It’s no secret that speculators wide and far are betting the common and preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could rise significantly as their profits continue to stay robust. But according to James Lockhart, who once headed the Federal Housing Finance Agency, these speculators are likely throwing their money away. Speaking at a recent housing forum sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, he noted that the Treasury Department owns the senior preferred of the GSEs and the senior stock “sits above” the junior shares. Lockhart said the government preferred will never be paid back, which means the junior holders are out of luck. Lockhart, who now serves as vice chairman of WL Ross & Co., said he does not own any stock in the two nor does he plan on buying any.

With just a week to go, the petition drive by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac common shareholders asking the White House to “restore fairness” to the value of their lost investment looks like it will fall woefully short of the required number of signatures. Created on June 1, the petition posted on the White House website calls for Congress, the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to enact a method “to provide fairness and protection” to common shareholders of the two GSEs “and enable shareholders to have participation in the recovery value of their stock.”

Banks and thrifts continued to push a high volume of home mortgages into the secondary market during the first three months of 2013, but the pace was slowing, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call report data. The industry reported $395.8 billion in single-family mortgage sales during the first quarter, down 5.1 percent from the previous period. It was a stronger sales volume than during the first quarter of 2012, however, and ranked as the fourth largest ... [Includes one data chart]

Although Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are reviewing recently originated mortgages more closely than they have in the past, the bulk of the whopping $13.21 billion in mortgage repurchases reported by the two government-sponsored enterprises during the first quarter came from loans originated years ago. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of repurchase activity reported by the two GSEs in Securities and Exchange Commission filings shows that 80.0 percent of the buybacks recorded in ... [Includes two data charts]

With the advent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, consumer complaints have been elevated to an unprecedented level of prominence in the regulatory arena. “How many of you have had a regulatory exam that focused on complaints?” asked Lyn Farrell, managing director at Treliant Risk Advisors, at a discussion session during the recent American Bankers Association’s compliance conference in Chicago. Seeing a number of hands rise from the audience in response, she continued: “If not, you will.” ...

In late May, in the time span of about 10 days, Bexil American Mortgage of San Diego saw its founder and national sales manager depart – not a good sign for a relatively young company that has been originating loans for less than two years. About a week after the news broke about the two men, the parent company reported a $7.1 million loss for the year. John Robbins, the founder and CEO of Bexil American Mortgage, told Inside Mortgage Trends that, “When you have a major shareholder disagree with ...

Short sales have become one of the most widely used lender strategies to reduce losses from distressed residential properties. Ironically, they also have triggered a wave of fraudulent activity. DataQuick, a provider of property information, products and solutions to the mortgage industry, says there are automated strategies and solutions lenders, servicers and investors can use to thwart short-sale fraud. However, one needs to know where to start. Just how bad is short-sale fraud? According to the ...

Mortgage performance has been boosted in recent years by home price appreciation, even with a move toward less borrower-friendly loan modifications. Industry analysts expect that mortgage performance will continue to improve and loan modification activity will decline significantly. National average home prices in the first quarter of 2013 were up by 6.7 percent compared with the first quarter of 2012, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index. During that time ...

Things are looking up in the private mortgage insurance business as the market becomes more stable and the industry could turn a profit in the near future, according to a new analysis by Standard & Poor’s. Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp.’s and Radian Guaranty Inc.’s debt and equity increases in the first quarter, as well as the restructuring implemented by Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp., have raised analysts’ hope and mitigated concerns about capital and the potential for any ...

Mortgage lenders that sell loans to the government-sponsored enterprises are seeing a significant increase in the volume of buyback reviews on recently originated mortgages, according to a new analysis of repurchase activity disclosures by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter. Through the first three months of 2013, GSE sellers had already repurchased some $80.6 million of loans securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 2012. That was more than double the volume of repurchases of mortgages originated in 2011. Loan quality didn’t deteriorate...