Returning appraisal regulations back to the individual states would be counterproductive, according to James Park, executive director of the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Park and other experts spoke about the need for standardization and modernization at a hearing in the House Financial Services Committee this week. “Replacing the federal system with a state-based system would confuse, not streamline,” he said, noting that the “cornucopia” of statutes and guidelines are confusing and burdensome for everyone. Bill Garber, director of government and external relations at the Appraisal Institute, agreed...

In addition, each programming change would need to be tested…

Americans spend an average of 6 hours per day on social and mobile media, which has taken over television viewing.

Stonegate Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Nationstar Mortgage all recovered from second-quarter losses with net profits during the most recent cycle.

Rising interest rates – as long as they don’t rise too much – could spark a boom in servicing sales, predicted Tom Piercy of Incenter Mortgage Advisors.

Implementing the changes that the CFPB is proposing to its TRID rule will involve the deployment of a considerable amount of resources, time and energy, software vendors told the bureau recently. In a comment letter sent to the bureau, DocMagic said that many of the agency’s proposed changes would require a substantial amount of reprogramming by not only technology vendors but also by creditors, investors and settlement agents. “In addition, each programming change would need to be tested to ensure the software integrations among the thousands of companies in the industry work properly,” the company said. DocMagic also pointed out that it operates SmartCLOSE, which is a collaborative closing portal that allows creditors and settlement agents to collaborate to complete ...

Social media and mobile-digital communications have already reshaped a number of industries, and mortgage banking isn’t going to be any different, according to a leading guru in the field. Many of today’s loan officers are going to become obsolete unless they adapt to rapidly shifting consumer expectations, said Clara Shih, CEO and founder of Hearsay Social, during a session at the recent annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Although there are some ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted combined net income of $5.53 billion for the third quarter of 2016, representing their strongest cycle since the second quarter of 2015. Despite a mandated declining portfolio, the GSEs are beneficiaries of strong guarantee fees, which help drive income.Freddie more than doubled its net profit from the previous quarter to $2.33 billion. This was the company’s best performance since the $4.17 billion earned in the second quarter of 2015. Freddie attributed the gain to robust g-fee income and a steep reduction in hedging losses. Fannie’s net income was up for the quarter to $3.20 billion, also its strongest since earning $4.64 billion back in the second quarter of last year, and up from...

RE/MAX promises that its new loan brokerage franchise concept is RESPA compliant...

Credit Suisse issued two more series of notes this week on its mortgage-lending warehouse securitization offering, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The $1.20 billion in total new issuance from the Wall Street firm followed two notes it issued in August totaling $800 million. As with the August issuance, the new Mortgage Repurchase Agreement Financing Trust, Series 2016-3 and Series 2016-4, received A2 ratings from Moody’s. All of the deals were underwritten by Credit Suisse and HSBC Securities. The transactions are backed...