Mortgages

Residential servicing workers, in some cases, are going through six to 10 weeks of intensive training in preparation to become effective single-point of contact liaisons for at-risk borrowers.

A dozen local housing markets have shown enough improvement over the last six months to make the cut for a new "good news" index the National Association of Home Builders hopes will take some of the spotlight off national measures that tend to portray only gloom and doom.

Municipalities are using vacant property registration and code enforcement systems to cut back unprecedented foreclosure inventory management expenses.

Radian Guaranty Inc., Philadelphia, reported a decline of roughly 600 loans in its delinquent loan inventory for August. But new notices of problem loans (late payers) outpaced cures by about 1,600 loans.

Roughly 9.43% of commercial real estate loans – including multifamily product -- that have been securitized are now 30-days or more late, a record, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Congress is working to prevent a lapse in the availability of federal flood insurance money by the end of September, a move that could help bolster the fortune of mortgage bankers who fund loans in areas prone to flooding.

Small mortgage banking companies hustled in the second quarter to go after the mortgage purchase business and remained profitable as refinancings dried up.

Bank of America Corp. chief executive Brian Moynihan promised investors he would save $5 billion in costs by 2013, but was otherwise scarce on details during a much-anticipated speech on Monday.

Work-life balance has come up in the news, in a rather unexpected way. In a ruling dismissing an employee pregnancy discrimination case against Bloomberg LP, Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan declared that employers are not required by the law to make sure there is a work-life balance.

Last week, we reported in this space that a construction crane, the state bird of Florida, had landed in the Miami area. The crane hasn't been seen in these parts in several years, and some were saying it should be added to the endangered species list, if not named as extinct. Now, it appears a whole flock is returning.

SAN JOSE, CA—Almost all of the activity regarding regulation and legislation of mortgage origination activity is happening on the federal front, members of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals said at their annual convention here.

Specialty mortgage servicer Wingspan Portfolio Advisors says it is further expanding into new residential-related sectors, including technology and insurance.

The Washington and Baltimore markets closed out the summer home buying season with their best August in years, according to a pending sales index devised by the local multiple listing service.

Demand for Federal Housing Administration single-family loans slowed in July with residential lenders originating just $16 billion of government-backed product.

Chicago's City Council published an ordinance late last week that would require banks, mortgage servicers and institutional investors to maintain vacant properties before the homes have gone through foreclosure.

In Aug. 3 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Thomas Hamilton, speaking on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, stated that possible steps to take to solve the issues currently affecting our mortgage finance system could include the government limiting the amount of borrowing that banks can do from the Federal Home Loan Banks, and developing a market for covered bonds in the United States.

Identifying potential buybacks can be particularly challenging when refinancing application volume picks up as it did recently when rates dropped notably during a volatile period in the market.

Military Housing Privatization Initiative bond financings could be negatively affected by budget cuts expected to hit the Department of Defense, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is looking at raising the 125% LTV cap on refinancing underwater borrowers while considering other enhancements to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program, according to agency acting director Edward DeMarco.

Obama Administration officials have identified several constraints on the HARP program -- including mortgage buyback risk -- that are keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller/servicers from refinancing underwater borrowers.