Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders will be allowed to offer certain additional incentives to encourage more borrowers, particularly those underwater, to refinance under the Home Affordable Refinance Program, according to guidance issued by the two government-sponsored enterprises. The GSEs announced last week that lenders will be allowed to offer a refinancing incentive to underwater borrowers so they may obtain a lower payment or move to a more stable product or a shorter term. As a result of lender inquiries, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has led...
Although mortgage bankers are enjoying their strongest profit margins in years, smaller nonbank shops continue to live in fear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the auspices of their regulator may soon unveil higher net-worth minimums. Officially, the net-worth minimum is set at $2.5 million for both government-sponsored enterprises, although Fannie Mae has imposed volume limits on some newly approved seller/servicers that have posted big increases in their sales to the GSE. Several industry executives and their outside advisors fully expect...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's share of purchase-mortgage originations has increased each of the last two years, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends.
Residential mortgages sourced through the correspondent channel and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased by 26 percent in 2012 compared to the year before.
Mortgage bankers of all sizes continued to report strong earnings on their mortgage banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2012, but the salad days may be over.
Although Fannie Mae has set purchase limits on how much production newly approved seller/servicers can sell to the GSE, Freddie Mac has shied away from such caps.