Redwood Trust has seen strong demand from borrowers and correspondent lenders for its “expanded prime” program that the aggregator introduced last year. The real estate investment trust’s Choice products allow for somewhat looser underwriting than the super-prime mortgages that have dominated the jumbo market after the financial crisis. The Choice program was introduced in April 2016. Volume has increased relatively quickly and could top $1.0 billion this year. Officials say...
When House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, first introduced the second version of his Financial CHOICE Act, he acknowledged the comprehensive regulatory relief package might not make it through the Senate in one piece. He said he had a “short game” and a “long game,” suggesting he was open to small, incremental change while still pushing forward with more comprehensive change over the long haul. Last week, the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee executed a little of that “short game” strategy, holding a hearing to consider a handful of legislative proposals to foster a more efficient federal financial regulatory regime, including two mortgage-related bills. The potentially more significant bill is...
Mortgage originators that produce $1 billion to $4 billion a year in loans are continuing to be courted by potential suitors, but not many sale agreements are getting signed these days, according to investment bankers. “Private equity firms are still looking to enter the business, and sellers are listening, but I’m not seeing too many deals being completed,” said Chuck Klein, a managing partner at Mortgage Banking Solutions, Austin, TX. At the beginning of the year, Klein was...
At least 40 new loan brokerage firms have been created this year thanks to $500,000 in grant money donated last fall by United Wholesale Mortgage, Troy, MI. In fact, the effort has been so successful that, UWM – which is the largest table-funder of brokers – recently kicked in another $100,000. As for future growth in the initiative, that’s hard to say. UWM, so far, has been...
It’s back to square one for the Department of Labor after a federal court in Texas struck down an Obama administration proposal that would have made millions of people eligible for overtime pay, including some mortgage workers. Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Aug. 31 invalidated the DOL’s pending overtime regulations, which would have raised the salary threshold exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Obama administration finalized the proposed regulation in May last year but was unable to implement it after Mazzant granted a request for injunction filed by the Plano Chamber of Commerce and 55 other business groups last November. The business entities opposed...
The Mortgage Bankers Association, along with other housing trade groups, wants to make sure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac housing goals work in tandem with pending duty-to-serve requirements and multifamily volume caps to promote affordable housing. The MBA was one of about 10 groups that offered commentary on the proposed new housing goals for the government-sponsored enterprises for 2018 through 2020. The current goals expire at the end of the year. The Federal Housing Finance Agency released the proposed goals in June. The MBA said...
Roughly 27.3 percent of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae loans pooled in securities in the first half of 2017 were a month old at issuance, and 6.4 percent were two or three months old.
The growing reliance on nonbanks could pose a risk to the government housing agencies, according to a recent study by the Urban Institute’s Housing Policy Center. Just four years ago, banks originated 70 percent of new mortgages, the researchers noted. But in 2017 nonbanks are originating 60 percent of all new mortgages and 76 percent of loans destined to be securitized by Ginnie Mae. UI called...
While in the Bush White House, Montgomery assisted in HUD’s recovery and rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast and New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. He is expected to play a similar role in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
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