Mortgages

Fannie Mae intends to replace traditional force-placed insurance on its loans with policies from a provider of its choosing, a move that could upend big banks' controversial force-placed insurance practices.

Whether the servicing operation is owned by a bank with an origination arm or not, HARP 2.0 represents both a great opportunity and a real risk for mortgage servicers.

Two mortgage industry trade groups are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to focus its unique powers on streamlining regulations that would improve residential disclosures to consumers.

Outstanding residential debt serviced by mortgage banking firms fell to $9.1 trillion at yearend, the lowest reading since the third quarter of 2007, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

American Indian housing assistance is perennially underfunded, a trend continued in the Administration's fiscal 2013 budget request. $1 billion would be a good starting point, instead of the current $650 million.

President Barack Obama said 2 to 3 million existing FHA borrowers will be able to refinance at a lower interest rate under a new Federal Housing Administration streamline program that cuts mortgage insurance premiums in half.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue mortgage servicing rules this year that would impose new limits on force-placed insurance products and require additional disclosures for adjustable-rate mortgages, Director Richard Cordray said Tuesday.

Despite real estate-owned saturation rates rising, national home prices through February reached the lowest levels of decline in over 10 months, according to the real estate asset valuation provider Clear Capital.

The government's Home Affordable Refinancing Program has a major flaw, according to one industry veteran -- it doesn't give borrowers a financial incentive to stay in the home.

As if appraisal management companies, readily available automated valuation models and broker priced opinion options were not enough challenges to the real estate appraisal profession, well-intended federal and state regulations are generating new controversy.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. had nearly 2,000 more loans cure in February compared with the number of new default notices received during the month.

Idiosyncrasies in regional markets appear to be among the reasons securitized multifamily overall has rebounded so quickly in terms of occupancy and rental increases but is one of the worst performing property types in terms of delinquencies, according to Fitch.

Before Barack Obama was elected president residential mortgage debt in the U.S. was actually larger than outstanding Treasury debt. At yearend 2009 home mortgage debt peaked at $10.1 trillion. Today that number is a $1 trillion lower - according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

A trio of loan officers from the same Chicago-based company occupies three of the top four spots in the preliminary results of the Origination News 2011 top producer survey.

The media has been flooded this past week with positive news on the housing market. Sales of existing homes show definite signs of life and construction jobs are rebounding, making it is easy to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. However, in taking a second look, it is important to keep in mind that we are not out of the woods yet.

Foreclosure starts and sales increased significantly in January, a sign that the processing backlog may be starting to clear, according to a new report from Lender Processing Services.

After months of stating that the housing market needs to bottom out in order to hasten an economic recovery, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney shifted to a more proactive message on housing during a weekend campaign appearance.

The CMBS market appears to be looking up performance-wise, but there may be less of it in terms of outstandings, and despite stronger originations, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

As cities and towns across the country struggle to pay bills and prevent troubled properties from giving rise to blighted neighborhoods, they're turning by the hundreds to a new tactic.

Nationstar Mortgage and an affiliate company, Newcastle Investment Corp., have agreed to acquire roughly $63 billion in mortgage servicing rights from Aurora Bank FSB, a subsidiary of the bankrupt Lehman Bros.