Compliance & Regulation

As highlighted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate in their recently released annual survey, some legislators are proposing to relieve somewhat the burden of the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act in ways could help real estate investment trust stockholders, and there is a potential development this year that could move such a proposal forward.

My inbox was slammed by emails from readers who said "right on" to my commentary that the White House is (wrongly) using mortgage brokers as a whipping boy for the mortgage crisis. But some larger questions still loom: Does this White House even know what a loan broker is? I would guess not.

Current management of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorships is contributing to tight mortgage credit conditions, holding back a recovery in the housing market, according to a Federal Reserve Board official.

Regulatory impediments may have the power to considerably change not only one's ability to engage in a mortgage-related transaction but to impact larger housing performance in 2012.

The New York Court of Appeals late Thursday agreed to allow the National Association of Federal Credit Unions to argue that the state's federally chartered CUs should be exempt from the state's mortgage recordation tax.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is using its authority over non-banks to target independent mortgage servicing companies.

Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in restitution to Maryland residents who lost their homes to foreclosure after receiving so-called "Pick-a-Payment" mortgages.

This week President Obama told the Senate to take a hike, installing former Ohio AG Richard Cordray as the new head of the CFPB via a recess appointment. But the real story here is that the White House continues to use loan brokers as the whipping boy for the housing/mortgage meltdown.

People constantly ask me whether flexible or variable pricing violates fair lending laws. Before addressing this question, it is important to remember that fair lending claims ask whether differences exist in the pricing minorities receive as compared to non-minorities to a sufficient degree that these differences cannot be explained by randomness?

Almost hands down most mortgage trade groups and sectors of the business have shot down a "fee for service" concept to replace the existing GSE servicing compensation structure. But don't tell that to Lenders One, a nationwide cooperative of residential funders.