Mortgages

With the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up in the air, credit unions should pool their resources to create an alternative entity that can handle securitization and other functions currently fulfilled by the two government-sponsored entities.

As the nation's largest banks are facing lawsuits and being investigated by attorneys general and other regulators, many of their servicing problems and abuses continue to hurt homeowners.

Among the ideas surfacing as the government works on interest rate and housing policy interventions aimed at bolstering the economy is a plan for financing bulk REO sales for renting to private investors that could be structured in a manner similar to TALF/PPIP, an approach some securities analysts said recently they are favoring.

LoopNet, a company that tracks all commercial real estate transactions nationwide including office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hotel, land, specialty properties and businesses for sale, has made changes to improve its database.

Foreclosure starts reached 217,955 units in August, an 18% sequential jump, and the first time since March that the reading was north of 200,000, according to new figures compiled by the Hope Now alliance.

Keystone Asset Management has recently completed an audit that assures the company is complying with regulations within the mortgage servicing industry.

Product and pricing engine NYLX is adding to its platform a Mortgage Harmony loan product that gives borrowers at certain times the option of lowering their rates to market level.

An insurance product, which is supposed to protect homeowners from declines in property values, is now being marketed in Ohio with plans to roll it out nationwide.

Marketing to single females is one of several ways credit unions can capture mortgage loans, according to experts who spoke at the America Credit Union Mortgage Association's Annual Conference in Las Vegas Tuesday.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said there has been an 88% year-over-year increase in mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports filed in the second quarter.

There is a shortage of housing in Great Britain for senior citizens and not enough new properties are being built to cover the future demand, says a provider of retirement homes. And it is up to the government to fix the situation.

Standard & Poor's, Moody's Corp. and Fitch Inc. won dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that their ratings of nonprime MBS were faulty and caused five Ohio public employee pension funds to buy into these money-losing investments.

Aside from the inertia in Congress, Washington is looking good. The Washington area housing market, that is.

Applications for new mortgages jumped 9.3% for the week ending September 23, a sign that ultra low rates are finally spurring new business activity.

The Archstone Foundation has given $1.3 million in grants to organizations in nine California counties that will allow older Americans to age in their homes.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Tuesday afternoon released a 37-page "talking paper" on changing GSE servicing fees, while noting that GNMA compensation – for now – will not be part of the discussion.

All entities that engage in the business of servicing mortgage loans for any property located in New York are up for a new regulatory challenge.

Moody's Investors Services sees no broad-based recovery in commercial real estate markets over the next year due to weakness in demand and what it calls "diminished lending."

Outstanding residential mortgage debt in the U.S. will continue to fall over the next three quarters before stabilizing in mid-year 2012, according to a new forecast from Freddie Mac.

A year ago when Bank of America announced that it was killing its wholesale division, it appeared as though loan brokers might be down for the count. Not only were firms still exiting the sector, but new, restrictive federal loan officer compensation rules set for the spring appeared to be the final nail in the coffin.