FHA and VA lenders don’t expect to see a major increase in business as a result of higher loan limits in 2017. The national “floor” loan limit for FHA is climbing $4,615 to $275,665. The maximum for high-cost markets will increase to $636,150, the same as for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, up $10,650 from this year. At best, lenders say the impact will be marginal to moderate, given the tight housing market and interest-rate fluctuations. Some lenders expect to see a flurry of ...

“Mortgage originations get crushed,” according to the latest forecast from Freddie Mac’s economic and housing research group. A number of industry analysts have adjusted their originations forecasts as interest rates on mortgages have increased recently and could climb higher next year. “Mortgage market activity will be significantly reduced by higher mortgage rates, especially refinance originations, which are likely to be cut in half,” said Sean Becketti, Freddie’s chief economist ...

If lenders evaluated borrowers more “holistically” and put less emphasis on credit scores, the share of minorities receiving purchase mortgages could increase significantly, according to analysts at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. Laurie Goodman, director of the HFPC, and Alanna McCargo, the co-director, noted that some 70.0 percent of purchase mortgages originated in 2015 went to white borrowers. They suggested that the disparate impact of tight credit is ...

The share of borrowers who want to use a mobile device as part of the mortgage shopping and origination process has increased significantly in the past year, according to survey results from Fannie Mae. The demand for mortgage-related activities completed via cell phones should prompt action from lenders, according to Steve Deggendorf, a director of market insights research at Fannie. “Lenders such as Quicken and Sofi have already begun to reflect the mobile demands of ...

To streamline the mortgage process Freddie Mac recently approved a handful of mortgage vendors that sellers/servicers can use to have promissory note documents digitally signed. The mortgage industry has been behind when it comes to utilizing technology but Freddie is hoping to expedite the process by publishing a list of pre-approved eMortgage vendors. The list highlights vendors that have met its minimum functional, legal and security review requirements for creating, signing and storing electronic promissory notes. These eNotes detail the repayment obligation of the borrower to the lender. While sellers typically don’t need special approval to use electronic documents as long as their procedures meet the GSEs’ requirements, Samuel Oliver III, vice president of transformation management for the single-family business at...

The loans funded by Sterling and Lendsure entailed the use of bank statements to verify borrower income.

Then there’s the case of Bill Dallas, the industry veteran who runs Skyline Home Loans in Calabasas, CA. “Winter is coming,” he said in a brief email exchange with Inside Mortgage Finance.

Of the three reverse mortgage firms, American Advisors Group was fined the most: $400,000...

Have any of the GSE stock speculators that bought on the cheap cashed out of their gains?

The average loan-to-value ratio for the securitized FHA and VA loans were 92.3 percent and 94.6 percent, respectively.