Mortgage originations late last year sank to the lowest production level since the bottom fell out of financial markets in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders generated an estimated $305 billion in new originations during the fourth quarter of last year, a 33.7 percent decline from the third quarter. The mortgage market hasn’t been that slow since the fourth quarter of 2008, when production totaled just $260 billion. Production volume was...[Includes two data charts]
Concerns about the potential harmful effects that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s qualified-mortgage standard might have in the manufactured housing sector struck like lighting at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee this week, with CFPB Director Richard Cordray bristling at a perceived personal attack from a GOP member and demanding he be treated with respect. Storm clouds quickly gathered as Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, complained that the bureau’s QM rules and restrictions on high-cost loans would pretty much exclude manufactured housing – and then accused Cordray of deliberately trying to squash lower-income families. “Fifty percent of the homes in New Mexico are...
The Senate was scheduled to vote late this week on legislation that would delay excessive increases in flood-insurance premiums that are set to take effect as a result of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. Earlier this week, the Senate voted 86 to 13 to move forward with debate on the Homeowner Insurance Affordability Act (S. 1926), a bipartisan bill that was introduced in the Senate and in the House of Representatives to fix some of the ill effects of the Biggert-Waters Act. The vote stopped a filibuster seeking more subsidy cuts to the program. Sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, and Johnny Iskason, R-GA, the bill would delay...
Athas’ originations include stringent downpayment requirements: at the end of 2013, the weighted average loan-to-value ratio on loans held by RCP was 48 percent.
In supplemental materials to his speech, President Obama referenced the GSEs' “failed business model,” adding that taxpayers should never again be “on the hook for bad loans and bailouts.”
Bank of the West executive Paul Wible said the lender believes, "A well-underwritten, interest-only mortgage can be a good choice for our customers" and are safe for the depository to hold in portfolio.
Back in September SLS – a subsidiary of the publicly traded Stewart Information Services – bought key assets of Allon’s Allonhill LLC for an undisclosed sum.
Industry consultant Joe Garrett is telling clients that, “We’ve heard of at least one company that uses a fake rate sheet when recruiting loan officers. As you can guess, it shows really great rates, all fake, of course.”
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