Origination

When it comes to short sales, it seems that lenders come up short, at least in California.

Federal Reserve Board staffers may be reconsidering their position on how fees paid to real estate brokerage and title agency affiliates of mortgage firms are treated under the agency's pending loan officer compensation rule, National Mortgage News has learned.

Lenders are finding that more seniors are turning to Federal Housing Administration-insured reverse mortgages as a last resort to their financial problems, according to Generation Mortgage chairman Jeff Lewis.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s section 184 guaranteed American Indian mortgage has passed $2 billion in loans extended.

Fitch Ratings is likely to cut the insurer financial strength rating of Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. to junk status following a detailed review of the insurer’s performance. Fitch put RMIC on Rating Watch Negative status; it also downgraded the parent company Old Republic International as well as ORI's title insurance subsidiary.

Redwood Trust officials have been hearing plenty of talk about other firms entering the jumbo MBS space—but aren’t holding their breath about seeing new bonds issued anytime soon.

Roughly 23.1% of all residential homes encumbered with mortgages (11.1 million units) were in a negative equity position at yearend, according to new figures released by CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif.

A title industry executive claimed at the Real Estate Providers Council's annual meeting in Las Vegas that "too many" vendors have their hands in the residential real estate cookie jar.

The Federal Reserve Board said it will host a webinar March 17 to provide "updated information" and answer questions about its controversial loan officer compensation rule, which goes into effect April 1.

In what could be called the housing finance industry's version of "Scared Straight," a veteran regulatory attorney read the riot act to a group of industry executives in Las Vegas, warning them that the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be expected to come down hard on mortgage firms that don't toe the line.