Opendoor returns to homebuying

Phoenix - May 4th 

Raleigh Durham - May 11th 

The company is introducing “Sell Direct,” a contact-free way to sell instantly to Opendoor, and “Home Reserve,” a method to reserve and move into a new home while Opendoor tries to sell the old home. The tools launched Monday in Phoenix and will debut May 11 in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Wells Fargo joins Chase in halting HELOCs

JPMorgan Chase is no longer the only big bank that’s not offering new home equity lines of credit.

Wells Fargo announced Thursday evening that it is no longer accepting applications for new HELOCs.

According to Wells Fargo Spokesperson Tom Goyda, the change goes into effect today, May 1.

In a statement, Goyda said Wells Fargo is making the change due to “uncertainty” in the economy.

Fannie Mae already has 1 million mortgages in forbearance, but thinks that number may double

GSE discloses that 7% of its portfolio is currently in forbearance

Fannie Mae revealed Friday that more than 1 million of its borrowers (approximately 7% of the mortgages in its portfolio) are already in forbearance, but the GSE doesn’t expect that figure to stop growing any time soon.

In fact, the GSE said Friday that the number of borrowers in forbearance could double in the coming weeks.

“While we estimate that approximately 7% of loans in our single-family book have taken forbearance so far, our allowance in the quarter reflects uptake of 15%,” Fannie Mae Chief Financial Officer Celeste Brown said on a call with investors. “Uptake could be higher if economic conditions are worse than our forecast.”

That increase in forbearance drove the GSE’s profits down considerably in the first quarter. The GSE reported Friday that its net income was $461 million in the first quarter, down nearly $4 billion from its fourth quarter profit of $4.365 billion. In the first quarter of last year, Fannie Mae reported net income of $2.4 billion.

“The decrease in net income was due primarily to a shift from credit-related income to credit-related expense driven by the economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak,” the GSE said in its earnings release.