Since the summer, the regulator has been pondering reducing the current $417,000 maximum loan limit and the “high cost” limit of $625,500. At the earliest, a change could come by January.
Rumors abound about mortgage firms either closing or laying off staff. Meanwhile, Auction.com, known for selling troubled real estate for banks and other investors, is offering up a $600 million pool of performing multifamily mortgages.
Industry advisors familiar with MIC told Inside Mortgage Finance that the nonbank VA refi specialist was almost sold to a bank this past summer, but the deal fell through.
“The exodus of a majority of the pre-crisis nonbank entities within the mortgage arena provides an opportunity for banks to re-establish their position within the mortgage market,” according to regulators in Connecticut.
On the servicing side of the balance sheet, Citigroup reported $180.3 billion in third-party servicing rights, a 2 percent decline from the same period last year.
Even due diligence firms such as Allonhill LLC of Denver have trimmed staff because their bank clients no longer need to conduct as many forensic reviews on legacy loan files. Allonhill was recently sold to Stewart Title, which hopes to grow the firm’s presence in the jumbo and nonconforming sectors.
Mortgage banking officials tracking the issue believe that if the agency is going to lower Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits for 2014 it will need to codify those changes by mid- to late October to give lenders time to update their technology systems.
FHA and VA are urging mortgagees and lenders to extend all possible assistance to borrowers who have been furloughed, laid off or suffered a decline in income because of the government shutdown.
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