Loan Think

Safety, soundness, and compensation: These are words most often associated with the evaluation of large depository institutions. However, increasingly auditors are looking towards such standards in interpreting and implementing the newest regulations pertaining to compensation, and various guidelines applicable to nearly all financial institutions have expressly incorporated such concepts in evaluating an organization’s viability and compliance. Moreover, as a matter of profit maximization and risk mitigation, considering the balance of risk and reward in establishing compensation–especially for management–should assume top priority to an institution’s decision-makers.

Among pending mortgage industry regulatory deadlines some players could be in neglecting in 2012 are requirements for third-party MERS audits.

Large servicers are now embracing the notion of using special servicers to leverage their internal capacity, and finding that doing so creates an opportunity to involve all the necessary parties in the process through a single, integrated approach.

RealtyTrac reported today that foreclosure activity decreased by 3 percent compared to the previous month, and by 14 percent compared to November of 2010, but that a nine-month high in scheduled foreclosure auctions suggested that a “new set of incoming foreclosure waves” may be coming. I’m not so sure I agree.

Many organizations are feeling the impact of a stagnant housing market. Homeowners associations (HOAs) are no exception, but the pain they experience is also felt by mortgage servicers and investors.

If anyone thought the GSE 'Buyback Wars' would subside in 2012 all they have to do is read a recent SEC filing from Bank of America, the poster child of repurchase claims. The bank notes that the "criteria by which the GSEs are ultimately willing to resolve claims have changed in ways that are unfavorable to us."

Flippers doing it illegally defraud banks by buying at short sales for prices below the true value and what legitimate buyers will pay. In these schemes, realty agents obtain FRAUDULENT APPRAISALS to persuade banks to sell houses at below-market prices.

Happy holidays to everybody. In looking for some words of wisdom I could pass along to everyone about how to make their 2012 a success, I came across an article written by Canadian business consultant Andrew Miller.

It's time for eggnog and yearend lists—top news stories, newsmakers, stuff like that. But what about the great mortgage rumors that got away? Here lay five stories/rumors that went nowhere:

Only a couple of comments in this holiday week, but they are good ones. The first corrects some loose language in a Chicago ordinance, while the second identifies with the prevailing mood in the industry.