Federal Housing Administration Anti-Flipping Waiver Extended. The FHA has extended its temporary anti-flipping waiver to hasten the resale of foreclosed homes in neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates. With certain exceptions, current FHA regulation prohibits insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. Early last year, the FHA temporarily set...

California remained the biggest source of new single-family mortgages for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2010, according to a new special report, GSE Market Profile: 2010, from Inside Mortgage Finance Publications. A total of $223.7 billion of home loans on California properties were securitized by the two GSEs, accounting for... [Includes one data chart]

Faced with their toughest challenges, mortgage servicers must realign and strengthen their quality and risk control if they are to survive the current crisis and thrive in the future, according to a recent analysis of the servicing industry by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Soon, oversight of the mortgage servicing industry will be...

The Mortgage Bankers Association has filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC, to overturn a controversial rule interpretation on overtime for mortgage loan officers issued by the Department of Labor last year. The lawsuit challenges procedures the DOL followed...

State courts are fixing the foreclosure mess with tough measures, including a requirement for lawyers, lenders and service providers in foreclosure cases to vouch for the accuracy of documents they submit. In New Jersey, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) handed the mortgage industry something to crow about regarding the validity of mortgage loan assignments in foreclosure cases – which, ironically, may not amount to a hill of beans beyond the Bay State, according to compliance experts. Contrary to claims of consumer victory and negative implications for the mortgage industry, the SJC in U.S. Bank National Association v. Ibanez held...

In a rare show of solidarity, industry and community groups urged federal risk-retention rulemakers not to settle for a narrow definition of “qualified residential mortgage.” A coalition of consumer advocates and real estate industry trade associations warned...

Revisions to Community Reinvestment Act regulations to support stabilization of communities affected by high foreclosure levels take effect soon. Starting Jan. 19, bank and thrift activities aimed at supporting eligible development activities in areas designated...[Includes two data charts]

Compliance experts are urging government-approved lenders that work with “sponsored third-party originators,” or loan correspondents, to revise their quality control plan immediately and implement the Federal Housing Administration’s latest quality control requirements. The new requirements are...

Federal regulators are divided on whether to add national mortgage servicing standards to forthcoming risk-retention rules, and unless the agencies come to an agreement soon, risk-retention rulemaking could be seriously delayed. Regulators are hoping...