The proposed $4.3 billion merger of single-family rental operators Invitation Homes and Starwood Waypoint Homes will create a corporate landlord with 82,000 homes – and a behemoth of a potential client for Fannie Mae and possibly Freddie Mac. Earlier this year, Fannie agreed to provide Invitation Homes with $1 billion in financing. The deal broke new ground for the government-sponsored enterprise, but it also raised questions about whether a government-owned entity that received billions in taxpayer assistance should be lending money to a company (Invitation Homes) grubstaked by Wall Street. Since the Invitation-Fannie arrangement was unveiled, no other significant SFR financing vehicles involving a GSE has...
Attorneys for Fairholme Funds filed another motion this week requesting to view about 1,500 government documents in a lawsuit challenging the government’s net-worth sweep of profits at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And late last week, the government produced three more documents that were originally classified as “privileged.” In the new motion, the Fairholme attorneys asked the Federal Claims Court to use the “quick peek” procedure for more than 1,000 documents dating back to May 2012. These are among the many documents the plaintiffs say the government is still withholding under the deliberative process and bank examination privileges. It’s...
According to our calculation, Fannie common now trades at $2.80, a 20.17 percent improvement since the close of 2Q17, while Freddie’s value rose 21.08 percent to $2.70.
Officials at Starwood Property Trust announced last week that the company will acquire non-qualified mortgages with funding provided by new membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank system. Starwood is a real estate investment trust that has traditionally focused on commercial mortgages. Starwood said it gained membership in the FHLBank of Chicago shortly after the end of the second quarter of 2017. Jeffrey DiModica, president of Starwood, said the REIT will ...
Simplifying and aligning the default servicing policies of the conventional conforming and the government-backed mortgage markets would better serve the mortgage industry and homeowners, according to industry experts. In a recent discussion on how regulatory burden and high servicing costs might impede lending, members of the Mortgage Servicing Collaborative agreed on the need for streamlined and harmonized federal, state and agency policies and rules on servicing. Increased regulatory requirements have caused mortgage-servicing costs to skyrocket in recent years, experts said. Even though the quality of servicing has improved, the new regulations are complex and costly, they noted. Multiple pressures placed upon servicers have suppressed mortgage lending, making it harder for borrowers with tainted credit to obtain a mortgage, according to the ...
Ginnie Mae will not have an annual summit this year but has rescheduled it for January 2018, according to Ginnie Mae’s new spokesperson. Michael Huff, senior advisor, congressional and stakeholder relations, said a new administration and staff departures have caused organizers to reconsider having the annual Ginnie Mae Summit this year, usually held in October. The Trump administration has yet to announce a nominee for the top job at Ginnie Mae since former president Ted Tozer left in January. David Kittle is reportedly a leading contender, but there has been no official announcement or confirmation. So far, Kittle has declined to comment. Kittle is a mortgage industry veteran who began as a loan officer and now heads his own company. He also was a top executive with the Mortgage Bankers Association and managed, among other things, the group’s political action committee. In addition, Kittle co-founded the ...
The issue of whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency will alter the dividend payments Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay the Treasury Department became a bit more complicated this month when agency Director Mel Watt hinted in correspondence he’s unlikely to make a change. But despite such a sentiment being expressed in a letter to the National Association of Realtors, there continues to be a school of thought among certain lobbyists and trade group officials that a change is coming. “I still think...
Members of Congress have left Washington, DC, for their summer recess, and mortgage industry representatives are using the time to plan strategy and educate lawmakers on key issues to help propel a number of measures across the finish line before the year ends. The most time-sensitive issues are reauthorizing the national flood insurance program and setting budgets for FHA and Ginnie Mae activity in fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, 2017. Lawmakers will be looking to deal with these in September. Authority for the National Flood Insurance Program expires...
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