Servicing

Fannie Mae is auctioning off a $30 million pool of bulk real estate-owned properties, according to investors who have viewed the offering circular.

A new report on the failure of WesCorp Federal Credit Union concludes that the one-time $32 billion corporate CU had too much of its investments tied to a single real estate market — its home state of California — and one issuer, Countrywide.

Countrywide, the mortgage giant that's now part of Bank of America, routinely didn't bother to transfer essential documents for loans sold to investors, an employee testified.

Put-backs of defective mortgages are accelerating and the Federal Reserve Board is growing more concerned about the potential risks to the banking system.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking at warehouse lending to see if such transactions are legitimate secondary market transactions under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Home Affordable Modification Program activity continued to lose momentum in October as the number of homeowners granted permanent modifications and the number of candidates entering the three-month payment trials declined.

Credit Suisse expects to see Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities prepayment speeds rise 10% to 15% during the November period, according to a recent report.

On the surface, the three homes appear to have just one thing in common: foreclosure.One was purchased for $1.4 million in Plymouth, Mich., a city that sometimes appears on Money magazine's list of the best places to live. Another, bought for $290,000, is in Paterson, N.J., in a neighborhood where the poverty rate runs twice the national average. A third seized home, once valued at $929,000, is on the outskirts of Oxnard, a Southern California coastal town that fades into farmland.

Last week's Chapter 11 filing by Ambac Assurance, which provides insurance on billions of dollars of MBS held by corporate credit unions, is likely to add to the price tag of the federal bailout of these wholesale institutions.

If government support of the mortgage market is reduced – either gradually or immediately – and the private sector doesn't fill the void with investment capital, it could have dire consequences for housing and residential finance, according to a new analysis released by Redwood Trust.