Loan Think

With online listing, vacancies, a flush of foreclosed properties and a sour economy, REO assets have become a hotbed for criminal activity. Everything from prostitution to copper stripping has been reported in areas with high foreclosure rates. Once a property becomes vacant, it can easily fall prey to criminal infiltration and become a real liability for an entire community.

The Federal Reserve’s 26-page white paper has generated a lot of commentary, both pro and con, since being released on Jan. 4. While others spend time and energy debating whether or not it’s the role of the Fed to comment on or recommend policy, I find the content itself far more interesting.

Rumors abound that the Federal Reserve is planning a new round of 'quantitative easing' as early as this spring.

There’s nothing quite like disaster to remind us of the importance of effective leadership. As the recent sea disaster off the coast of Italy illustrates, when the captain fails at risk management, tragedy can occur.

Recently we heard that the FDIC unloaded a $900 million pool of nonperforming and troubled notes, but the agency failed to release a press release on the deal. (It was a structured finance transaction.) In November 2010 the FDIC sold a $23 billion package of MSRs tied to the failed AmTrust Bank. No press release was issued on that deal either.

In the mortgage industry, many branch managers are also the top loan originator in the office. Handling both tasks is often a juggling act, and sometimes the manager does not realize that one or more of the balls have fallen.

Producing quality loan documents and maintaining the integrity of borrower data within them will be critical for both lenders and servicers as part of meeting new requirements.

As owner of an appraisal company, I hear it all the time. "These conservative appraisers are killing my deals." I’m going to tell you a secret. No appraiser wants to kill transactions. In fact, for appraisers, the only thing worse than providing values that don’t support transaction amounts is losing their licenses or getting blacklisted by a lender.

There are many challenges associated with principal reduction as a tool to heal our ailing housing market. Many concerns are raised when this type of loan modification is being contemplated.

Five years back who would have ever thought that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be an issue in a GOP primary? To the uneducated and ignorant the housing crisis was caused by the two GSEs. To anyone who has been in this business for more than say, seven years, they know the housing implosion had multiple fathers, the GSEs being on a long list, many rungs below Wall Street.