Home Equity

Coordinating Home Equity Closings in Attorney States: Why a Centralized Partner Matters In last month’s blog, we explored the operational headaches that come with managing home equity closings in-house—and how a centralized partner like CSS can help lenders reduce friction, ensure consistency, and improve the borrower experience. This month, we’re taking that conversation one step […]

Why More Lenders Are Rethinking In-House Home Equity Closings For many regional banks and credit unions, the branch has long been the default location for home equity loan closings. It’s familiar, it’s local, and it seems cost-effective — at least on the surface. But more lenders are taking a closer look at what this model

Key Trends in Property Valuation and Lending — 2024 Recap and 2025 Outlook As we close out 2024 and look ahead to 2025, we’re taking a look back at some of the trends and developments that impacted our industry and how they will inform mortgage lending and property valuation in 2025 and beyond. Based on

Home Equity: A Lasting Asset in an Evolving Housing Market As we near the end of the year and approach 2025, the home equity landscape remains one of resilience. Despite the recent volatility in the housing market, rising interest rates, and a shifting economic landscape, homeowners continue to see significant equity in their homes. While

Selecting the Right AVM Isn’t Hard if You Know the Rules of the Road The use of Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) has increased among lenders over the past few years as an efficient and cost-effective tool for home equity lending. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), more than 75% of home equity loan and

Key Takeaways New Analysis Shows the Use of AVMs has Significantly Increased Among Home Equity Lenders Given record home equity that American homeowners have amassed due to historically high home price increases since the pandemic, there is a growing expectation that home equity lending will increase over the coming years. According to industry estimates, homeowners

Key Takeaways Our Analysis of 18K Home Equity Loans Across 20 Lenders We examined the home equity valuation products used for 18,000 loans originated by 20 of our lenders. We analyzed the data to compare their use of AVMs, hybrid valuations, drive-by appraisals, and full appraisals. Our team spent dozens of hours reviewing the data

610 Social Media Lender Votes: Mortgage Lending Trends from Industry Peers At CSS, we recognize the value of understanding the current landscape in the mortgage lending sector.Thanks to Austin Owens, our Senior National Account Representative, we’ve been able to gather valuable insights directly from lenders through LinkedIn polls. These polls may not be comprehensive surveys,

AVM Compliance for Home Equity Lenders Regulatory Background AVM Selection AVM Testing for Accuracy AVM Testing for Bias Summary In recent years, lenders have increased their use of AVMs in the home equity loan origination process. This makes sense as AVMs are a fast, cost-effective way to value a property. However, regulatory scrutiny of AVMs

CSS Talks With Seacoast Bank CSS provides Home Equity Valuation and Appraisal Management Services to Seacoast’s Consumer Lending division In this testimonial, we learn how the eVolv product helps Seacoast What is the eVolv Evaluation product? Non-appraiservalued product Interagencycompliant Comparable to a2055 appraisal 2-4 day turn time What benefits do you think the eVolv evaluation