Digital Mortgage Direct Page

The recent compression allays fears that lenders would have difficulty serving the needs of borrowers with time-sensitive purchase contracts during a peak season.

Sharon R. Bilar is a trusts & estates attorney in private practice in New York City.

Despite home purchasing power growing for the 14th consecutive month in February, rising property values and mortgage rates are likely to influence would-be sellers to stay put, according to First American.

Property values climbed 12% in February, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index.

A new commercial-mortgage loan for seven facilities operated by the self-storage REIT is the largest of 41 loans in the conduit deal.

For a lot of IMBs facing shrinking backlogs and falling secondary market spreads, the attraction of hitting a bid and taking the easy way out via an acquisition may become irresistible, writes Chris Whalen.

The end of the refinancing boom and impending rise in rates are not the only challenges lenders face. As one observer put it, they "can't make loans on homes that don't exist."

System updates, which may be a result of changes to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements, have Community Home Lenders Association members saying loans that were approved previously are getting rejected when put back through.

The incident points to a risk mortgage companies should be aware of as they shift to digital servicing strategies.

At first the deal seemed an unlikely marriage of two mortgage-heavy companies. But acquiring the Michigan company would help New York Community accomplish its two chief goals — reducing deposit costs and its concentration of multifamily loans — while giving it the scale to pursue more deals.