The mortgage business is ever evolving, with the great thinkers in the housing finance sector always trying to come up with a better mousetrap.

Most recently, at least four companies -- Finance of America, Longbridge Financial, One Reverse Mortgage and Reverse Mortgage Funding -- have rolled out proprietary home equity conversion mortgages to compete directly with reverse loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

In addition, Finance of America Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage have new, more favorable terms for locking down loan rates so they don’t climb beyond your limit before closing. Startup Remzy has a way to connect buyers with owners who don’t have their homes on the market yet. And HSH has new “decisioning” software that permits borrowers to easily compare the cost of low-down-payment FHA loans with similar conventional, privately insured mortgages.

Reverse mortgages, aka home equity conversion mortgages (HECM), allow homebuyers to withdraw 75 percent or so of the equity they have in their homes. There are no payments necessary until you move out for good or pass away. Then, lenders are repaid by selling the property on the open market.

Now, instead of being able to offer a single reverse mortgage product, lenders -- and their borrowers -- have choices.

The FHA HECM has some significant rules, such as limits on the amount or proceeds borrowers can withdraw, that the new entries seek to overcome. Each has different requirements, but provides more options for borrowers. For instance, all four of the new competitors offer borrowers access to up to $4 million of their homes’ equity, whereas the FHA loan limit is $679,650.

There are other differences, too. With its HomeSafe reverse product, Finance America allows borrowers to initially remove only 60 percent of their equity at closing. But they can take the remaining 40 percent in equal monthly payments over five years.

With most reverse mortgages, at least one of the borrowers must be at least 62 years old. But under Reverse Mortgage Funding’s Equity Edge loan, one borrower needs to be only 60 to qualify, and the company doesn’t charge an ordinarily expensive servicing fee to administer the loan.

HSH publishes mortgage and consumer loan information. Joining a complete suite of online calculators, HSH’s FHA calculator allows you to view the true cost of an FHA loan. Simply punch in some basic data -- interest rate, purchase price, down payment amount, fixed or adjustable rate, credit score etc. -- and the program will calculate all costs and compare them to those associated with a similar conventional loan.

Finance of America’s Lock and Live product ensures clients can lock in their quoted rate for a total of 90 days with a house address “to be determined.” While “lock-in” programs are not new, this version gives borrowers 60 days to shop for the house and then 30 more days to close on their loans.

The feature protects borrowers from paying a higher rate during periods when rates are rising. But should rates fall during the lock-in period, you can exercise a one-time “float down” option to grab the lower rate. You are protected either way.

A similar Lock and Shop option from United Wholesale Mortgage gives borrowers rate security for 60 or 90 days, their choice, and also protects them if rates should fall rather than rise.

Technology takes center stage with Remzy, a platform for agents to use with wannabe buyers who have spotted houses they like but that are not on the market. Remzy’s motto: Think outside the multiple listing service.

Once a potential residence is identified, the agent or the buyer starts the conversation by sending a “professional, yet personal” letter, via FedEx, to the owners telling them of your interest. When the owners receive the overnight package, they can enter a unique code online to view the offer’s details. If they accept or counter your offer, the conversation has begun, and further negotiations can proceed.

Finally, if you are tired of repeatedly losing houses to cash buyers, become one yourself. One outfit making that possible is FlyHomes, which operates in the Seattle area. When you are ready to bid on a house, you pay the company 5 percent of your bid and the company uses its credit lines to turn yours into an all-cash offer.

If yours is the winning bid, FlyHomes collects a 3 percent sales commission from the seller. It then sells the house to you whenever you obtain financing. And if that takes a while -- perhaps you still have to clean up your credit -- it will rent the house to you until you finally qualify.

At least two other startups, Ribbon and EasyKnock, offer similar programs. Ribbon charges buyers 1.95 percent of the purchase price, but the fee jumps to 2.95 for buyers who must rent their new homes until they find financing. Buyers can rent for up to a year.

The American Dream has become the American Pipe Dream for many wannabe homeowners. Here’s why.

One year ago, if the buyer of a $200,000 house borrowed 80 percent of that amount at 3.9 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would have been $755. Today, that same house would cost $218,600, a jump of 9.3 percent. And an 80 percent loan would have an interest rate of 4.6 percent, for a payment of $897 a month -- a 19 percent increase.

“That’s the crux of the affordability crisis today,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at housing data firm CoreLogic, who provided the above example. “That’s the exact same house. Nothing’s changed but the price and interest rate.”

And Nothaft believes it’s going to get worse before it gets better. He sees loan rates rising to 5.1 percent by the end of the year -- “their highest level in a decade” -- and house prices going up 6 percent year-over-year.

Some 67,000 jobs were created in the energy-efficiency field last year. That’s nearly half of the energy jobs created in 2017, according to the latest federal figures.

It brings the total workforce in the energy-efficiency sector to about 2.25 million, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy and Employment Report -- more than a third of the 6.5 million people employed in the entire energy sector.

The report also said that there are more total jobs in efficiency than the 1.9 million employed in the entire electric power generation and fuel sectors, combined. That includes all jobs relating to extraction, production and power generation relating to coal, oil, gas, renewables, nuclear and advanced/low-emission natural gas fuels.

