Servicing

Putnam Investments plans to launch a new REIT to purchase mostly residential MBS guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association, and the GSEs.

At the Fifth Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas, attendees concerned about the future of their industry discussed at length the pros and cons of recent regulatory changes and still-pending rules and requirements they may have to abide by in the near future.

Ending the Making Home Affordable program would increase avoidable foreclosures and put the fragile housing market in worse shape, the program’s director told an audience at the SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas.

Next month PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., will report first quarter earnings but this time around it likely won’t announce a large markup in the value of its mortgage servicing rights, according to a new report from FBR Capital Markets.

Mortgage-related mergers and acquisitions should pick up a head of steam this year, according to a new report from Milestone Advisors.

National servicing standards “are clearly doable,” according to New York State banking superintendent Richard Neiman. In a speech at the SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference here last week, Neiman called for a “a renewed level of cooperative federalism.”

To spark more interest in its massive holdings of foreclosed properties, Fannie Mae is offering to cover up to 3.5% of closings for homeowners who can close by June 30.

A proposed settlement with the nation’s top five residential servicers could prolong the foreclosure crisis, drive up mortgage interest rates, slow new home construction and cost $7 billion to $10 billion a year, according to a study from three top economists.

A year ago, the folks who worked in Freddie Mac's multi-family section were sitting around waiting for the phones to ring. Now they can't keep up.

Southern Trust Mortgage Co. of Virginia Beach late last week told its loan brokers that it would exit the channel, citing what it calls "increasing compliance implications" tied to the Federal Reserve's new loan officer compensation rule.