The latest twist in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act involves certain co-marketing activities. It has recently come to light that the CFPB is investigating Zillow for possible RESPA violations apparently having to do with the firm’s practice of co-marketing with loan officers, real estate agents and mortgage lenders. “For years, many industry participants wondered if allowing their real estate agents or loan officers to engage in co-marketing on Zillow Group applications and websites posed a risk to their companies under RESPA. The industry may soon know the answer,” Richard Andreano, a partner at the Ballard Spahr law firm in Washington, DC, noted in a recent online blog post. Andreano’s post cited...
Transfers of servicing from large servicers to smaller firms can help improve loss mitigation performance while introducing new risks to the system, according to industry analysts. Smaller servicers tend to be more “nimble” than large servicers and are better suited to handle distressed mortgages, according to analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service published a report recently highlighting changes in the servicing industry. Many large servicers, predominantly banks, have reduced...
Performance of non-QM loans has been strong, buoyed by good house-price appreciation and the fact there have been no lawsuits based on the ability-to-repay rule.
Deutsche noted that after years of a steady broad-based housing market recovery “investors are now facing severe shortages in distressed housing pipelines.”
This fall will mark – unless there’s divine intervention or a Kumbaya moment in Washington – the ninth anniversary of the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie.
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