Mortgages

California Attorney General Kamala Harris and New York AG Eric Schneiderman Wednesday afternoon joined a multi-state settlement with the top five mortgage servicers, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Bank of America Corp. is limiting the number of refinance applications it accepts over the phone, telling borrowers who do not have an existing relationship with the bank that they may have to wait 60 to 90 days before their loan application can be processed, a B of A spokesman said Wednesday.

Here’s a current-day dilemma to ponder: a listing agent lands a new bank-owned listing. Before marketing, the property needs an occupancy check, a clean-out, some minor repairs, and a few other maintenance items. Agent hurries to get the sign in the yard. A week or two passes before the bank approves expenses and determines list price based on BPO and appraisal.

For the first time in a year foreclosure sales outpaced completed foreclosures--which dropped by 24% at yearend 2011 contributing to a notable decrease in the foreclosure inventory. Yet, the answer to those wondering whether the foreclosure inventory backlog is really easing up appears to be: No.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust earned $19.6 million in the fourth quarter - almost flat compared to 3Q - as it ramped up its correspondent division.

The commercial mortgage market didn't get as much press, but it went into the tank shortly after the residential market did. However, if projections by the Mortgage Bankers Association turn out to be right, it is recovering steeply in that V shape that has so far eluded the residential side.

Cashel USA Property Partners plans to purchase up to $500 million in distressed single-family residences in the U.S. to convert into rentals that will be serviced by PropertyAccess, a provider of national property management services for professional investors.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp.'s inventory of delinquent loans declined by over 1,200 loans during January, but new notices of default outpaced cured by 3,000 loans.

For the first time in a year foreclosure sales outpaced completed foreclosures--which at yearend 2011 decreased by 24%--contributing to a notable decrease in the foreclosure inventory, according to CoreLogic

PennyMac released 4Q earnings this morning and the big news wasn't its profit - which was decent - but the fact that it bought almost $1 billion of mortgages from other lenders via the correspondent channel.

Tree.com, Charlotte, N.C., has modified the agreement with Discover Financial Services regarding the latter's purchase of Home Loan Center, which does business as LendingTree Loans.

A House Financial Services panel on Tuesday approved a bill requiring the Federal Housing Administration to submit a plan to Congress on how it will avoid a bailout of its financially strapped mortgage insurance fund.

Bank of America is out in the marketplace with a roughly $35 billion portfolio of residential mortgage servicing rights through Phoenix Capital, Denver, according to investors and investment bankers who have been briefed on the sale.

Fixed-rate mortgage rates hit all-time lows, spurring an increase in mortgage refinance loan application volume and as a result overall mortgage application volume increased 7.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Feb. 3, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Trapped between conflicting requirements that indicate collapse and abolition prospects, the future status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is emerging as one of the year's biggest concerns.

Although this past Sunday was nominally about a football game (and yes, the parade could be seen from my office), from a marketer's standpoint, it is also their Super Bowl.

With delinquencies continuing to be a problem throughout the country, investment firms continue to take advantage of these current opportunities in buying nonperforming assets from financial institutions.

The United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said regulators there are considering regulating loan-to-value ratios in mortgage lending.

The greatest fear for small- to medium-sized nonbanks is that Wells Fargo—the "big kahuna" of mortgage finance—will exit the correspondent lending space. And what a fear it is: in the most recent quarter in which there are final numbers, Wells bought a stunning $41 billion of loans from others, giving it a market share of 30% in the channel.

Moments before he was scheduled to make a statement on the mortgage servicing settlement Tuesday night, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman postponed the conference call indefinitely.