Home >> Author Archives: Derek Templeton

Author Archives: Derek Templeton

Derek Templeton is an attorney based in Dallas, Texas. He practices in the areas of real estate, financial services, and general corporate transactional law. His experience includes time as an Attorney Adviser for the U.S. Small Business Administration and as General Counsel for a nonprofit organization in Dallas. A self-avowed "policy junkie," he has a keen interest in the effect that evolving federal policy has on the mortgage, default servicing, and greater housing industries.

30 Year Industry Veteran to Lead NMSA Initiative on Vacant Homes

The National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) announced the appointment of Jim Taylor, SVP of Property Preservation with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Asset Management, to lead the organization’s effort to mitigate the threat that vacant and abandoned properties pose to homeowners and communities. Taylor, a 30-year industry veteran, leads asset management and preservation of Wells Fargo’s residential servicing portfolio while caring for the interests of the communities it serves. He earned his M.S. in Management from Purdue University concurrently with an MBA from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Rouen, and a B.S. from the University of Washington.

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Legal League Servicer Summit Brings Mortgage Industry and Default Servicing Law Firms Together

Now in its seventh year, the Servicer Summit is a biannual gathering of leaders from both the mortgage servicing and legal communities focused on spurring shared educational opportunities and honest conversation. The novel format encourages all attendees to contribute. Leaders of roundtables serve merely as conversation starters and travel the room with a microphone so that any attendee may respond to a prompt or ask a question.

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Top New York Bank Regulator Rumored to be Stepping Down

According to multiple reports, Benjamin Lawsky, Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, is considering stepping down from his post and entering the private sector in 2015. Lawsky has made a name for himself by aggressively regulating financial institutions doing business in New York,

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Mortgage Industry Convenes in Dallas at Five Star Conference

The key players from the housing and real estate industry will descend on Dallas, Texas, September 14 through 16 for the annual Five Star Conference and Expo. "We are truly excited to have business leaders and decision makers from all across the housing spectrum come and work together at the Five Star Conference this year," said Ed Delgado, president and CEO of the Five Star Institute.

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New Housing Outlook Ditches Bearish Concerns

In response to recent bearish housing outlooks, Altos Research recently released its own decidedly more positive forecast. "It's scary to be a contrarian, particularly if you're contrarian and bullish. In retrospect, this position is the most fun—if you're right," said Michael Simonsen, co-founder and CEO of Altos.

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CFPB Proposes to Simplify HMDA Reporting

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a rule that would update the reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The proposed rule purports to standardize the reporting threshold for most lenders, relax the reporting requirements for some smaller lenders, and improve the electronic reporting process.

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Former RMBS Trader Convicted in Fraud Case

Fraud

Jesse Litvak, registered broker-dealer and former managing director at investment bank Jefferies & Co., Inc., was sentenced this week to two years in federal prison in connection to his conviction for defrauding consumers trading in residential mortgage-backed securities, the office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced.

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Negative Equity Stalls as Home Price Gains Level

Underwater

RealtyTrac released Thursday its latest statistics on home equity for the second quarter, reporting continue declines in the number of U.S. properties considered "seriously" underwater. According to the company 9.1 million homes are now considered seriously underwater, representing 17.2 percent of all homes nationwide. There's still a long way to go, however, especially as annual home price appreciation keeps coming down.

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