NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun: “The way they have raised premiums and fees – the way I view it and what I hear from Realtors – is essentially they are ripping off consumers. It’s almost as if HUD needs to be turned over to the CFPB to be investigated"...
The White House isn’t quite ready to pack it in on housing finance reform legislation this year, at least in the Senate, even as policymakers look ahead to take up the issue anew next year, say industry observers. The industry at large has all but written off the prospects of advancing a GSE reform bill in the 113th Congress following the bare minimum passage out of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee of S. 1217 by the committee’s chairman and ranking member Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID.
A Fannie Mae real estate-owned contractor engaged in a “clear pattern” of neglecting Fannie-owned vacant foreclosed homes in black and latino neighborhoods compared to white neighborhoods in four different cities, according to a discrimination complaint filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development this week. The National Fair Housing Alliance and two partners allege that Brandon, FL-based Cyprexx Services violated the federal Fair Housing Act by neglecting minority-owned Fannie REOs.
Reform legislation rolled out earlier this month by House Democrats that would phase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of business while dramatically expanding Ginnie Mae’s role in the market has been positively received within the industry, but room for improvement remains. The Partnership to Strengthen Homeownership Act, H.R. 5055, sponsored by House Democrats John Delaney (MD), John Carney (DE) and Jim Himes (CT), has zero chance of gaining traction this year. However, the lawmakers said they are playing the long game with their bill, looking ahead to the GSE reform debate in the 114th Congress.
Second-quarter bank earnings reports show a strong increase in overall mortgage banking profitability as new origination volume rebounded from historic lows set in the first three months of 2014. A new Inside Mortgage Trends review of earnings reports from 21 banks, including eight of the 10 largest banks in mortgage lending, reveals that the group generated $3.81 billion in second-quarter mortgage banking income. That was up 31.5 percent from ...
Not only are residential originations on the rise once again, but so are “signing bonuses” for top-flight loan officers who can bring in the volume. According to research from Garrett, McAuley & Co., signing bonuses being paid today range from $20,000 to $30,000, but “with some going much higher.” With production shifting toward purchase-money lending, LOs with deep ties to Realtors and homebuilders can fetch the most. But according to interviews ...
A federal judge last week granted limited discovery to a hedge fund representing a group of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders as they challenge the government’s “net worth sweep” of their profits. However, the court will keep a tight lid on public access to the documents in a nod to the government’s claim that a leak could have dire economic consequences on the mortgage market. Fairholme Capital Management has been pushing hard for discovery and access to internal government documents since the shareholder filed suit last summer demanding that the Treasury Department void its August 2012 Third Amendment to its preferred stock purchase agreement with Fannie and Freddie.
Concerns that rising interest rates will prompt current homeowners to stay in place are overblown, according to a number of industry analysts. A panel at Zillow’s latest housing forum this week focused on the issue of borrower lock-in, with most speakers downplaying the issue. Joseph Tracy, an executive vice president and senior advisor to the president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said his research has found that rising interest rates ...
Industry trade groups are lining up to express their dismay at a recent audit issued by the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which said both good and bad things about the risk nonbanks and small lenders pose to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The latest trade group missive was issued late this week by the Community Home Lenders Association: “By implication, the IG report seems to be pushing for more loans to be done at the big TBTF [too big to fail] banks by stating that small nonbank lenders are riskier for the enterprises and with little or no evidence to support the claim.”
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