Mortgages

SunTrust Banks Inc. beat expectations for fourth-quarter earnings on stronger lending, but mortgage-repurchase costs and a drop in debit-card fees overshadowed the good news.

Sales of existing single-family homes rose in December for the third straight month and Realtors are hoping it could be the start of a long-awaited recovery in the housing market.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has finalized a rule to clarify and strengthen its authority to seek indemnification from its largest lenders for making bad loans.

Let's cut to the chase. With all the shouting, flailing and verbosity on the subject of the REO problem, does anyone offer a practical, workable solution?

Survival of the fittest will continue to be the theme in 2012. And the annual MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference is the precursor of events to come, says Derrick Logan, senior VP in the strategic alliance group for REO Allegiance, Bayonne, N.J. "It sets the tone for the whole year."

Even the most well-intentioned lenders sometimes fall short in terms of compliance with certain aspects of the Final Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, most notably when it comes to having policies and procedures in place to evaluate and monitor the ongoing performance of appraisers and having the required supporting documentation to show that the lender is evaluating and monitoring the appraisers.

By now you've read the exclusive on the National Mortgage News website - that Bank of America is halting (for now) cash-out refinancings. Maybe cash-out refis don't account for much of the bank's production. Then again, relatively speaking, there isn't much production left at B of A. In 4Q the bank funded $20 billion in home loans compared to $120 billion at the number one ranked Wells Fargo.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton outlined his plan to help troubled mortgage borrowers before a standing-room-only crowd packed into an auditorium the size of a football field at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center during the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & Expo this week.

In today's challenged housing market, creating and preserving value in REO portfolios is critical. There are three ways servicers can protect their bottom lines.

Not only has the housing meltdown affected state and local governments, servicers and investors, but homeowner associations too. These associations rely upon property taxes to pay for such services as utilities, trash pickup, snow removal, landscaping, and road and building maintenance, but vacancies have mitigated the number of improvements made in these communities.

Borrowers delinquent on their mortgage payments are more likely to avoid foreclosure by receiving loan modifications when they attend counseling services, according to published reports.

It appears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are starting to see their market shares erode. The same might be said of the Government National Mortgage Association.

The overall characteristics of jumbo mortgages backing Redwood Trust's latest RMBS are consistent with "high-quality underwriting," according to an unsolicited review of the deal conducted by Standard & Poor's.

Sorry, it doesn't exist. How arrogant of me, or anyone else, to make a definitive statement that something is the "best." Simply put, it would mean that I know every program that's available, have tried and tested them using a large sampling of attendees and then analyzed years of data and statistics.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is urging government negotiators to force banks to pay for a potential mortgage servicing settlement out of their own pockets, rather than by writing down the value of mortgage-backed securities owned by investors.

Bank of America mid-week told its retail loan officers nationwide that the lender will halt, for now, originations of cash-out refinancings, citing what it calls a "surge of refinancing activity" and capacity problems.

The mortgage industry has taken one for the team in the way the payroll tax reduction extension has been funded, at least partially, by an increase in government housing agency guarantee fees. But in my view, once is more than enough.

Ginnie Mae is in the process of hiring at least 40 new employees which would increase the secondary market agency's staff by one-third.

The total home equity held by U.S. senior citizens increased by $46 billion in the third quarter last year, to $3.19 trillion, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association/Risk Span Reverse Mortgage Market Index.

Over half of the mortgage originators surveyed by Hammerhouse LLC said the No. 1 issue facing them in 2012 is further oversight or regulation for the industry. The Mission Viejo, Calif.-based recruiting company released results from its second annual Survey of Originator Opinions.