Ocwen officials said last week that they are in talks with various mortgage holders to acquire more than $250 billion in mortgages to service. “We are in the midst of several discussions that could result in one or more substantial additional transactions later this year or early next year,” said William Erbey, chairman of Ocwen.Ron Faris, president and CEO of Ocwen, added that many of the deals are large and could involve servicing platforms. Most of the potential acquisitions are related to primary servicing, not subservicing.The announcement comes as Ocwen is set to ...

Fannie Mae is moving ahead to buy out some $880 million of distressed FHA and VA mortgages from multi-class structured securities the government-sponsored enterprise guaranteed because the sellers have stopped making contractually required interest shortfall payments after loan modifications resulted in lower interest rates. That means investors in those securities can expect to receive an unscheduled distribution on Aug. 25, 2011, the GSE said. Fannie made the initial purchase on Aug. 1, 2011. Fannie said it will release additional information on the purchase of the remaining ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development this week announced a “request for information” on how to best sell Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA-owned real estate owned properties. The regulators are looking for ways to dispose of REO inventory while improving loss recoveries and adding to the supply of rental housing, according to the RFI. “While the [government-sponsored enterprises] will continue to market individual REO proper-ties for sale, FHFA and the enterprises seek input on ...

More than 57,000 delinquent borrowers are expected to benefit – if they can be found – from a recent settlement between Bank of America and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, resolving agency concerns about the bank’s failure to offer loss mitigation options to FHA borrowers. The previously undisclosed settlement, which was confirmed by HUD officials, requires Bank of America to set aside a minimum of $10 million to pay down arrearages for FHA borrowers who are 12 months delinquent and qualify for a partial claim, a forbearance plan, a traditional modification ...

Like many industry commenters, consumer groups are urging federal regulators to lighten up on what has been largely regarded as an overly-restrictive definition of “qualified residential mortgages” that will get preferential treatment in future mortgage securitizations. The interagency risk-retention proposed rule would limit QRM status to purchase mortgages with a minimum 20 percent downpayment and conservative underwriting standards on debt-to-income ratio and credit history. The proposed QRM rule will “further slow the process of clearing ...

Struggling with a run of huge losses well into its fifth year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now confront the added challenge of worsening financial condition among private mortgage insurers, one of the few backstops the government-sponsored enterprises have to offset some of their losses. Fannie noted in its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the “current weakened condition” of its mortgage insurer counterparties has created “an increased risk that the insurers will fail to fulfill their obligations” to reimburse the GSE for its ...

The real estate industry may try to push for a loan limit measure in an appropriations bill after Labor Day but whether that will result in an extension of the current temporary high-cost area loan limit is unclear, industry sources say. Industry strategists are said to be considering an attempt to use the next budget bill as a vehicle for a provision extending the existing maximum loan limit of $729,750, but there are concerns about this approach. Piggybacking an extended loan limit proposal on to a budget bill would be difficult given the bitter ...

Mortgage lenders faced a rising tide of repurchase requests from the secondary market during the second quarter of 2011, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of earnings reports from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises said they realized $4.1 billion in repurchases and indemnifications during the second quarter, up 46 percent from the first three months of the year. It was the second largest repurchase binge on record, trailing only the $5.9 billion reported for the fourth quarter of 2010. Most of the damage was done by ... [contains one data chart]

Private mortgage insurers took heavy losses during the second quarter of 2011 but managed to recover some market share that had been lost earlier in the year to the FHA, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Overall, mortgage lenders originated $82.70 billion of home loans with primary mortgage insurance coverage during the second quarter, down 11.6 percent from the first three months of the year. That was measurably better than the 18.5 percent sag in total mortgage originations, however, and it lifted the primary MI share of new business to ... [contains four data charts]

The House Financial Services Committee’s second highest ranking Democrat is again facing ethics charges stemming from actions she allegedly took to aid a minority bank connected to her husband to recover losses it suffered when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock plummeted after the GSEs were put into conservatorship.The House Ethics Committee announced two weeks ago it will restart its investigation of ethics charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, with the hiring of Washington, DC, attorney Billy Martin as an outside counsel to the committee to “review, revise and assist the committee in completing the matter.”