Tag Archives: Agents & Brokers

The Mortgage Bankers Association made clear in letter Thursday that it opposes any proposed changes to the existing way mortgage servicers receive compensation. The letter addresses recent moves by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to open up market share for servicers by reducing their risk, granting more flexibility to guarantors on non-performing loans, and shoring up liquidity in the to-be-announced market. The MBA recommended a cash reserve structure in lieu of compensation changes.

Does housing matter to voters? A recent survey says yes ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and finds that housing policy will rank higher for voters than even national security come 2012. Houselogic.com, a consumer Web site affiliated with the National Association of Realtors, polled respondents across the country for the HouseLogic survey it released Friday. About one-third of all voters want to hear proposals from presidential candidates that address housing policy. Jobs and unemployment ranked first.

Just in time for bowl season, StreetLinks Lender Solutions has released an updated version of SCORe, the company's appraisal review product. The original incarnation of SCORe was launched in 2010 to provide a solution for the validation of comparable within appraisal documents, and the platform expansion will include the addition of a repurchase and loss warranty with each report.

Mortgage rates remained largely unchanged this week as debt crises in Europe drag on, with finance leaders and heads of state there seemingly unable to broker a solution. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac and finance Web site Bankrate.com each released separate surveys chronicling lurches in interest rates for loans. Bankrate.com also fielded record lows for jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, with rates for the loan falling to 4.68 percent for the first time in the history of the survey.

The results are in from the November 2011 Housing Scorecard. In addition to the report's traditional look at the country├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós real estate and mortgage markets, the most recent survey also closely examined the nation's 10 largest mortgage servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program, to promote transparency related to the platform's performance.

Senate Republicans stood by their 44-member pledge Thursday by blocking a vote scheduled for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director-nominee Richard Cordray. Fifty-three votes fell below the 60-vote threshold needed to move the full Senate toward a vote to either confirm or reject the former Ohio attorney general, without whom the CFPB is unable to exert the array of powers granted it to supervise nonbank financial institutions. Forty-four Republicans pledged earlier to deny a director.

Digital Risk has added a new executive vice president for its sales and strategy sector, with the announcement that Randy Lightbody will take over the position. Through hiring Lightbody, Digital Risk hopes to continue its pattern of growth and boost its support for services and originators.

Results from Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey revealed that consumer sentiment is not rising alongside recent positive economic news. Fannie's study showed that most borrowers are adopting a wait and see approach to 2012, despite accompanying findings that indicated consumers anticipate a future rise in home pricing for the first time in six months. Generally, Fannie's survey demonstrated that consumer sentiment is stabilizing.

Low interest rates for mortgage loans drove up mortgage application volume 12.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported the latest figures in a weekly survey released Wednesday. Mortgage applications shot up 60.2 percent on an unadjusted basis in contrast with figures from the previous week. The Refinance Index climbed 15.3 percent from the week before, as the Purchase Index ticked up 8.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In Michigan, low-to-moderate income families will get better housing opportunities thanks to a new tax credit initiative. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority recently announced that the $9.6 million in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits will go toward renovating affordable rental housing for the state's lower income and at-risk residents. The tax credits are also giving Michigan's economy a boost by creating an estimated 1,600 new jobs in construction and similar trades.