Fewer mortgage lenders were terminated in 2011 through the FHA Credit Watch Termination Initiative than in the preceding three years. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2011 Credit Watch termination list, only 20 approved lenders lost their authority to originate and underwrite FHA loans. The number was way down from 2010, when a record 122 mortgagees had their origination approval agreements with HUD and the FHA ended. Poor performance of FHA-insured loans originated by the mortgagee results in a termination. Specifically, an agreement with a lender may be terminated if ... (includes one chart)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed to eliminate an outmoded appeals process for determining the maximum FHA mortgage loan limits in certain areas. Published in the Jan. 13 Federal Register, the proposed rule specifically would do away with regulations that allow HUD to set the area-based loan limits on a yearly basis and permit appeals of these loan limits. The appeals were once an important source of data for HUD because it allows any party to submit documentation in support of alternative mortgage limits if that party believes the limit set by HUD did not reflect the median house prices in an area. The loan limit appeals process was set ...

MetLife Home Loans (MHL), one of the top FHA-approved mortgage lenders and FHA servicers, has quit the loan origination business and stopped accepting new applications for forward mortgages. A residential mortgage arm of MetLife Bank, MHL said it is shutting down its various residential and construction loan programs and continuing its reverse mortgage program. The home loan division will honor all contractual commitments for loans in process and expects the majority of loans to close in 90 days. MHL began originating traditional, jumbo and reverse mortgages in 2008. However, dwindling revenues prompted ...

FHA-approved mortgage lenders are now required to disclose whether a purchase transaction was sold previously as a real estate owned property, including home equity conversion mortgages. In a general notice to lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said all previous REOs sold in a purchase transaction must show their former REO case number in FHA Connection. The notice applies to HECM loans as well because an assigned HECM loan can become an REO property, explained a HUD spokesman. It became effective on Jan. 14. Meanwhile, HUD also announced ...

Two independent mortgage firms have made key changes to their operations to provide better subservicing solutions to FHA and VA lenders as well as reverse mortgage originators. Gateway Mortgage Group, a privately held mortgage bank based in Tulsa, OK, recently announced a new in-house subservicing unit dedicated solely to specialty and default servicing of FHA and VA loans. The decision to set up a subservicing shop became necessary due to the more stringent government loan requirements and increased oversight by regulators, according to Kevin Osuna, vice president of default services. Community bank servicers and smaller institutions were struggling ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s announcement last week that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will increase their guarantee fees on new single-family MBS is likely just the first step in a progression of fee hikes over the next two years, MBS analysts predict. The across-the-board 10 basis point increase in guarantee fees for single-family MBS will take effect April 1, according to announcements by the two government-sponsored enterprises this week. The fee hike implements provisions in the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, H.R. 3765, passed by Congress and signed by...

Congress has approved legislation directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to raise FHA mortgage insurance premiums by 10 basis points within the next two years. The FHA premium increase provision was a late addition to the contentious payroll tax cut extension bill, corresponding to an intensely debated 10 bps increase in guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on single-family mortgage-backed securities. H.R. 3765, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, was approved by unanimous consent in the House and was previously cleared by the Senate. It extends...

The FHA has extended for one more year a temporary waiver of a regulation prohibiting property flipping in order to facilitate faster sale of its bulging real estate-owned inventory. The agency hopes that having the waiver in place until Dec. 31 will stimulate the rehabilitation of foreclosed and abandoned homes for another year, including properties being resold within 90 days of acquisition. The waiver is not limited to the resale of foreclosed properties. “Property flipping” occurs when a property acquired at a discounted price is resold for a considerable profit with an...

The one category of distressed loan that the federal government has the most control over – mortgages insured by the FHA and VA – continues to show the worst success rates for loan modifications. After 12 months of post-modification seasoning, over half (51 percent) of government-insured loans were 60 days or more past due, according to a report issued this week by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That compared to an overall 60+ re-default rate of 39 percent. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, along with loans held in the servicer’s portfolio, showed the best...

The timing and method of disposing of real estate owned properties will have significant implications for home prices, according to Fitch Ratings analysts. The supply of REO homes is unprecedented, with the large overhang of distressed properties in the housing market and weak demand, analysts said. The REO industry estimates that more than 2 million properties nationwide are in foreclosure and that 25 percent to 35 percent of all home sales are related to properties whose mortgages have defaulted. In a recent home-price projection report, which uses the rating agency’s Sustainable Home...