Freddie Mac, announced this week its first non-performing loan auction this week that primarily caters to smaller investors. The Extended Timeline Pool Offering of deeply delinquent NPLs gives investors who may need more time to secure funds for bidding a longer timeframe to do so. The loans for sale, all based in Miami-Dade County, FL, have an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $35 million.Having smaller pool sizes and a longer marketing timeframe differentiates the EXPO initiative from Freddie’s standard pool auctions. “This is intended to provide smaller investors extra time to secure funds to participate in Freddie Mac NPL auctions,” said the GSE. Qualified buyers have until June 2, 2015, to bid on the loans and the...
In an ongoing attempt to offer lenders more clarity and reduce buybacks, Fannie Mae has taken its new Collateral Underwriter program to the next phase and integrated it with other loan-processing systems.After introducing Collateral Underwriter in January, Fannie announced on April 20 that it incorporated the tool with Desktop Underwriter, an automated underwriting system, and Early Check, the company’s pre-delivery loan eligibility and data evaluation tool. The GSE said this will provide a better view of risk on a loan across multiple applications, allowing lenders to address potential issues prior to loan delivery. CU, Fannie’s proprietary appraisal analysis application that gives lenders access to analytics, public records and other data when...
Fannie Mae recently launched a new program to help first-time homebuyers purchase a home while alleviating any possible confusion surrounding the buying process. As part of the HomePath Ready Buyer Education Program, qualified buyers could receive up to three percent closing cost assistance once they complete an online education course. The class is an important component of the program, according to Fannie. “Purchasing your first home can be an overwhelming process,” said Fannie’s Jay Ryan, vice president of REO Sales. “We developed the HomePath Ready Buyer program to provide first-time homebuyers with the knowledge to make informed decisions as they navigate the complexities of the homebuying process.”
The outstanding supply of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family servicing contracted slightly during the first quarter of 2015, but that didn’t stop a number of nonbank servicers from continuing to grow.The two GSEs had a total of $4.015 trillion of servicing attached to mortgage-backed securities at the end of March, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of MBS disclosures.That was down 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, although the MBS data usually don’t match aggregate disclosures made by the GSEs themselves and they don’t include non-securitized loans. The top five GSE servicers all saw their portfolios decline in early 2015. The biggest drops in percentage terms were by Chase Home Finance, down...(includes one data chart)
In response to a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, that questioned some of the decisions surrounding the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements, the Treasury fired back a response defending the PSPAs. The Treasury’s letter began by addressing “misconceptions” that Treasury and taxpayers have been repaid for the commitment of public funds to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Treasury did not make an ordinary loan to the enterprises; instead, it committed and continues to make available, hundreds of billions of dollars of capital, an amount that far exceeds the $187.5 billion in funding drawn by the enterprises to date,” the letter said.
The GSEs have provided multifamily financing for more than two decades, but their dwindling role has some worried that it has adverse effects on the underserved and low-income segment of the multifamily market. Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency said it is working to slow the decline, an April brief by the Urban Institute pointed out that with the increasing demand and costs of renting, the agency may need to do more in maintaining or increasing the GSE role in multifamily. In the past 25 years, the dollar volume of GSE multifamily financing has grown from $4.5 billion in 1990 to more than $57 billion at the end of 2014. But recent declines show that Fannie’s and Freddie’s
Treasury Counselor Michael Stegman said despite the inability to recapitalize, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the housing market in general, are better off under the current conservatorship plan. He pointed to lower bowering costs as one of the advantages. The Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement, in which the Treasury gets the bulk of the GSEs profits, has been a source of frustration for some. However, Stegman, speaking at a Financial Services Roundtable event in Washington last week, said he wanted to “correct the record.” “The dividends that Treasury receives are not a repayment for the capital support and backstop that Treasury has provided,” he said. “The fact is that the PSPAs provide tremendous value to the GSEs. Market participants continue to have confidence...
The House passed a bill last week that would allow privately-insured credit unions to apply for membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. H.R. 299, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015, was introduced by Reps. Joyce Beatty, D-OH, and Steve Stivers, R-OH, in January. Credit unions did not have federal insurance until 1970, and Stivers said that many small institutions decided to remain privately-insured and state regulated. While the number is small compared to the more than 6,000 credit unions in the country, the approximately 130 privately-insured credit unions spread out in nine states don’t meet the FHLB System guidelines. Stivers said that a “legislative oversight” has blocked FHLB membership for this small...
Freddie Mac Single-Family Update. On April 15, Freddie updated several servicing requirements, adding a new modification option in Workout Prospector for modifying Rural Housing Service mortgages. Also, in Bulletin 2015-5, Freddie announced a new credit-risk transfer initiative that involves the GSE purchasing mortgages from certain seller/servicers and transferring them to one or more senior subordinate trusts.Fannie Mae Closes First Multifamily Green Building Certification Price Break Loan. Fannie announced that the first loan to close with its Multifamily Green Building Certification Pricing Break is a 50-unit rental property in NJ. The April 21 announcement stated that the Station House was acquired by Prudential Real Estate Investors and has a U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification. As a result of the reduction in...
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