Can ChatGPT disrupt the mortgage industry?

The trendy artificial intelligence chatbot from Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI debuted in November and is the fastest-growing consumer application ever, according to a Reuters report. The free chatbot can answer queries at lightning speed, write extensive creative prompts, pass academic and professional exams and generate and repair computer codes. Mortgage lenders are notoriously slow to adopt new tech, with less than half of industry leaders in an Arizent survey last summer indicating they were actively engaging with AI and related machine learning solutions. While reasons for their apprehension vary, leaders in the field aren't counting out advancements like ChatGPT.

READ MORE: Can ChatGPT disrupt the mortgage industry?

Rocket's longtime CEO is leaving the company

Rocket Companies' longtime CEO Jay Farner has announced he will retire in June with a longtime veteran of the business lined up to succeed him on an interim basis. Rock Holdings Vice Chairman Bill Emerson, who has already replaced Farner on the board, will take the reins of the organization as CEO after Farner departs from the role in four months. Farner has been with the company for 27 years. The board will be searching among internal and external candidates for a permanent successor to Farner with the help of an unnamed executive recruiting firm. Analysts have speculated the move could be the precursor to a further management shakeup.

Home price growth keeps slowing, but new owners still pay more

Although several housing groups are reporting home-price growth flattening or falling this winter, new research also suggests that the drop-offs may be approaching bottom, leaving lingering affordability issues unresolved. Median housing costs in the fourth quarter of 2022 climbed up by 4% on an annual basis, with 90% of metropolitan areas seeing home-price growth, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median amount of a home purchase came out to $378,700, almost 5% lower than $398,500 in the third quarter when prices were up 8.6% from the same period the previous year. Despite the quarterly median price decline, affordable purchases became even more difficult to find, particularly for first-time buyers, NAR found.

The 2023 Top Producers survey ends Feb. 24. Submit your nomination here.

FHFA's Thompson: Taxpayers are stakeholders in FHLBs

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson said that taxpayers are "absolutely" stakeholders in Federal Home Loan Banks, an issue that's increasingly of interest to policy watchers as revelations about the ways that crypto banks have used the FHLBs to offset plummeting deposits. The issue of how much government support FHLBs receive is a tricky topic, especially as the banks receive more scrutiny from the FHFA. Thompson, speaking Friday at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution, noted that they benefit from their close relationship with the government. The Federal Home Loan Bank council, meanwhile, says that the banks receive no taxpayer support.?

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