The Mortgage Bankers Association has asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to tweak its current re-inspection policy, which may be interfering with certain home-sale transactions. In a recent letter, the MBA asked HUD to realign its re-inspection policy with those of the government-sponsored enterprises and the VA to prevent it from hindering sales that were in progress prior to hurricanes Harvey and Irma but had not closed when the storms hit. The MBA said the current policy requires that the inspection be completed after the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “incident period.” HUD interprets this to mean the end date of the incident period. Because such periods can run anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months and could be reopened or extended, many borrowers face needless delay from completing a home sale, even where there is no ...
Industry Trade Groups Call for Compton Vote. A coalition of 28 trade groups representing the mortgage and real-estate industries has urged the Senate leadership to bring Paul Compton’s nomination as general counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the floor for a vote. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved Compton’s nomination in July but no further action has been taken since. In a joint letter, the coalition underscored the importance of the role of HUD general counsel in the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The groups urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to provide all the necessary resources to help in the disaster recovery and to put the HUD general counsel in place, which is critical to the recovery efforts. On Sept. 14, the Senate confirmed ...
In the second quarter, the top three HEL originators were Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo, according to a new ranking from Inside Mortgage Finance…
UWM isn’t alone among the optimists, but its closest brethren in the “feeling good” club are nonprime/non-QM lenders such as Angel Oak, Citadel and Caliber…
The supply of home-equity loan debt outstanding has been in such a steady decline since 2007 that even the mild revival in new lending has been unable to stop. At the end of June, there was $585.09 billion of HEL debt outstanding, including home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages. That was down 0.7 percent from March. The vast majority of those loans, some $556.94 billion, were held in portfolio by banks, savings institutions and credit unions. There was...[Includes three data tables]
Drawing to a close, the third quarter of 2017 is turning out to be modestly better than some lenders expected with both profits and production volumes getting a second wind recently thanks to falling interest rates. “We’re having a great quarter,” said Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, Troy, MI. According to Ishbia, not only will UWM post record originations of $8.6 billion in the third quarter, but volume at the privately held nonbank will be about 20.0 percent higher than ever before. According to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, UWM is...
After a couple of slow weeks, there appears to be renewed interest among investors looking to buy mortgage servicing rights, but in certain markets caution is being expressed regarding properties where hurricane damage might be an issue. In mid-September, Fannie Mae issued a bulletin temporarily suspending servicing transfers involving properties located within designated disaster areas. A week after the Sept. 13 bulletin was issued, Fannie clarified to market participants that the bulletin was meant as guidance and not a firm directive or prohibition on MSR transfers. According to Incenter Mortgage Advisors, Denver, some sellers of Fannie receivables “elected...