The Federal Housing Finance Agency remains resistant to taking on Property-Assessed Clean Energy loans despite this week’s announcement that the FHA will allow PACE loans.PACE programs provide financing for home energy improvements and water conservation, repaid through an assessment added to the property’s tax bill. FHA’s new guidance addresses state programs where the PACE obligation is treated like a property tax with priority over an FHA mortgage lien.However, like other mortgage industry critics of PACE loans, FHFA Director Mel Watt, said he continues to have “serious concerns” with how PACE programs are financed.
Trade groups and a long list of Congressmen are crying foul and urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to not include a question asking borrowers’ language preference on its new Uniform Residential Loan Application. The FHFA, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are considering adding the question as a last- minute addition to the URLA. However, in June, nine trade groups, including the American Bankers Association, Consumer Mortgage Coalition and Mortgage Bankers Association, wrote FHFA Director Mel Watt to voice their concerns, many of which focused on compliance and discrimination issues. They argued that a language preference question requires lenders to ask borrowers sensitive questions before...
Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency released a map highlighting eligible borrower locations for its principal-reduction program and instructed servicers to begin soliciting borrowers. The interactive map highlights where the most eligible borrowers are located for its new principal reduction option for loan modifications. The number of borrowers eligible to take advantage of the program has declined some. When it was announced in April, the FHFA estimated that 33,622 borrowers would be eligible, but it has since lowered that estimate to 30,000. The FHFA attributes the reduction to a “continuously evolving housing market” that may have improved in some areas.
A growing number of lenders are partnering with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer low downpayment products requiring as little as 1 to 3 percent down. Many were announced without much fanfare and this has created a quiet comeback of sorts, according to Deutsche Bank.So far, seven lenders, including three large traditional banks, have introduced programs this year. Although the GSEs cap their high loan-to-value products at 97 percent, some lenders step in and subsidize the extra funds needed to make up the difference to help cash-strapped borrowers.The GSEs began offering their 97 percent LTV programs in late 2014 after they phased it out several years earlier.
Most voters are not happy with housing and mortgage access and favor more government intervention, according to a national housing poll of 1000 likely voters released last week by Investors Unite. More than half of those familiar with Fannie Mae Freddie Mac, 55 percent, had a favorable view of the mortgage giants. The survey was done in late June by Douglas Schoen, founder of Schoen Consulting,a pollster and democratic campaign consultant. It included views on homeownership, housing policies and the GSEs. He said the desire for policy change is “widespread and urgent.”
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking to prevent GSE shareholder and director of Investors Unite, Tim Pagliara, from inspecting the corporate records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Pagliara filed a lawsuit in state courts in March hoping to gain access, as an individual stockholder, to the GSEs’ records to determine the circumstances surrounding the sweep. Fannie, incorporated in Delaware, and Freddie, incorporated in Virginia, both denied his request to review the records earlier this year. Pagliara then argued that his rights as a shareholder were denied for “no legitimate basis.” This week, the FHFA filed a motion to substitute itself for Pagliara and remove...
Ginnie Mae edged past Freddie Mac in servicing outstanding on single-family mortgages tied to mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. MBS disclosure reports show the supply of Ginnie mortgage servicing rights grew 2.1 percent during the second quarter, climbing to $1.576 trillion, excluding multifamily and reverse mortgage MBS. The supply of Freddie single-family servicing edged up just 0.4 percent from March, reaching $1.558 trillion and slipping to third in the agency MSR market. Fannie Mae single-family MSR servicing declined...[Includes two data tables]
While some banks have reduced their FHA lending in recent years and alternatives from the government-sponsored enterprises are still gaining traction, homebuyers still have access to low-downpayment mortgage programs, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. “Most real estate agents say high loan-to-value ratio mortgages are readily available, especially for homebuyers with good credit,” said Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys. The HousingPulse survey covering activity in June included...
A recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court goes against servicers’ practice of changing the lock on a property before a foreclosure. While such practices are generally allowed under mortgage contracts and have been approved by other states, the Washington state court ruling is favorable to 3,600 borrowers in a class-action lawsuit and could cause further issues for servicers. Laura Jordan v. Nationstar Mortgage centered on Nationstar’s actions after the borrower defaulted on her mortgage. A vendor acting on behalf of Nationstar inspected the property, deemed it to be vacant and changed the lock on the front door. The vendor also left a lockbox on the door with the key to the new lock and the borrower was provided access to the key. Jordan represents...
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