Mortgages

eWarehouseOne, Newport Beach, Calif., is exploring the idea of financing the purchase of mortgage servicing rights, a business that has been mostly dormant during the housing crisis.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., has opened a new mortgage loan center in Mission Valley, following the opening of another center in Rancho Penasquitos in December.

At Home Preservation Workshops, Wells Fargo home retention specialists have met one-on-one with more than 24,000 customers facing mortgage payment challenges

According to figures released Tuesday morning, home values are still in the tank, with three key S&P price indices sinking in the fourth quarter to their lowest level since the housing crisis began seven years ago.

After months of pressure from Congress and consumer advocates, the Federal Reserve Board released new details Monday about how mortgage servicers plan to follow regulatory directives that they improve their foreclosure systems.

Pictures and quotes from a roundtable discussion held at the 2011 Western Regional Conference of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers

The new president and chief executive of United Guaranty Corp. said the private mortgage insurance business will "kick it up a notch" as it goes along its contrarian path of risk-based pricing.

The deadline is this Friday, March 2, for entering your data into Origination News' annual survey of top loan producers, the results of which are scheduled to appear in the April issue.

Some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications, according to Fitch. And there is concern that this may be the beginning of a trend.

Mortgage loan rates continue to hit record lows not seen for nearly 60 years, but tight credit has made obtaining a home loan more difficult than ever. Meanwhile, gas prices now average nearly $4.00 per gallon, and industry experts predict $5.00 per gallon gas by Memorial Day. All this against a backdrop of the Dow Industrial Average, which is flirting with the 'magic' 13,000 number.

No lender or servicer wants to keep a portfolio of REO or short sale properties. For starters, they're not in the business of managing properties. Each day an REO or short sale property isn't sold is a day of upkeep and lost interest payments.

The Federal Housing Administration is following through with its pledge to increase upfront and annual insurance premiums on its forward single-family business.

Redwood Trust - the nation's only active securitizer of jumbo MBS - posted a $3 million loss in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $15 million in the year ago period, but is promising to plough ahead in the PLS market.

The New England Mortgage Expo took place on January 13, 2012 at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, in Connecticut. Frank Abagnale of the movie "Catch Me If You Can" was there.

Fannie Mae has hit the market with a 2,490-REO package designed for bulk investors - the first such pilot auction promised by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Tree.com lost $1.1 million in the fourth quarter, after experiencing reduced revenue from its lead generation business. It also took a $5.6 million impairment charge on intangible assets.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided to shift course before finalizing changes to the good faith estimate form, a project the bureau has been working on diligently since last summer.

What will be the story of this decade in the mortgage industry? It will be the return of the market to normalcy (or a new normal). The question is: when?

Should Ally Financial Inc. break itself up, Ocwen Financial Corp. and private-equity shops might be interested in Ally's mortgaging servicing arm, Residential Capital LLC, which has mortgage servicing rights of $1.2 billion on mostly impaired loans, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analysts wrote in a research note last week.

The answer to that question is: tight credit with unemployment being the runner-up. Although some naysayers believe the job picture hasn't improved much, there are many realists who think otherwise. But one thing we can agree upon is this: employment is not booming.