Some 32 percent of first-time homebuyers said that referrals from friends, family or co-workers had a major influence on their choice of lender, compared with only 18 percent of repeat homebuyers.

In its largest single-property loan purchase to date, Freddie Mac Multifamily and Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., announced on April 9, that they closed on an $878 million loan for a historic, luxury apartment in Los Angeles. Home to approximately 10,000 residents, La Brea is the largest apartment community on the West Coast and is said to resemble a small city. It has 4,245 units comprised of high-rise towers and garden-style apartments spread throughout 144 acres. Freddie plans to securitize the loan through its K-Deal program. HFF arranged the financing for Prime Residential, one of the largest owners of multi-family rental communities on the West Coast, to retire existing debt.

The CFPB brought an enforcement action against RMK Financial Corp., a California-based mortgage lender, for allegedly using deceptive mortgage advertising practices, including ads that led consumers to believe that the company was affiliated with the U.S. government.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs will continue removing barriers to delivering home-loan benefits to veterans and service members in 2015, focusing more on further improvements in appraisal and servicing.

George Mason University real estate professor Anthony Sanders, a former head of asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities research at Deutsche Bank, took issue this week with a recent report from the Urban Institute which suggested that residential mortgage credit is still too tight because there are 4 million fewer mortgages originated this year than in 2001, before the housing bubble.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a robust $189.92 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first three months of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.

A focus on special servicing has helped Rushmore Loan Management Services increase its portfolio in recent years. Standard & Poor’s also recently upgraded the firm’s special servicing rating to “above average.”

Strong purchase lending to military personnel and first-time homebuyers allowed Navy Federal Credit Union to exceed the $1 billion mark in March, the best month in the credit union’s history.

The Mortgage Bankers Association sent a letter to House Republican leadership on Tuesday in support of three bills that would restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.