Mortgages

Average rates for fixed-rate mortgages dropped to new lows in Freddie Mac’s latest weekly primary market survey.

It’s not easy being president. Just ask George W. Bush or Jimmy Carter. As for the current inhabitant of the White House, he was a bit late to the game when it came to tackling the housing and mortgage crisis. He wants to fix the housing/mortgage mess and he controls (sort of) three entities that can aid in that recovery: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD/FHA

John Robbins, the former chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has yet another new mortgage banking venture up and running.

Nearly three years after returning to banking and mortgages, Jay Sidhu is preparing to take his latest venture to the next level.

House Republicans are wading back into the debate over whether to allow principal reductions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages.

Freddie Mac began purchasing HARP 2.0 loans in January and by the end of the first quarter had acquired $5 billion of these refis, according to the company’s first-quarter securities filing.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will testify before Congress next Tuesday regarding efforts to allow more Americans to refinance their mortgages.

The government controlled Freddie Mac posted net 'comprehensive' income of $1.789 billion in the first quarter — but then had to turn around a pay the U.S. Treasury $1.8 billion in dividends, resulting in a small true loss for the quarter.

From time to time I hear appraisers talk about the fact that they feel undervalued, and that the business they’re in is becoming increasingly difficult. Some feel it’s a downright hostile environment for appraisers today.

There was a lot of shock, sadness, and yes, grief here at SourceMedia at the recent passing of Neil Morse. We knew Neil as a gifted mortgage writer, an indefatigable road warrior, a thoroughly professional public relations executive, and finally as a colleague for his work with our conference group. He died way too soon (he was 62). But he had an impressive life.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed that it gave Fannie Mae the green light to conduct a pilot program with Wells Fargo in March 2010 to test principal reduction modifications.

The aggregate value of securitized commercial real estate loans priced by DebtX climbed to 87.3% at the end of March from 86.9% at the end of February.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “We’re running out of inventory.”

Genworth Financial Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $47 million, compared to a profit of $59 million one year prior.

Mortgage applications rose a scant 0.1% for the week ending April 27 with refinancings slipping ever so slightly.

Fifth Third Mortgage Co. is not placing any LTV limits on refinancings of its existing mortgage customers under the HARP 2.0 program.

The message at the 2012 Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City from many of the speakers at the first residential lending general session and at a roundtable hosted by National Mortgage News/Origination News was there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the future direction of the industry. And that is because it is waiting on a definition of what will constitute a qualified mortgage. Yet, attendees at the show were upbeat that the worse times are behind them.

The Santa Ana, Calif.-based analytic provider said there were 69,000 completed foreclosures in March this year, compared to 85,000 in March 2011 and 66,000 in February 2012.

EverBank Financial Corp. paid $350 million for the warehouse lending business of MetLife Bank, according to an amended S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Freddie Mac executive Anthony Renzi has accepted a senior mortgage job with Citigroup, after weighing a position with Wilbur Ross’ fast-growing mortgage empire.