in place," said Michael McFadden, Group Head of Riivos Mortgage. "The next is creating a feedback loop and culture of accountability so employees begin feeling and acting like owners."

A home-buying platform is targeting technology-loving millennials since most start the search for a home online.

Consumers aged 36 and younger represent the biggest share of homebuyers and made up 34% of all purchases last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. As they continue to buy homes, Millennials will expect digital technology to support their house hunting efforts and decision making, especially since 99% of Millennials start their house hunt online, according to Greendoor.

"The market is becoming a buyer's market. However, from our research, we've found minimal tech tools that serve the needs of today's buyer, especially the Millennial demographic that is starting to drive much of the economy," said Bill Lyons, co-founder and chairman of Greendoor.

Greendoor will offer these kinds of homebuyers the capability to search for houses, based on the monthly payment they can afford, and the characteristics of most importance to them. The platform assumes a five percent down payment and uses an estimated interest rate to calculate the homebuyer's monthly payment including principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Or Millennials can also adjust these settings based on their own financing and the amount for which they have been pre-approved

"Also, Greendoor will offer a rebate equal to the buyer's first month's mortgage payment when they get pre-approved by Greendoor's preferred lender and choose Greendoor to represent them in the transaction," said Lyons. The company is available now to San Diego homebuyers with expansion plans already in the works.

BlackKnight has acquired Ernst Publishing Co., which provides fee results for loan estimates and closing disclosures and fee-engine technology. Users of Ernst's platform include 9 of the top-10 mortgage servicers, all 5 of the top title underwriters, and 9 of the 10 largest banks, according to the company.

Black Knight plans to integrate Ernst's capabilities into its origination solutions, but also to companies who do not use the Black Knight Empower loan origination system; it will continue to work with Ernst's current  partners and clients. Ernst programs processed 250 million real estate transactions in 2017, making it one of the most used technology in the industry.

Black Knight will augment its existing fee engine with Ernst's capabilities, including recording fees, transfer taxes, inspection fees, property taxes and title premium fees to create a unified access point for all fee-related needs. This comprehensive fee suite will integrate with Black Knight's Origination Solutions suite, which includes loan-origination software, regulatory compliance and eClosing capabilities, enhanced by artificial-intelligence technology.

Since the company was founded 29 years ago, Ernst has processed well over 1 billion transactions and unveiled dozens of technologies and products that produce efficiency across the real estate industry. The firm estimates that its technology is in use for 90% of the nation’s new loan originations and refinance transactions.

"Without a doubt, Ernst is the leading provider of fee and tax data in the industry," said Rich Gagliano, president of the origination technologies division of Black Knight. "By tightly integrating this technology and data into our origination product suite, we are able to better serve our existing clients. This is another step forward in our mission to provide a truly end-to-end origination solution, which will be unparalleled in the industry."

"Ernst and Black Knight share very similar goals--to create innovative solutions that transform the industry, support regulatory and compliance requirements, and create a better borrower experience," said Greg Teal, chief executive officer of Ernst.