An analysis of modified mortgage loans shows Ocwen Financial’s modifications were the best in the field as the servicer focused not only on volume but on quality as well. Performed by Moody’s Investors Service, the report attributed Ocwen’s excellent results to its ability to take that extra step to prevent the loan from going to foreclosure and help distressed homeowners keep their homes. Moody’s focused on mortgages that were seriously delinquent at the height of the mortgage crisis ...

The Appraisal Foundation suggested this week that “alternative valuation products” likely will not comply with professional appraisal standards in most cases. If an AVP requires the same development and reporting requirements as an appraisal, the Appraisal Foundation said in a white paper, why would the industry create the AVP in the first place? The foundation noted that the Appraisal Standards Board does not deem any alternative valuation product or form as compliant with the industry’s ...

Nearly three-fourths of mortgages in Bank of America’s foreclosure review pipeline are on hold due to various regulatory and process delays, according to a new analysis by Moody’s Investors Service. The delays have caused foreclosures at the bank to last sometimes up to a year longer, on average, than foreclosure timelines for Freddie Mac. As of the end of August, Moody’s said BofA had 115,000 loans scheduled for foreclosure review. “Over 72 percent of the population was non-workable inventory because of ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have to dial back the multifamily spigot if they’re going to meet the targets their regulator wants them to as it seeks to shrink the GSEs’ presence in the space. It looks like it might require a bigger turn of the dial for Freddie than for Fannie. As part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco has called for a 10 percent reduction target in GSE multifamily business volume this year compared to 2012.

Declining refinance volume contributed to a marked decline in the GSEs’ overall business during September compared to the previous month, with Fannie Mae seeing a rise volume to the detriment of Freddie Mac, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.Fannie and Freddie issued $78.6 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the third quarter, a 20.0 percent decline from August but a 9.0 percent rise for the first nine months of 2013. [Includes one data chart.]

The “public voice” of the Federal Home Loan Bank system is calling on policymakers to remember the 12 regional banks as proposals are considered to restructure the nation’s housing finance system. A recently issued one-page “position paper” by the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks lists a set of nine positions the 12 have collectively adopted to remind official Washington that the system has “operated prudently and served as a mechanism for economic stability” for more than 80 years.

After an eight-year hiatus, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced last week it would renew its participation in the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, which is managed by the FHLBank of Chicago. Starting in 2014, the San Francisco Bank will purchase conventional, conforming fixed-rate mortgages and FHA/VA products, as well as purchase fixed-rate loans from its members for sale to Fannie Mae through the MPF Xtra program.

Fannie Mae officials said this week their decision to study from Freddie Mac’s inaugural risk-sharing transaction prompted them to take the time to obtain a rating on the deal. Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities Series 2013-C01 is scheduled to close on Oct. 24, according to a presale report released late last week by Fitch Ratings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week made the common securitization platform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a legal entity, filing paperwork with Delaware’s Division of Corporations, creating a limited liability company called Common Securitization Solutions LLC. The new limited liability company will be jointly owned by the two GSEs and will assume Fannie’s and Freddie’s securitization functions.

GSEs Issue Government Shutdown Guidance. Freddie Mac this week followed Fannie Mae in issuing new, temporary guidelines to servicers and sellers of single-family mortgages as the nation began its second week of the government shutdown. The GSEs have temporarily revised their selling guidelines to permit lenders to verify Social Security and IRS transcripts after the closing but before the delivery date of the loan.“Servicers can offer unemployment forbearance to borrowers that have a financial hardship as a result of the shutdown and must suspend credit reporting for those borrowers,” said Fannie.