Secondary

The National Association of Home Builders is exploring several ideas to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the secondary market, including one option that would give the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks the green light to securitize safe and sound conventional mortgages.

The types of entities facing violations of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control's prohibited list has been growing recently to include not only mortgage-related players such as banks and commercial real estate entities, but also a homeowner association, according to an Attus Technologies Inc. executive.

Here's a taste of a story appearing in the Monday edition of National Mortgage News: Brian Simon, CEO of Caliber Funding, in a recent interview predicted that his company could grow originations by threefold or fourfold in 2012.

Commercial real estate property owners might not have enough equity to refinance their properties as loans originated in 2007 become due throughout this year, warns one expert.

Principal reductions, such as those agreed to in the state AG settlement with five large servicers, may help residential MBS performance in some ways but hurt in others, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.

It's all about opportunity. Bank of America and Ally Financial recently tossed their correspondent lending divisions overboard. On the surface, some may look at these exits and shout, "The sky is falling." But the smart money knows that such departures spell opportunity.

Gateway Mortgage Group, Tulsa, Okla., this week launched a new correspondent lending division that will purchase conforming and government loans from depositories and mortgage bankers, with the aim of retaining the servicing rights.

Viewpoint Bank, Plano, Texas ended the year with $1.15 billion of warehouse commitments on its books, a 53% gain over 12 months.

Right after I graduated college I read an existential novel called 'The Woman in the Dunes' by Japanese writer Kobo Abe. The story is a bit fuzzy in my mind now, but it centers around an entomologist name Niki who gets stuck in a sandy quarry with a widow who is employed by local villagers to dig sand for sale. Niki tries to escape the sand quarry but can't and faces an eternity of digging sand.

Fannie Mae saw its secondary market purchases fall by 20% in January while its cross town competitor, Freddie Mac, experienced a 10% gain, a sign that, perhaps, the Bank of America "problem" could be affecting the business of the two GSEs.