Freddie Launches Broker Training Program to Boost REO Sales. Freddie Mac announced this week it has launched a new program to train real estate agents how to better move real estate-owned homes through its HomeSteps sales unit. Freddie’s new Certified Community Stabilization Expert program is an eight-hour online course developed by San Diego-based Community Asset Solutions to teach the latest lessons for selling REO homes, according to Chris Bowden, senior vice president, HomeSteps. The CCSE program curriculum is designed to help real estate professionals “work more effectively with nonprofits and local governments, take advantage of public initiatives for maintaining properties and create new outreach efforts for owner-occupant buyers, especially low- and moderate-income homebuyers,” said Bowden.

Mortgage brokers accounted for 9.6 percent of all loans originated in the the third quarter, one of the lowest readings ever, according to exclusive survey figures from Inside Mortgage Finance.

A publicly traded real estate investment trust is the buyer of Fannie Mae MSRs offered by CashCall, investment banking sources said.

Current homeowners have increasingly purchased homes with cash in lieu of a mortgage in recent months, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. Analysts suggest that the trend is driven by frustrations with the mortgage process and seasonal factors. Some 28.6 percent of home purchases completed in October relied solely on cash for financing, based on the three-month moving average. That was the second consecutive monthly increase in the cash-financing share, after it fell to 26.8 percent in August. While investors predominantly use cash to purchase homes, homeowners tend...

Jumbo mortgages have a higher risk of fraud than conforming mortgages, according to a new report from Interthinx.

With refinance volume falling and minimum net-worth requirements heading north, advisors in the mergers-and-acquisitions market say undercapitalized firms should sell now, while they still can. Larry Charbonneau, a principal of Charbonneau & Associates of Texas, said he is currently working on four deals but noted that, “There a lot of shops out there with less than $5 million in capital that need to do something but haven’t realized it yet.” Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have net-worth minimums in the $3 million range, there is...

Wells Fargo once again ranked first among issuers with a market share of 29.6 percent, followed by Chase Home Finance (12.1 percent), and U.S. Bank (3.8 percent).

Analysts commenting on the settlement note that while JPM did not admit any violations of law, it acknowledged in a “statement of facts” section that employees did not comply with company underwriting guidelines and representations.

Fannie Mae estimated that it incurred losses from short sales of the 10,310 non-owner occupied properties for 2012 totaling some $953.5 million.

Speaking at a housing finance forum sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic, Gene Sperling, a White House economic advisor, said the Obama Administration believes the “risks are simply too great and that this would recreate the problems of the past.”