There’s a growing interest on the part of new investors in buying residential mortgage servicing rights, but observers say a major impediment for the market is a lack of confidence that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will acknowledge their ownership rights. “It’s a problem,” said Tom Piercy, managing member of Interactive Mortgage Advisors, a servicing brokerage and advisory firm. “Fannie and Freddie could learn a thing or two from Ginnie.” The phrase “new investors” generally applies...
Fannie Mae’s plan to unload potentially billions of dollars’ worth of non-performing loans has been delayed and may even be scuttled, according to industry officials tracking the project. Fannie has been working on an NPL sale for close to a year, and has even hired an investment banker, Milestone Advisors LLC, to guide it through the auction process. Initially, it had hoped to offer a package of $250 million of delinquent home mortgages for sale to the highest bidder. Although the government-sponsored enterprise would not comment...
Industry groups are urging Congress and the FHA to consider incorporating risk-sharing into the agency’s business model while appearing leery of other proposals, such as risk-based pricing and reduced FHA coverage. Testifying at a hearing before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors said that while they do not support risk-sharing between FHA and private mortgage insurers, it is an option that is worth exploring in the context of FHA reform. There was...
Consumer advocates are calling on the Obama administration to extend the Home Affordable Modification Program beyond the end of this year. While HAMP is far from meeting performance goals set by the administration, consumer advocates claim the program is favorable to proprietary loan modifications completed by servicers. “Extending the HAMP program for several years – or, at a minimum, for one year – would greatly assist the housing market in general and neighborhoods most affected by high foreclosure rates in particular by helping more homeowners avoid foreclosure,” 36 consumer groups, including the Center for Responsible Lending and the National Consumer Law Center, said in a recent letter to Jacob Lew, secretary of the Treasury Department. In January 2012, the Obama administration announced...
Two-thirds of the nearly 2,000 real estate agents that responded to a Campbell Communications and Inside Mortgage Finance survey want mortgage closings in 30 days or less.
Wells Fargo has unloaded most of - but not all - of its remaining servicing rights tied to reverse mortgages. However, the bank says it is still "committed" to seniors through home equity loans.
The upcoming White House meeting on mortgage and housing issues may not address loan standards at all. Wells confirms plan to hire MSR 'project manager.'
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