California Capital Real Estate Advisers of Pasadena, CA, could quadruple its hard-money production volume this year, according to Mark Mozilo, a principal in the firm. “The rehab business is going crazy here,” Mozilo said. He estimated that 80 percent of CALCAP’s business is in the rehabilitation category. “There’s a lot of fix-it-up and flip it activity,” he said. Although the “quadruple” estimate sounds impressive, the firm’s overall production volume is tiny compared to conventional lenders ...

“The policy mix is very much weighted on the side of not lending, or at least not underwriting anything but a prime loan,” according to Chris Whalen, an executive vice president and managing director at Carrington Investment Services. Whalen and others spoke last week at a panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. The industry analysts said actions by federal regulators are limiting issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Tom Zimmerman, a managing director at UBS, said ...

The five servicers participating in the $25 billion national servicing settlement will face increased scrutiny due to complaints regarding their compliance with the settlement. In addition to requiring a certain amount of loss mitigation actions on non-agency loans, the settlement set standards to be followed by the servicers. Joseph Smith, the settlement’s monitor, said he is establishing additional metrics for the settlement to address complaints about actions by Ally Financial, Bank of America ...

The Obama administration’s 2014 budget proposal calls for a Home Affordable Refinance Program for non-agency borrowers, although prospects for getting legislation through Congress remain slim. The proposed budget included a small section entitled “finish the task on universal refinancing for responsible homeowners.” The section noted that the Obama administration worked with the government-sponsored enterprises in 2012 to double the number of HARP refinances for GSE borrowers with negative equity ...

The non-agency MBS market produced $8.33 billion in new transactions during the first quarter of 2013, its strongest issuance in nearly two years, and did so the old-fashioned way by relying heavily on “new” prime jumbo mortgages. The first three months of 2013 saw nearly a threefold increase in non-agency MBS issuance compared to the previous quarter and was 65.1 percent ahead of the pace set in 2012, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Although over half the issuance volume was in re-securitizations and deals backed by servicer advances, the most encouraging sign was the continued rebound in prime jumbo MBS production. Redwood Trust made good...[Includes three data charts]

A total of $47.13 billion of new non-mortgage ABS were issued during the first quarter of 2013, a solid 31.2 percent gain from the end of last year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking of issuers and underwriters. The fast start for 2013 ABS issuance was up 15.1 percent from the first three months of last year, although it came up short of three of the strongest quarters since the financial market meltdown in late 2008, including the second quarter of 2012. If new issuance can maintain its current pace for the rest of the year, 2013 could see the strongest ABS production volume since before the crash. The driver so far has been...[Includes two data charts]

The non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security market expanded significantly in the first quarter of 2013, with more new issuance than was produced in all of last year, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. Issuance showed no signs of slowing down entering the second quarter, led by Redwood Trust. Some $3.95 billion in non-agency jumbo MBS was issued in the first quarter, compared with $3.46 billion in issuance in all of last year. The last time non-agency ... [Includes one data chart]

Moody’s Investors Service said it would not have given its highest rating to the jumbo mortgage-backed security issued last week by JPMorgan Chase because of concerns about the deal’s representation and warranty framework and the lack of risk retention by Chase. DBRS, Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency gave JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2013-1 AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 7.40 percent on the top-rated tranche. The rating services said the credit enhancement on the deal was ...

With banks starting to issue jumbo mortgage-backed securities instead of holding originations in portfolio, the sector has expanded beyond the two nonbanks that propped up non-agency jumbo MBS issuance since 2010. The activity shows favorable economics for non-agency MBS, including tighter spreads on interest rates between conforming mortgages and non-agency jumbos. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage was 3.596 percent this week, according to Inside Mortgage Finance ...

Springleaf Financial is set to issue another subprime mortgage-backed security backed by vintage originations. The fifth deal from Springleaf since 2011 shows continued demand from investors for non-agency MBS. Springleaf’s $835.11 million MBS will receive a AAA rating with loss coverage of 55.5 percent on the top-rated tranche, according to a presale report released this week by Standard & Poor’s. The average seasoning of the loans is seven years. As with previous Springleaf deals, all of ...