News

First American Financial Corporation, a company specializing in title insurance, settlement services, and risk solutions for participants in real estate transactions, announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Interthinx, Inc.

Consumers apparently haven't gotten the memo that mortgage standards are tightening, if responses to Fannie Mae's January National Housing Survey are any indication: Fifty-two percent of respondents in the company's latest survey said they think it would be easy to get a mortgage today, reflecting a climb of 2 percentage points. The number of consumers saying it would be difficult to obtain a loan fell 3 points, meanwhile, dropping to 45 percent.

Kroll Factual Data, Inc., announced the integration of several of its products into Ellie Mae's Encompass mortgage management solution.

A recently announced deal between Ocwen and Wells Fargo on $39 billion in mortgage servicing rights has been halted by the New York Department of Financial Services amid investigations of alleged abusive behavior toward borrowers. Ocwen announced Thursday the indefinite hold on the deal by the New York Department of Financial Services headed by Benjamin Lawsky. In its release, Ocwen pledged to work with the regulator to resolve concerns about its servicing portfolio growth.

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA OIG) finds the GSEs continue to purchase loans with red flags. After being directed to develop a uniform collateral data portal to assist in quality control, FHFA OIG says both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made billions in purchases last year despite warnings from the portal regarding underwriting standards, property valuations, and even the state of appraisers' licenses.

In Texas, Guardian Mortgage's own EVP and COO has been honored as one of the Next 40 Mortgage Professionals to Watch by National Mortgage Professional Magazine, the company announced. Cari McCue earned a place on the list based on votes from industry peers from all around the country.

As of February, 58 out of approximately 350 metro areas nationwide have either returned to or exceeded their last ""normal"" levels of economic and housing activity.

Mortgage Master's Jimmy Yerman is moving up in the world. The super-regional mortgage bank named the 23-year industry veteran as its new mid-Atlantic regional manager.

According to the government's latest data, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 113,000 last month, adding more bleak numbers to December's barely revised growth of 75,000. The unemployment rate edged down slightly to 6.6 percent. Since October, the jobless rate has fallen more than half a percentage point, largely thanks to declines in the number of people counted as being part of the labor force. There's a little bit of good news, though.

In practice, Fannie and Freddie have dominated the mortgage finance market, prompting lawmakers from both ends of the political spectrum to take action.