One reason for the increase is the huge 75 percent jump in the construction of “net-zero” homes between 2016 and 2017, according to a new report from research and marketing firm Parks Associates. Net-zero houses use the same amount of energy that they produce -- or even less. Often, these places return power to the grid instead of taking it.

So far, nearly half of all net-zero houses have been built in California, which has set a goal of achieving statewide net-zero energy by 2020, just 18 short months from now. Other states have adopted similar top-down approaches to incentivize net-zero adoption, but low energy costs are a barrier to generating demand, said the Parks report.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking to buy an existing house that’s energy efficient, you could be on your own in finding one. While interest in energy savings is strong among resale buyers, only 40 percent of agents responding to a survey by the National Association of Realtors say their local multiple listing services have so-called “green” data fields.

Fifteen percent reported that their MLSs don’t carry such information, and a shocking 46 percent had no clue whether that information is published or not. At the same time, though, 40 percent said that listings certified as green spent neither more nor less time on the market.

Here are a few tidbits from the recent National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Las Vegas.

-- Forty percent of all house-hunters have been shopping for seven months or longer, all to no avail. “The market is so tight and there are so many multiple-bids,” said Rick Sharga of Carrington Mortgage Holdings in Irvine, California, “that (buyers) settle for what’s available.”

-- According to Brian Simmons of Ask a Lender, a site that connects borrowers with mortgage professionals in their area, some buyers are such introverts that they “dream, shop, apply and close online without ever speaking with a live person.”

-- In an era where technology is changing the way the real estate market works, David Mele of Homes.com said people “would be surprised how many agents aren’t very technology-savvy.”

-- There are more solutions to solving the down-payment issue than most realize, according to Rob Chrane of Down Payment Resource, an outfit that tracks some 2,500 assistance programs and helps buyers find them. “If it’s not free money,” he said of what’s available, “it’s the free use of money.”

A buyer who qualifies for assistance can typically receive $10,000 worth of help. But because one form of aid can often be layered atop another, Chrane said the amount could be substantially higher. In one case he knows of, a borrower qualified for six types of financial help.

What do housing and Beethoven have in common?

The great classical composer was the victim of music piracy -- unauthorized versions of his work being circulated. In today’s legal environment, music piracy is a form of copyright infringement -- and many housing properties throughout the country are the modern-day pirates.

Any time music is played in a common area -- for example, a community clubhouse, sales office, fitness center, condo lobby or high-rise elevator -- the property must have a license to use that music. Otherwise, it is breaking the law, which protects artists who own their music against unauthorized use.

We know this because an unnamed member of the National Association of Home Builders was hit recently with a cease-and-desist order for playing music in his apartment development without a license. The NAHB’s Multifamily Housing Council investigated on his behalf, and found the order to be legit, according to an association spokeswoman.

Indeed, the trade group was so concerned that it published a white paper called “Pay to Play?” that explains the issue and tells how to obtain a blanket license to avoid being held liable for copyright infringement. (The report can be downloaded at no charge by visiting nahb.org and searching for “music licensing.”)

Copyright owners have the right to prohibit others from publicly performing their songs. And they often do.

Remember Napster? The website allowed users to exchange music files over a common, free server without regard for copyright laws. But it was shut down after lawsuits by Metallica and Dr. Dre. Similar music platforms have been shut down under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which criminalizes “production and dissemination of technology, devices or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.”

But residential communities, whether run by their builders or associations of owners, either don’t know the law or choose to ignore it. They do so because digital media and the web make it so simple.

“Because music is available easily over the internet through services such as Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music, it is easy to assume that it can be played wherever and whenever one wants,” according to the NAHB report.

But no matter where the music comes from -- the internet, CDs or MP3 players -- it can’t be replayed publically without a license. Purchasing a recording only entitles the buyer to play it privately.

Even if the music is not performed for profit or is not available to nonresidents, the property is liable. If the property provides a stereo, TV or docking station in common areas for residents to play music on, the owner is liable. Even if the property hires a band for a live performance, the community might still need a license.

Of course, musicians don’t run around the country looking for scofflaws. Instead, they hire performance rights organizations, aka PROs, to act on their behalf. These outfits not only search for cases of infringement -- they work with “large networks of agents who patrol places where music is typically played,” the white paper reports -- but they also grant public performance licenses and collect annual royalties.

If a PRO suspects that a property is playing music without permission, it will usually send a letter demanding that the offender stop doing so or obtain a license. “But it won’t stop there,” the NAHB warns. So if a property receives such a missive, act quickly or face the possibility of some heavy fines.

“The PROs are persistent and have the resources to bring suit, but will usually drop a claim if and when the residential community obtains a license,” the white paper states. “In addition, the PROs don’t react well to stonewalling, so failure to respond at all ... can increase the adversarial nature of the communications and make it more complicated and expensive to resolve.”

Rather than wait to be caught, the NAHB says it’s a good idea to obtain a blanket license from each of the three major PROs: BMI, ASCAP and SESAC.

Another alternative is to work with a subscription-based service such as Mood Media, Cloud Cover Music and Pandora for Business. Companies like these offer large amounts of music -- for a fee.