Servicing

There is vast speculation among many real estate analysts that short sales will be very prevalent this year as delinquencies and foreclosures continue to be a major problem throughout the country.

With Bank of America shedding mortgage servicing rights en masse, and a handful of other megabanks writing down their MSRs because of Basel III, prepayments and other concerns, one might think that the asset must stink to high heaven. Well, think again.

As might be expected, the American Bankers Association is none-too-thrilled with a new White House plan to tax banks to pay for a new government refinancing program.

Suzanne Ball, president of America's Infomart, a field services company based in Dallas, plans to be at the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference to check the pulse of her peers on loan information security issues.

President Obama is urging Congress to pass a bank tax, funneling the money over to the Federal Housing Administration which will then refinance non-GSE borrowers who are under water on their loans.

December was the best month of 2011 in terms of primary new mortgage insurance written by the current membership of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is preparing to back away from a controversial plan to overhaul the 25 basis point minimum servicing fee paid on Fannie Mae and Freddie loans, after intense, across-the-board industry opposition to the idea.

Fannie Mae's issuance of mortgage-backed securities jumped 20% in December after a similar increase in November, according to new figures released by the mortgage giant.

Is the Obama Administration starting to listen to the mortgage industry - and in a good way? Well, don't throw a party quite yet, but two major mortgage developments this week suggest that perhaps the White House is starting to understand that you can't have a housing recovery without the cooperation of lenders and servicers that make the loans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday that investors interested in participating in a program to convert real estate owned properties into rental homes could begin pre-qualifying for this initiative now.