Mortgages

The Realtor’s leading indicator of future home sales edged down in July for the second month in row as potential buyers moved to the sidelines due to rising home prices and higher mortgage rates.

Responding to reports that mortgage lenders and servicers are accepting insurance tracking services from unaffiliated insurance producers, the New York Department of Financial Services is warning all parties involved that this practice is illegal in New York.

Congress banned the use of downpayment assistance on FHA-insured loans in 2008 but one Phoenix lender just got caught for reimbursing charitable housing groups that provided “gift” downpayments to homebuyers.

Barry Habib, chief market strategist for Residential Finance, talks about why an uptick in purchase applications is good for the housing industry.

An executive at Calvert Financial in Ashland, Mo., has admitted to using funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to buy a luxury condominium.

The federal regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is seeking at least $6 billion from JPMorgan Chase to settle a lawsuit over soured mortgage bonds sold to the government-sponsored enterprises.

Mortgage loan application volume decreased by 2.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Aug. 23.

The Nambe Pueblo Housing Entity, which is developing homes for members of its small (650 people) pueblo Indian tribe, knows it is a slow process to make the desert bloom with snug new houses.

Almost all mortgage stocks sold at a discount Tuesday, down more than the roughly 1% price fluctuation seen in the past few days.

Walker & Dunlop has provided $394.6 million in financing for multifamily properties in the state of Texas during the eight months of this year.

One poster claims in order to remain relevant HUD will be forced to lower its MI premiums in the near future.

We're hearing that the full-fledged recovery in the closely watched metropolitan Phoenix housing market shows no signs of abating.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka has dropped its activity-based stock purchase requirement when members sell their mortgages to the FHLB.

The concern is that vendors are overbilling borrowers and servicers are not properly monitoring the vendors.

At least in Florida some are seeing a surprise benefit from new regulations—growth in the mortgage broker industry.

Mortech has added new day-to-day lending process functionality to its Marksman software.

The New York attorney general has filed a lawsuit against real estate mogul Donald Trump, Trump University and its former president for engaging “in persistent fraudulent, illegal and deceptive conduct.”

Fannie Mae has added Ocwen Financial Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group onto its list of top servicing shops.

The court issued a memorandum that clarifies the proposal is based on the suggestion of a number of stakeholders involved in mortgage foreclosure cases.

Credit unions originated 6.8% of all first mortgages in the U.S. in the first half of 2013.