Mortgages

A listing agent gets assigned a bank-owned listing in a great neighborhood. A week or two passes while the bank's asset manager determines a list price. Meanwhile, the listing agent fields telephone calls from prospective purchasers and other agents.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finally gave lenders the green light on Monday that their automated underwriting systems are ready to process HARP 2.0 loans.

Vacant property registration and property ordinances have been an integral part of judicially sanctioned enforcement efforts in communities for some time. These municipal rulings serve to protect citizens from neighborhood blight, the ensuing rise in criminal activity and the resulting deflation in property values so common in areas with high foreclosure rates.

I just came across an article posted on the Community Associations Network website tallying the top 10 condo and HOA news stories of 2010. What made the top of the list? Revenue shortages.

The New York Investment firm Prospect Capital Corp. has agreed to acquire a majority stake in specialty-finance company, First Tower Corp., for roughly $266 million.

In this week's National Mortgage News we published a story about an interesting warehouse lender called eWarehouseOne. EWO is interesting for several reasons, including the fact that it claims to have $3 billion in warehouse commitments, but many of the top warehouse managers that we've known for years have never heard of them.

Builders pulled back on the construction of single-family homes in February but forged ahead with multifamily starts, according to new government figures released Tuesday morning.

The consumer default rate on first mortgages declined by six basis points in February from January and by 43 basis points when compared with February 2011, the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices showed.

The correspondent lending arm of Wells Fargo Bank this week began publishing a list of third-party originators that it will no longer buy loans from in the secondary market -- as a way to address what it calls "risks" in loan origination.

Congress has restored a housing counseling fund for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after eliminating it in 2011 and at almost half of the $88 million approved during the first two years of the Obama administration. Now HUD officials worry about the amount of settlement dollars to be used for counseling.

Dan Magder, a director of acquisitions for Lone Star Funds, has quit the investment firm to focus on what he calls a "REO-to-rental investment opportunity."

Over the past week the interest rate on certain loans have risen by up to 50 basis points, but the residential finance industry is hardly panicking, at least not yet.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency had sharp words early this week for state and local governments that have passed laws meant to help homeowners facing risk of foreclosure.

Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has drafted a proposed set of guidelines for sound residential mortgage underwriting practices.

There is a significant disconnect in the jumbo mortgage space between the primary and the secondary markets. Since the implosion of financial markets in the fall of 2008 the once-thriving and vibrant non-agency MBS market has evaporated. Despite some attempts to resuscitate the jumbo secondary, the gulf between investor needs and what consumers want remains large.

As more submissions come in for our Top 150 Originator list, preliminary data shows we have a new leading producer for 2011. He is Eric Magee of Union Bank, with total volume of $234 million.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - The qualified mortgage definition, which should come out next month from the Consumer Financial Protection Board, needs to be carefully crafted, otherwise it will affect credit availability and affordability, said the regulatory counsel for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A joint venture was reached for Real Pro Systems to use America's Home Rescue short sale training for real estate agents and escrow officers through its Real Estate Masters Guild division.

Declining mortgage rates during the fourth quarter fired up refinancings of high LTV loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to new Home Affordable Refinancing Program figures released Monday afternoon.

Fannie Mae has priced its third multifamily DUS REMIC of the year, a $767 million deal that is notable in that it is the first ever to have separate tranches backed by both seven-year and 10-year collateral.