What We're Hearing
Ted Cornwell | Jun 17
The National Security Agency spying scandal, sparked by news that the NSA has been monitoring phone and e-mail records of millions of Americans, could spill over into the mortgage industry.
Angela Hurst | Jun 14
The prevalence of short sales is likely the most significant factor impacting foreclosure rate improvements and the housing recovery.
Scott Stucky | Jun 14
For the most part, qualified mortgage/Ability-to-Repay guidelines should provide a level of compliance certainty. But are they still too severe?
Tom Healy | Jun 14
Regulators, creditors, accountants and shareholders all have increased focus on this asset. Basel III implementation may further exacerbate this.
What We're Hearing
John McDermott | Jun 13
Homeowners are “under paper” and unable to close on a home sale or refi transaction because a mortgage satisfaction has never been recorded in the public records.
What We're Hearing
Bonnie Sinnock | Jun 11
The massive waves of 2005-2007 residential mortgage-backed securities downgrades have finally calmed down a bit, thanks largely to housing improvement.
What We're Hearing
Ted Cornwell | Jun 10
Recent publicity surrounding high-profile convictions involving foreclosure rescue scams may be obscuring some good news: the prevalence of this type of fraud seems to be waning.
Roger Fendelman | Jun 10
Each subsequent compliance conference is sporting record attendance by folks that are concerned—scared—about the pending changes to the mortgage lending landscape.
What We're Hearing
Brian Collins and Mark Fogarty | Jun 07
We're hearing that lenders are only going to make qualified mortgages that meet the ability-to-repay underwriting standards mandated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Steve Wiser | Jun 07
In today’s competitive environment, efficiency is everything. In short, the days of paper-based processes are quickly coming to an end.
What We're Hearing
Bonnie Sinnock | Jun 04
We're hearing that two key themes in a white paper by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission earlier this year—the future of the insurance role in the private-label mortgage-backed securities market and how that might be tied to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are gaining momentum.
What We're Hearing
Ted Cornwell | Jun 03
We're hearing lenders are under increasing pressure to make sure nonpublic, personal information about their customers does not find its way into the public realm.
What We're Hearing
Brian Collins and Mark Fogarty | May 31
We're hearing the fight over the qualified mortgage rule will now move to Congress.
Susan Graham | May 31
While there is no shortage of technology available today, partnering with the wrong solution provider could spell disaster for an institution, and potentially jeopardize future business processes.
Lorenz Schwartz | May 29
Prior to 2012 the scale of institutional involvement in acquiring single-family homes for the purpose of “rent and hold” was small to almost nonexistent. Things have certainly changed.
What We're Hearing
John McDermott | May 23
We're hearing about new rules in the works for mortgage and real estate professionals in New York.
Roger Fendelman | May 20
The qualified mortgage rule is a special carve-out to the ability to repay requirement.
Ari Karen | May 17
A court found a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional. This could affect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
What We're Hearing
Brian Collins and Mark Fogarty | May 17
We're hearing that it is going to take a concerted industry effort to get a legislative fix for the QM rule on loan officer compensation.
Pramod Karachur | May 16
An effective client management system can help the process following an initial counseling session.
What We're Hearing
John McDermott | May 16
Remember that the three most important words in a real estate deal are location, location, location.
Lisa Weaver | May 15
Small and midsize financial institutions and nonbanks look to steady their income stream by retaining servicing in lieu of servicing release premiums.
Brad Finkelstein | May 13
Reflecting on the industry forecast offered by Mortgage Bankers Association economists Jay Brinkmann and Michael Fratantoni, three different images are coming to mind.
Ari Karen | May 10
It appears that one of the chief enforcement tools of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the use of the horizontal audit.
Herman Thordsen | May 09
Mary Armstrong pled guilty to all five counts of an indictment charging her with wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
What We're Hearing
John McDermott | May 09
In the Illinois Legislature a bill has overwhelmingly passed the House which is designed to reduce the filing of fraudulent documents with the county recorder of deeds.
George Yacik | May 09
The Census Bureau recently reported that the U.S. homeownership rate fell to 65% in the first quarter, down from 65.4 % a year earlier, putting it at its lowest level since the third quarter of 1995.
What We're Hearing
Bonnie Sinnock | May 07
We're hearing at the MBA’s secondary market conference that with many housing finance indicators and forecasts suggesting a downshift in refinancing and a modest pickup in purchases on the way, market participants do not want to be caught unprepared.
Steve Wiser | May 07
In the modern world, paper documents are an obstacle between servicers and their own potential competitiveness.
Randy Wussler | May 01
Especially markets hit hardest by the housing crisis are the most attractive options for REO-to-rental investors. But how can servicers and investors identify which markets will achieve the greatest ROI?
