In the last Weekend Briefing we quoted FM Watch spokeswoman Beneva Schulte saying that the $6.57 million that Fannie Mae spent in lobbying in 2001 excluded what it paid its in-house (on-staff) lobbyists. However, Fannie Mae spokesman Robert McCarson says that Ms. Schulte is wrong -- that the figure does include in-house lobbyists. "Like she is on so many things concerning us, Beneva is wrong," Mr. McCarson says...
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The Appraisal Institute, the nation's premier trade group representing 10,000 appraisers, and the American Guild of Appraisers , a trade union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, don't see eye-to-eye on the issue of "automated valuation models" (automated appraisals). The Guild thinks AVMs will result in human appraisers losing their jobs while AI thinks AVMs will result in better data tools for appraisers, and therefore more employment opportunities to sell their services outside the core mortgage niche. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and many top lenders) like AVMs and include them as an option in their AU programs. However, both secondary giants say they, for the most part, rely on good old fashioned paper-based appraisals and the human touch. The Guild, apparently, fears job losses due to the rising popularity of AVMs and blames, to some degree, Fannie and Freddie. Would the Guild try to convince the AFL-CIO to stop buying GSE bonds as a way to stave off appraiser job loses? It could try, but AFL-CIO general counsel Damon Silvers told National Mortgage News that the chances of the AFL-CIO boycotting GSE bonds is extremely slim. "The fund (AFL-CIO) would not boycott a good investment as a way to save jobs," Mr. Silver said...
NMN is still crunching first quarter survey results but it appears residential lenders produced in the neighborhood of $580 billion in home mortgages during the first quarter -- the second best quarter ever for the industry...
A little more than a year ago the Federal Trade Commission sued subprime giant Associates First Capital (now owned by Citigroup) for what it called "widespread abusive lending practices." A spokeswoman for the FTC said the lawsuit is still in the discovery phase but the agency anticipates a settlement before the expected trial which is slated to start in the fall of 2003
Master Financial, Orange, Calif., has launched a subservicing acquisitions department...
Freddie Mac has named Randy Krout vice president, east coast sourcing, for its community lending division...
And finally, in some Far East-related housing news, the Ministry of Construction in Hanoi (Vietnam) is seeking to raise $7 trillion dong (the VN currency) over the next five years for providing safe housing in flood-prone areas in the Mekong Delta. (When I was in Vietnam two years ago the exchange rate was $14US to $1VN dong.) Even though Vietnam is still, technically, a communist country, it does allow for private ownership of housing. Could a Phoung Mae or Minh Mac be far off?
