David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), announced the promotion of Kenneth Markison, Esq., to VP and regulatory counsel. In his new role, Markison will lead and manage MBA's public policy initiatives around residential loan production, legal issues, and regulatory compliance.
Read More »Housing Experts Speak at Hearing on Finance Reform
Three industry analysts gave testimony before a Senate committee on housing finance reform Tuesday. While all three experts expressed support for more private capital and less government involvement, the proposed degrees of government support varied. Currently, about 90 percent of single-family mortgages have some form of government backing.
Read More »LenderLive Brings on 2 Executives
LenderLive Network Inc., an end-to-end mortgage services provider, hired two industry veterans for executive positions.
Read More »Redfin: Prices Up, Sales Sluggish as Buyers Go to War
Prices rose in February for the 11th straight month as markets across the country picked up speed, according to Redfin's Real-Time Price Tracker.
Read More »Langley Federal Credit Union Adopts Symphony Platform
Mortgage Cadence LLC announced that Langley Federal Credit Union (FCU) in Virginia will now use the Symphony platform to support its expanding mortgage program.
Read More »Senate Committee Approves Cordray Nomination
Richard Cordray's nomination to continue leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is headed to the Senate following a vote from the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Tuesday. The committee confirmed Cordray's nomination by a party-line vote of 12-10, with Republican members keeping to their vow to not support any potential leader until CFPB's structure is fundamentally changed. Ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo specifically criticized the agency's spending, which he says is not as transparent as it should be.
Read More »Starts, Permit Data Show Shift to Multifamily
Housing permits rose a sharp 4.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000 in February, to the highest level since June 2008, while housing starts edged up 0.8 percent to 917,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday. Most--almost 62 percent├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ôof the increase in permits came in applications to build multifamily units. While the comparisons are favorable, the June 2008 activity came in the midst of a steady decline in residential construction.
Read More »GMH Mortgage Services Hires Regional Sales Manager for New England
GMH Mortgage Services, a nationally recognized mortgage banker based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, welcomed John Minigiello as the company's new regional sales manager and assistant VP for the New England market.
Read More »Attorneys General Call for DeMarco’s Replacement
In a letter addressed to the president as well as the Senate majority and minority leaders, a group of attorneys general representing nine states refer to Edward DeMarco, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as a "direct impediment to our economic recovery" and called for his replacement. The attorneys' general complaint stems from DeMarco's refusal to allow the GSEs to engage in principal reductions for struggling and underwater homeowners.
Read More »HUD, Census Release Survey on Multifamily Housing Characteristics
The Census Bureau and HUD released the results of its new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, revealing that one in five American households live in multifamily rental buildings. The survey, which was conducted in the winter and early spring of 2012, found that there are nearly 2.3 million multifamily rental properties in the United States, 67 percent of which are owned by households or individuals. Among other findings: 1,337, or 59.4 percent, of multifamily rental properties examined in the survey have at least one mortgage.
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