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Remax resets mortgage strategy under new division leader
In the time since Vic Lombardo became president of mortgage services at Remax Holdings over two months ago, the company has "taken a new view of the mortgage opportunity," Eric Carlson, CEO, said in the third quarter earnings call.Among the units under Lombardo's purview are Motto Mortgage, which offers mortgage broker franchises, and Wemlo, which handles loan processing. He took the job following the retirement of Ward Morrison."In Vic's first 2 months, he's rolled [up] the sleeves, dug into the operations, surfacing a number of innovative ideas to drive growth and add additional revenue streams and increase the operational efficiency," Carlson said. "We're already putting foundational pieces in place."He promised to share more details on Remax's mortgage strategy in February."There's opportunities there to do a little bit about what we've done in real estate, quite honestly, and change the model to be a little bit less fixed and more variable," Carlson said later in the call. "We've got to be in a position to help our network and our LOs really find business and capitalize on business, which not only helps the profitability of their business, but the value of owning a Motto franchise and our value proposition, quite frankly."Adjusted EBITDA for the mortgage segment, a non-GAAP measurement, was a loss of $1.3 million, compared with a $1.52 million loss in the second quarter and a loss of $1.12 million one year previous.The total number of open Motto offices fell to 210 from 219 at the end of the second quarter.Revenue at the parent company (minus marketing fees) fell by 5.5%, to $165.2 million.Remax's year-over-year change in organic revenue included lower mortgage segment revenue and franchise sales.Total mortgage revenue of $3.39 million included continuing franchise fees of $2.47 million and franchise sales and other revenue of $914,000. This compared with $3.74 million for the third quarter of 2024, with $2.67 million of continuing franchise fees and $1.07 million from franchise sales and other revenue.For the quarter, Remax Holdings had net income attributable to the company of just under $4 million, compared with $4.7 million in the second quarter and approximately $1 million for the third quarter of 2024.
Fed 'chorus' comes out against latest rate cut, citing inflation
Three Federal Reserve officials said they did not support the US central bank's decision to cut interest rates this week, citing inflation that remains too high.Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and her Cleveland counterpart, Beth Hammack, said Friday they would have preferred to hold rates steady. Both were speaking at a conference in Dallas, following a statement earlier in the day from Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid outlining the reasons for his dissent against Wednesday's rate cut.READ MORE: Mortgage rates tick down following Fed's cutThe remarks from Logan, Hammack and Schmid were the first salvo in what is likely to be an intense debate over the next six weeks before the central bank's next policy meeting in December, between officials who see a need for more easing to support the labor market and those who are more concerned about inflation."I'd find it difficult to cut rates again in December unless there is clear evidence that inflation will fall faster than expected or that the labor market will cool more rapidly," Logan said in remarks prepared for a speech at the conference.Fed officials cut their benchmark rate this week by a quarter percentage point for a second month in a row after a sharp slowdown in hiring over the summer raised concerns about the labor market. Chair Jerome Powell, speaking to reporters Wednesday after the decision, said another cut in December was "not a forgone conclusion," noting a "growing chorus" felt it might be time to pause.That led to a sharp adjustment in the bond market, where investors had been pricing in near certainty of another quarter-point cut in December.READ MORE: Fed's rate cut trajectory unclear as dueling dissents emergeWhile Logan and Hammack don't vote on monetary policy this year, they participate in Federal Open Market Committee discussions and will rotate onto the voting panel in 2026. Two Fed officials voted against the decision at this month's meeting, with Schmid preferring to hold rates steady and Governor Stephen Miran dissenting for a second straight meeting in favor of a larger, half-point cut."By my assessment, the labor market is largely in balance, the economy shows continued momentum, and inflation remains too high," Schmid said in his statement.Neutral RatePart of the debate among officials involves differing assessments of the so-called neutral rate, the theoretical level of interest rates which would neither stimulate nor restrain economic growth.Wednesday's rate cut brought the target range for the benchmark rate to 3.75% to 4%. Projections published in September showed the committee's estimates of the neutral rate ranged from a bit above 2.5% to a bit below 4%.Hammack, during a panel discussion at the Dallas conference with Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, said she believes Wednesday's rate cut brings the Fed's benchmark to "right around" her own estimate of the neutral rate."I do think we need to maintain some amount of restriction to help get inflation back down to target," Hammack