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Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Weichert Turns To Tech for GSE Compliance

Weichert Financial Services is investing in technology, with the recent announcement that the company would begin utilizing a platform from InHouse Inc. to enhance its appraisal processing. Choosing InHouse to facilitate data delivery, Weichert is set to take advantage of fully integrated processing for management of its appraisal-related activities.

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Ex-HUD Officials, Lawmakers Lead New Housing Commission

Lawmakers and policymakers from both sides of the aisle recently teamed up to head a bipartisan commission on the future of U.S. housing policy. The Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization, floated commission leaders whose names include former HUD secretaries Henry Cisneros and Mel Martinez, ex-Sen. Kit Bond, and onetime Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who also founded the organization. The commission will finalize the details of these recommendations in a major package for current lawmakers and policymakers.

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Nation’s Big Four Banks Sign Up for HARP Expansion

The nation's four biggest mortgage lenders recently signed up for modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, adding credibility to a mass refinance opportunity that met with cheers and criticism this week. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that it would lift the 125-percent loan-to-value ratio for mortgages, do away with risk-based fees for borrowers with short-term loans, and extend the lifetime of the program until 2013. B of A, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo all came forward.

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FHFA: Fannie, Freddie May Need $142B More in Taxpayer Funds

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released projections Thursday that showed the GSEs may need anywhere from $51 billion to $142 billion more taxpayer funds over the next few years, even as one Republican lawmaker offered a plan that would siphon federal support for the companies. The scenarios show that the companies will ultimately need to withdraw anywhere from $220 billion to $311 billion from the federal government, a lower estimate for forecasts that originally fixed their needs at anywhere from $221 billion to $363 billion.

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Leadership Shakeup Underway for Freddie Mac

In a surprise move, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a flurry of resignations for Freddie Mac over this year and the next, with CEO Ed Haldeman, Chairman John Koskinen, and several other board members set to step down. Other resigning officers include Laurence Hirsch, a board member who will not seek re-election, and Robert Glauber, chairman of the GSE├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós nomination and governance committee. It remains unclear why Haldeman made the decision to leave the company he helped guide through the financial crisis.

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Obama Refi Proposal Takes Shape in HARP Changes

Federal regulators announced their intentions Monday to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program available via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Among other modifications, the FHFA said it plans to eliminate a number of risk-based fees for short-term mortgage borrowers, take off the 125-percent loan-to-value ratio for loans guaranteed by the GSEs, and void requirements for new property appraisals in lieu of automated estimates. Market watchers around the industry offered reactions that ranged from skepticism to optimism.

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Reports: Expect Obama’s Housing Finance Plan Soon

A declaration by President Barack Obama to end the war in Iraq helped drown other news Friday, including apparent moves by the White House to float a housing finance stimulus plan in the next few weeks. Some of the initiatives currently under wraps include an expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program and a selloff in mortgage-backed bonds by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invite private-sector investment back into the housing finance system. The Federal Housing Finance Agency plays a major role for either proposal.

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Senate Passes Bill to Raise Conforming Loan Limits

A bill squeaked by the Senate Thursday that would reverse lower limits for conforming loans backed by the federal government and reinstate the $729,750 threshold until 2013. Lawmakers adopted the amendment to a federal spending measure by a count of 60 to 38, giving backers of the bill the supermajority needed to avoid wrangling over the issue. Multiple news outlets reported that Congress had allowed the higher limits for conforming loans to ease in October despite a massive lobbying effort by companies and trade groups.

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Lawmaker Questions the 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage

Lawmakers called into doubt the role of the historic 30-year fixed-rate mortgage Thursday, with Senate committee witnesses alternately arguing for and against it. At issue: whether the benchmark loan, available since the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, stabilizes the housing finance system or weakens it. Witnesses alternately upheld and criticized the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, with the former characterizing it a buttress of wealth for homeowners and the latter calling for more consumer choice and clarifying its role in the crisis.

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Bill Reintroduces Energy Costs to Underwriting Process

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced a bill in the Senate that would require mortgage lenders to consider energy costs for borrowers when underwriting their federally insured loans. Sen. Michael Bennett and Sen. Johnny Isakson introduced the bill, titled the Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, as a way to restore energy cost calculations for government-backed mortgages. Sources in the know tell MReport that the bill could save billions for homeowners and create 83,000 jobs by 2012. A broad coalition backs the legislation.

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