TBA Settlement, Non-Agency, Due Diligence, AI, Warehouse Tools; How Old is Your House?

“What do you call an aging actor who has finally paid off his house? Mortgage freeman.” Servicing is a highly important component of that, and I was fortunate to attend Sagent Ignite in Phoenix yesterday; we have a special live podcast today that was recorded from the event. Mortgagees follow demographics, whether it be aging owners or aging houses. Lenders know that there are plenty of old homeowners who have plenty of equity. GreenPath Financial Wellness (a nonprofit approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -HUD - and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling) reviewed data from its reverse mortgage counseling clients over the past two years. It found that more older homeowners are turning to home equity to close widening monthly budget gaps. Meanwhile, our housing stock isn’t getting any younger. The median home in the United States is at a record 44 years old, as new unit construction is still well shy of what it had been in the past. One ramification of this is that it’s getting more expensive to maintain those homes. The average homeowner in the United States spent $9,030 on replacement projects in 2023, up 59 percent from 2009. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by FirstClose, which provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. Their home equity lending platform accelerates the home equity lending process, reducing application to closing times from 45 days to less than ten. Today we have an interview with Chris Marshall of Sagent at its 2026 Ignite Conference, as well as Scott Rodeman (Evergreen Home Loans), Chris Wittrig (Land Home), and Jane Roethler (Idaho Housing and Finance Association) on the latest and greatest in servicing technology.)