Servicing

August home sales in Phoenix surged to the highest level in five years with a total of 9,657 properties closing, according to the San Diego-based real estate analytic company DataQuick.

There was $5.7 billion of primary new mortgage insurance written in August by the members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America, marking four consecutive months of increased business.

The good news: More than 43,200 condominium apartments have been sold in South Florida's coastal markets since the real estate boom began in earnest in 2003. The bad news: Most of the buyers are not primary users.

Lew Ranieri doesn't suffer fools easily—and it galls him that he sometimes gets blamed for the nation's housing crisis because he helped put mortgage-backed securities on the map in the early 1980s when he was a young bond trader at Salomon Brothers.

Servicers these days face a choice: sell servicing released or retained? The servicing-released option has gained enough traction that GNMA president Ted Tozer is worried about having too few Ginnie Mae issuers (the little guys are selling FHA and VA product servicing-released to the big guys).

In a best case scenario consumers might save upwards of $63 billion a year if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac participated in a workable refinancing program for underwater borrowers, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

Even though GSE and FHA loan limits will decline to $625,500 at midnight Friday, borrowers with high balance FHA-insured loans can still refinance these products as long as they don't engage in a cash-out refi.

It appears that rock bottom mortgage rates are starting to pay off for Fannie Mae.

Carrington Mortgage Services, Irvine, Calif., a fast growing retail/wholesale lender, this week hired Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac as executive vice president in charge of branding and marketing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is applauding the Treasury Department for guidance it issued Thursday that would help members of the military avoid foreclosure.