said. Bostic, on the other hand, said he "eventually got behind" the decision to cut rates because he believes monetary policy is still "in restrictive territory," even after the reduction.Powell on Wednesday said his own assessment was that policy is still "modestly restrictive," though he acknowledged that rates are now in the range where "many estimates of the neutral rate live, in that 3 to 4% area.""Now, we're 150 basis points closer to neutral — wherever that may be — than we were a year ago," Powell said. "And so there's a growing chorus now of feeling like maybe this is where we should at least wait a cycle" before considering another rate cut, he said.Balance SheetThe Fed on Wednesday also announced it would stop its three-year effort to reduce the size of its balance sheet on Dec. 1, following elevated short-term interest rates in money markets over the last several weeks.Logan, who spent the bulk of her career before joining the Dallas Fed on the central bank's markets desk in New York, said she supported that decision, adding that it should help mitigate funding pressures.While the Fed said it will continue unwinding its portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, reinvesting the proceeds into Treasury bills, it stopped short of announcing additional liquidity measures to help ease funding costs."Once runoff ends, the Fed can further reduce reserve supply by holding assets constant for a time and allowing decreases in reserves to offset trend growth in other liabilities such as currency," Logan said."But if the recent rise in repo rates turns out not to be temporary, the Fed in my view would need to begin buying assets to keep reserves from falling further and maintain an ample supply of reserves."
Carrington inks deal to acquire Reliance First Capital
The mortgage industry is seeing another merger-and-acquisition deal, with Carrington Holding Co. adding a new channel to its mix through its purchase of a suburban New York-based residential lender.The owner of several businesses providing services to the real estate and mortgage industries, Carrington announced an agreement to acquire Reliance First Capital from its parent holding company Tiptree Inc. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. "Together with our existing retail recapture, wholesale and correspondent businesses, our agreement to acquire Reliance First Capital looks to add a direct-to-consumer channel, making our mortgage platform more balanced, more competitive and more resilient," The Carrington Cos. CEO Andrew Taffet said in a press release. The announcement came on the same day publicly traded Tiptree issued its most recent quarterly earnings. The holding company of several small and middle market financial firms reported it agreed to the sale of Reliance for 93.5% of tangible book value at time of closing, or $51 million of estimated gross proceeds as of Sept. 30. Piper Sandler served as exclusive financial advisor to Reliance during the acquisition.In addition to complementing the mortgage lending services it already offers, the upcoming merger with Reliance adds another line of business to Carrington's suite of companies. Outside of home lending, the company operates a servicing platform, a capital management firm and real estate sales and closing solutions through its Vylla brand. "Our agreement with Tiptree to incorporate the employees and capabilities of Reliance First Capital into our family of companies is much more than an acquisition," Taffet added. "It's an important investment in the future of The Carrington Companies."What Reliance brings to CarringtonWhile Carrington's retail lending currently focuses on the recapture of existing servicing customers, Reliance's direct-to-consumer strengths will help bring a new pipeline of customers, a company spokesperson said. Headquartered in Melville, New York, Reliance serves borrowers across the country, with a headcount of 315 employees and six call centers. The lender produces approximately $1 billion in volume annually, with a servicing book of more than 16,000 customers and $3 billion in unpaid balance, which will move onto Carrington's platform. "Carrington's broad mix of businesses will help us to continue to grow and execute our mission to help homeowners and prospective homeowners receive the right mortgage for their personal financial goals." Reliance First Capital President and CEO Hugh Miller also noted.In addition to new originations potential, Carrington credited Reliance's resilience through market cycles and proprietary loan-origination system and other technologies behind its purchase, which will place it in a strong position for servicing recapture opportunities. An active M&A yearThe latest merger comes in what has turned into an active year for mortgage M&A, with servicing recapture a prominent theme behind the biggest transactions. Rocket's purchase of Mr. Cooper spotlighted the value servicing portfolios serve as a pipeline for new origination activity, leading to strategy pivots from many of the newly combined mortgage giant's lending and technology competitors. Since the Rocket-Mr. Cooper announcement, the industry has also seen a major lender-servicer deal involving Guild Mortgage and Bayview Asset Management. The new Carrington acquisition is the second M&A agreement announced this week, following the sale of loan technology platform Mortgage Cadence to software enterprise Partnerone.
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