Secondary

A pilot program can be devised to show principal reduction is a cost-effective way to keep underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers in their homes and prevent strategic defaults, according to a new report by a research group.

For the past three months, the nation's largest residential servicers have had a lock on refinancing high LTV and underwater loans in their GSE portfolios. In a nutshell the megabanks could manually underwrite loans they controlled under Dec. 1 revisions made to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program.

Banc of Manhattan Capital, Woodland Hills, Calif., is taking bids on a $26 million pool of re-performing whole loans, servicing released.

The aggregate value of loans collateralized by commercial MBS increased 50 basis points in February from the month prior, continuing an upward trend, said DebtX, a Boston-based loan sales advisor.

Although Wells Fargo & Co. won't talk about its 'exclusionary' list of third-party lenders, correspondent loan buyers doing business with some of the firms say they wound up on the list mostly because of buyback disputes with the megabank.

Builder Meritage Homes Corp. has priced $300 million in senior unsecured notes due 2022 to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A.

The headline of today's daily 'What We're Hearing' blast sounds like junk mail that you might see in your email inbox. But rest assured, certain mortgage REITs are paying hefty dividends these days. At the top of the list is Annaly Capital Management, which has a 13.5% dividend/yield rate.

Community banks and thrifts are slowly increasing their originations of non-conforming mortgages, while pulling back on making FHA loans, according to a new study from the American Bankers Association.

Two sales associates for eWarehouseOne have resigned over the past few weeks, including industry veteran Henry Brandt.

Freddie Mac purchased $37.6 billion of residential loans from its seller/servicers in February, a 10% increase from the prior month, and a sign perhaps that Bank of America's recent decision to quit Fannie Mae is helping Freddie.