Seemingly small differences in monthly mortgage payments for borrowers in bankruptcy helped prompt an $81.6 million settlement between Wells Fargo and the Department of Justice late last week. The DOJ’s U.S. Trustee Program said Wells repeatedly violated federal bankruptcy rules that took effect in December 2011 and imposed more detailed disclosure requirements to ensure proper accounting of fees and charges for borrowers in bankruptcy. The main instance cited in the settlement agreement was...
Promoting affordable housing by recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the premise of a new study released this week by the Brookings Institution arguing that their conservatorship should come to an end. Obama administration officials have previously rejected such proposals. The paper noted that the Treasury Department’s sweep policy, which takes the bulk of Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits, limits the government-sponsored enterprises’ ability to promote homeownership and expand access to affordable home ownership, especially among low-income households. Robert Shapiro, former Brookings fellow, and chairman of Sonecon, LLC, along with Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at Brookings, said...
Despite a recovering housing market, the number of first-time homebuyers fell to the lowest level it’s been in close to 30 years, according an annual survey from the National Association of Realtors. The share of first-time buyers in the marketplace declined for the third year in a row, dipping to 32 percent, from 33 percent a year ago. The NAR said it hasn’t been that low since the trade group began the survey in 1981. Recent numbers show it’s the second lowest it’s been since 1987, when first-timers accounted for 30 percent of the market. Historically, the long-term average shows...
Mortgage lenders now have to be careful about how they draft an MSA, even if the industry’s preexisting forms are mostly similar from one law firm to another.
The goal of the program is to help stabilize neighborhoods that were hardest hit by the real estate downturn by letting local community organizations review and purchase foreclosed properties first.
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