Origination

Declines in the mortgage delinquency rates on all one-to-four unit residential loans outstanding during the first quarter add another layer of affirmation to previous data that suggest some level of market stabilization.

Residential Capital Corp. last week began mailing out letters to its 2.5 million mortgage customers informing them of the firm’s bankruptcy filing but also cautioning them about keeping their loans current.

A top reason why borrowers continue to be intimidated by the prospect of facing their lender-servicers is fear they will be taken advantage of.

Clinton Group Inc., an investment manager which says it is one of the largest shareholders in Radian Group Inc., is calling on the Philadelphia-based private mortgage insurer to put itself up for sale.

Documenting and verifying a borrower’s income is one of the most basic tasks for an underwriter. While this appears to be relatively simple, validating income has become increasingly complex and susceptible to borrower fraud.

A panel of diversified lenders at the Urban Land Institute's spring meeting in Charlotte described a healthy mortgage market in which only the long shots are having trouble finding funding these days.

The National Flood Insurance Program is due to expire at the end of this month and the Senate still can’t seem to find a way to pass a short-term extension or move ahead with a comprehensive reform bill that re-authorizes the program for five years.

You remember the HARP program, don’t you? Originally, the idea was to refinance current but high LTV Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac borrowers into new, lower-rate loans—provided they were current. Home values (and lack of equity) reeked havoc on the concept so Uncle Sam took the LTV girdle off.

Mortgage interest rates may be at historically low levels, but the housing industry is not helping the overall economic recovery in the U.S. With the secondary market all but dried up except for Freddie and Fannie, who together purchased over three-quarters of originations in 2011, getting a mortgage these days is near impossible—perfect borrowers need only apply.

Given today’s rancorous partisan atmosphere, which has almost shut the Congress down, what measure do you think you could get a 400-0 vote on?