Mortgages

The New York Times is reporting that the government is seriously contemplating a broad-based refinancing of mortgages guaranteed by the two GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in an effort to reduce payments by those borrowers who currently cannot refinance either due to negative equity in their homes or due to their own credit constraints.

With all that is going on in our industry it is imperative that the servicing community at large pays particular attention to vendor selection. We are hearing that “bigger" may not always be “better”. The teaming approach, whereby smaller more nimble service providers who can listen to the challenges of the servicer and propose a solution that encompasses more than just one provider may be the way of the future.

Commercial banks are likely to lose the equivalent of 90% of the loan loss reserves they have set aside for commercial real estate loans, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank.

Lewis S. Ranieri, who helped pioneer conventional mortgage-backed securities in the early 1980s, is proposing a fix for the nation's housing mess.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hiked their guarantee fees in 2010, but the 10 largest seller/servicers to the GSEs continued to pay lower G-fees than their smaller competitors, according to a new report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Default servicing technology provider DecisionReady this week released a new compliance management module designed to aid servicers in handling their relationships with vendors.

You've got to look up and out. That is where you build your business. According to world renowned business management author Peter Drucker, "Growth for any company is found outside of its four walls, not from within." That is where you will find the business – outside of your four walls.

Several large Wall Street firms that played a key role in financing nonprime lenders this week asked a federal judge to dismiss a nearly $2 billion civil fraud lawsuit filed by the trustee of Thornburg Mortgage, the now defunct jumbo/super jumbo lender.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still falling short when it comes to keeping a watchful eye on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

House and Senate appropriators are giving the Government National Mortgage Association more flexibility to increase its staff despite Congressional emphasis on budget cutting and reducing deficits.

WASHINGTON — The government's share of the refinance mortgage market is even larger than previously estimated, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Residential loan brokers increased their origination market share by more than a full point in the second quarter, a sign that the sector may be gaining some momentum.

Housing starts surged in California during August, thanks largely to a huge jump in the multifamily sector.

The Mortgage Bankers Association will resume running the day-to-day operations of its MISMO subsidiary on Dec. 1, taking the task back from Merscorp, which has been handling those duties since February 2009.

Increasingly, residential servicers are facing a pivotal moment in meeting regulatory directives aimed at setting up a "single point of contact" for troubled borrowers seeking a loan modification or other workout option.

The Federal Reserve Thursday morning released its 2010 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database, concluding that a drop in the maximum GSE loan limit to $625,500 (from $729,750) will have only a "small" impact on mortgage originations going forward.

Home prices rose by almost 1% in July after a 0.7% increase in June, according to the new house price index released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to yet another new low Thursday, 1.75%, as stocks sold off over new double-dip recession fears.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency as early as Thursday could release its annual report on guarantee fees charged to mortgage bankers by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to industry officials.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins this week filed suit against MERSCORP, seeking a judicial determination of whether the industry's use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System is legal in the Lone Star State.