Mark Fogarty

News of the retirement of Mark Oman as the head of the mortgage group at Wells Fargo reminds us that the career of this unassuming mortgage banker has been exceptional.

The big question on everyone’s mind at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York was, when will we see a thriving nonconforming secondary again?

At the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual technology conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., we gathered a panel of industry participants to discuss the latest trends and issues facing the sector and the role of technology in the business.

The Community Reinvestment Act has been a durable instrument for expanding lending in the United States. The question now is, is it exportable to other countries?

Now more than ever effective loss mitigation techniques are needed. Today’s servicers need to look at every possible avenue—loan modifications, refinancings, short sales, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, doorknockers, everything—to help them cope with overdues that remain at the highest levels in a generation.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 184 guaranteed American Indian mortgage has passed $2 billion in loans extended.

Mortgage servicers have gotten a reputation as the bad boys of foreclosure, putting people out of their homes and helping to power trends like a major American city (Detroit) losing 25% of its population in a decade.

What will the shape of a new secondary market look like?It could be one where lenders shun the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

The old saying went, “a little inflation is good for real estate.” The idea was that a small dose of inflation each year lifted home values and home equity and made owning—and selling—homes more attractive.

Unless the implementation of the Federal Reserve’s rule on loan officer compensation is upended by last-minute court action, it went live last Friday and lenders should comply with it.

The 27 terms state attorneys general are demanding top servicers follow are an onerous and rigorous regimen.

Redwood Trust has taken to market a $290 million jumbo mortgage-backed security. It did a similar one last year. Why are these deals significant? They are the only jumbo MBS deals done since the mortgage crash.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s section 184 guaranteed American Indian mortgage has passed $2 billion in loans extended.

The HAMP and HAFA programs have not done the jobs they set out to do, relieving several million Americans from the distress of their inability to make their mortgage payments. But with the size of the job they were commissioned to do, it is too early to pull the plug on them.

Do you have any idea where the term “correspondent lending” came from? How about “amortization?” You will if you read a new book from an unusual author, a mortgage banker who has been in the trenches for many years.

Government funding for Native American housing continues on its seesaw. While President Obama’s 2012 budget calls for an all-time high of $700 million for the Indian Housing Block Grant, the continuing resolution for fiscal 2011 has been slashed to $500 million.

Though it's too early to declare that mortgage delinquencies are on the way down permanently, "We are seeing some bright spots," Anthony Renzi, Freddie Mac executive vice president of single family portfolio management, said during a press briefing at the Mortgage Bankers Association's servicing conference in Dallas Wednesday morning.

What will happen to all the problem real estate loans that have multiplied exponentially it seems, in the past few years? That’s a topic as hot as today’s headlines. We’ve just reported that Ally Financial sold off $596 million in nonperforming loans during the fourth quarter.

Who will take on the catastrophic risk associated with making mortgages, a risk that has flared twice since 1989 and has caused the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in losses?

Can there be any doubt that servicing holds sway over the current mortgage market? 2010 saw 1.3 million foreclosures, another record, with predictions of higher yet in 2011. The robo-signing scandal threw an unwelcome spotlight on the shoddy foreclosure practices of the big servicers. Government programs like HAMP and HAFA tried valiantly all last year to make a difference in the default logjam (without quite achieving it).