With mortgage rates at their highest level in more than two years, the long-awaited boom in mergers and acquisitions may finally be here. But don’t expect sellers to accept just any price. “M&A is picking up,” said Larry Charbonneau, who runs a boutique advisory firm, Charbonneau & Associates. “The big fish want to buy the small ones, but the small ones don’t know if it’s in their best interest to sell yet.” Charbonneau points out...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is expected to announce lower loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sometime this fall, a move that warms the hearts of non-agency jumbo originators everywhere, but is causing consternation among certain factions of the market, in particular, Realtors and the California Mortgage Bankers Association. “Any reduction in the loan limit will have a huge impact on the California market,” said Susan Milazzo, executive director of the CMBA. “We’re a high-cost state.” The trade group executive told...
Look for the Senate leadership from both sides of the aisle to ramp up efforts to craft new legislation on comprehensive mortgage finance reform when Congress returns from its summer recess next week, although industry observers predict lawmakers will make only marginal progress this fall. Last month, at the behest of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, senior committee staff met with various industry “stakeholders” – including trade associations, consumers groups and academics – to hear their thoughts on housing finance reform and the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to meeting participants. The meeting takeaway among the stakeholders who spoke with Inside Mortgage Finance is...
Radian Guaranty has struck a deal with Freddie Mac on a pool of delinquent and reperforming mortgages, capping the private mortgage insurer’s exposure at $840 million and reducing the total number of delinquent loans by 12.6 percent. Announced on Aug. 29, the agreement covers a group of 25,760 first-lien loans insured by Radian and held by the government-sponsored enterprise that were delinquent as of Dec. 31, 2011. The agreement provides for the future treatment of these loans, including claim payments, loss mitigation and termination of insurance coverage. At the same time, Radian’s claim exposure on 9,756 delinquent loans and 4,586 loans that were...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities accounted for 74 percent of combined FHLB MBS portfolios in the second quarter, up 2 percent from 1Q13.
The Chicago ordinance, which took effect in November 2011, requires mortgage lenders to register vacant properties with the city and pay a $500 registration fee.
No one in the mortgage industry expects that subprime lending will revive much unless it’s the subprime of yesteryear where equity was a key factor in determining whether a borrower should get a loan. The handful of subprime (“hard money,” call it what you will) lenders active today require hefty down payments in the range of 30 percent. The most successful subprime lender in terms of money raised is Citadel Loan Servicing of Irvine, CA, the brainchild of Dan Perl, which raised ... [Includes three briefs]
Mortgage income reported in bank call reports includes earnings from production, loan sales and net servicing results, so industry profits are not tied exclusively to new lending.
Radian has already paid $632 million to cover loss claims on the Freddie Mac loans through two different payments. It also had set aside $205 million in a collateral account to cover loss mitigation activity.
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