Home Equity

The New AVM Compliance 2025 Rule is Here – Are You Ready? The AVM Quality Control Rule took effect on October 1, 2025, requiring lenders to document, test, and monitor how they use Automated Valuation Models (AVMs). The goal: ensure valuations are accurate, unbiased, and well-controlled. Many lenders still aren’t ready, but compliance is now […]

The Four Home Equity Valuation Tools and When to Use Them In this Guide to Understanding Home Equity Valuation Tools, lenders will learn about the four key home equity valuation options—AVM + Property Condition Report, Evaluation, Hybrid Appraisal, and Full Appraisal—and how each can help reduce home equity loan turn times. Every home equity loan

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,