Originations

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is pushing back against claims that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were sophisticated investors that should have done a better job of vetting their purchases of mortgage-backed securities.

A New Jersey mortgage broker has been charged with submitting false information to qualify for 13 multifamily loans with the help of a loan coordinator at Paragon Federal Credit Union, Montvale, N.J.

For the third time in the last four months, Trepp said the delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities has dropped.

Reverse Mortgage Solutions is the latest reverse mortgage lender to step into the void created when two of the largest lenders of this product pulled out of the market. The Houston-based originator and servicer of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages is starting a wholesale production channel for these loans.

Although mortgage rates continue to test new all-time lows, applications took a tumble last week, a sign that consumers continue to be spooked by uncertainty in the overall economy.

Many of the country's largest banks received $6 billion in kickbacks from mortgage insurers over the course of a decade, according to a previously undisclosed investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A coalition of industry groups is urging Congress to act quickly to maintain the GSE loan limit at $729,750, saying the pending expiration is hurting both home sales and application volume.

When the Federal Housing Finance Agency late Friday unveiled its $200 billion lawsuit against investment banking firms that sold faulty MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it also targeted executives who signed the original shelf registration documents on the securities in question.

Non-distressed U.S. home prices saw their largest gain year-to-date in June as they continued an upward trend, FNC indicated in a report Tuesday.

The beleaguered mortgage business has done quite a good job of continuing to provide mortgage finance at respectable levels despite the worst disaster ever to hit it. As the fall meeting season approaches, industry executives should take a moment to congratulate each other on this before they start to plan, plot or commiserate.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to another all time low early Tuesday morning – 1.92% -- as stocks sold off in Europe and American equities plunged by almost 300 points at the opening bell.

Caliber Funding, Dallas, hopes to hire dozens of new loan officers over the next few months, especially in California, according to chief executive officer Brian Simon.

TMS Funding, Milford, Conn., was launching a jumbo wholesale product at press time as higher loan amounts in general were picking up some momentum, but still appeared likely to leave a small number of relatively high-cost areas with some funding gaps due to plans for an FHA loan limit decrease this fall.

The activities that Stephen Tetzner undertakes as part of his pursuit of the mortgage banking trade have a purpose: to help strengthen the image of the industry and his business.

It appears that Florida's housing market is starting to shake off some of the doldrums caused by the mortgage crisis, as buyers start to come out of the woodwork.

If you haven't embraced blogging yet as a marketing tool, social media expert Randall Craig has a few reasons why you should.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency late Friday filed a massive multi-billion civil suit against 17 firms that played a role in selling faulty subprime MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – including the government owned Ally Financial and Fannie's biggest customer at one time, Countrywide Financial Corp.

Concerns that revenue from loss mitigation and portfolio recovery could deteriorate going forward were among the reasons Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Irvine, Calif., said it has invested in origination operations that contributed to a relative loss of income in the second quarter.

The delinquency rate on securitized multifamily mortgages fell 50 basis points in August, but the loans continue to be the worst performing property type in the commercial MBS market.

Mortgage companies cut 1,500 full-time employees from their payrolls in July, according to new government figures released Friday morning.