Servicing

Some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications, according to Fitch. And there is concern that this may be the beginning of a trend.

Mortgage loan rates continue to hit record lows not seen for nearly 60 years, but tight credit has made obtaining a home loan more difficult than ever. Meanwhile, gas prices now average nearly $4.00 per gallon, and industry experts predict $5.00 per gallon gas by Memorial Day. All this against a backdrop of the Dow Industrial Average, which is flirting with the 'magic' 13,000 number.

No lender or servicer wants to keep a portfolio of REO or short sale properties. For starters, they're not in the business of managing properties. Each day an REO or short sale property isn't sold is a day of upkeep and lost interest payments.

Fannie Mae has hit the market with a 2,490-REO package designed for bulk investors - the first such pilot auction promised by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

What will be the story of this decade in the mortgage industry? It will be the return of the market to normalcy (or a new normal). The question is: when?

Should Ally Financial Inc. break itself up, Ocwen Financial Corp. and private-equity shops might be interested in Ally's mortgaging servicing arm, Residential Capital LLC, which has mortgage servicing rights of $1.2 billion on mostly impaired loans, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analysts wrote in a research note last week.

CMBS performance still appears to be stabilizing somewhat, at least for the time being, recent commentary from Moody's Investors Service indicates.

Business abandoned by some the nation's largest mortgage lenders as they have shuttered major production channels, or closed shop entirely, has mostly landed at other mortgage giants.

The same benefits and legal foundation that guide mortgage lenders' paperless origination capabilities are now being applied by servicers performing loss mitigation, according to a panel at this week's Mortgage Bankers Association servicing conference.

Servicing regulations and oversight aren't new concepts for mortgage bankers, but the motivation and processes are evolving to meet the demands of current market conditions.