Origination

First, the good news: mortgage bankers that process loans for pooling into GNMA securities will continue receiving a 44 basis point fee for servicing those mortgages.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust recently entered into a master repurchase agreement with Bank of America that allows a subsidiary of the publicly traded REIT to sell -- and later repurchase -- new originations in an aggregate principal amount of up to $200 million.

Despite falling house prices and rising claims, the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance fund clung to a slim capital ratio of 0.24% on its book-of-business for the year ending Sept. 30, compared to 0.5% a year ago, according to independent actuarial reports released Tuesday morning.

State regulators have issued guidelines to mortgage examiners on how to test state-licensed nonbanks for steering and other violations of the Federal Reserve's loan origination compensation rule.

House and Senate conferees have agreed to restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit for Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages for two years – but left the GSE cap unchanged.

We all know that the social media is the latest hot trend in sales and marketing. Look at how many companies have created a Facebook presence that seeks to interact with consumers. Personally, I follow Tabasco and Disney.

The acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told a Senate panel this morning that the agency is moving ahead with "private" risk sharing opportunities between Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and firms outside of the government's control.

The Justice Department began sending letters Monday to servicemembers who are entitled to $20 million in damages from Bank of America Corp. for alleged violations of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

First-time home buyers are no longer a force to be reckoned with. According to new research from the National Association of Realtors, just 36% of buyers in the 12-month period between July 2010 and June 2011 were first-timers, a sharp decline from a record 50% in the last survey.

Home prices, on average, ended August at $205,000, an almost 4% drop from last year, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.