News

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that three experts have been named to senior positions within the Bureau. These positions are: the Assistant Director for the Office of Research; the Assistant Director for the Office of Financial Empowerment; and the Assistant Director for the Office of Installment and Liquidity Lending Markets.

As the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) reaches its five-year anniversary, some HAMP loans, including Fannie Mae HAMP loans, will begin to experience an increase in mortgage rates. When loans were modified, they were provided a below-market rate to help struggling homeowners. The rate was good for a set period of time, often five years, which makes HAMP's anniversary bittersweet for some homeowners who will now face rising interest rates.

Foreclosure filings are down to record lows, but a more sinister-sounding problem may be on the rise—"zombie foreclosures." RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for February, reporting that foreclosure filings (default notices, schedule auctions, and bank repossessions) were 112,498, down 10 percent from January and down 27 percent from the previous year.

A release issued by the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS (MAAR) gave an in-depth look at how the nationwide cold weather this past January and February affected local, cold weather markets. Freezing weather hurt new listings, which declined 5.0 percent. Despite the drop in listings, MAAR is more bullish for the spring and summer months, expecting overall seller activity to increase.

Consumer expectations for the housing market remain about the same, according to the latest poll from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the New York Fed's most recent Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), consumers last month indicated a median home price change expectation of 4.0 percent, reversing an increase to 4.6 percent in January.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday that it has charged global investment bank and brokerage firm Jefferies LLC with "failing to supervise employees on its mortgage-backed securities desk who were lying to customers about pricing."

Sarah Bloom Raskin was confirmed by the United States Senate today to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. Previously, Raskin was confirmed in 2010 by the Senate to serve as a Governor of the Board of the Federal Reserve where she helped conduct the nation’s monetary policy, regulate banking institutions, and implement Wall Street Reform.

Potestivo & Associates, P.C. announced the hiring of Nicole Kolhagen as the Director of Human Resources. She will work out of the Rochester Hills office. Kolhagen is an experienced Human Resources professional with over 18 years of experience. She most recently served as a Benefits Administrator for a local public school system where she was responsible for all benefit programs for over 500 employees.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and four of its member organizations announced new evidence of housing discrimination by U.S. Bank, N.A. The civil rights groups allege that U.S. Bank maintains and markets foreclosed homes in white neighborhoods, in "a much better manner than in African-American and Latino neighborhoods," according to a press release issued by the NFHA.

According to the National Association of Realtor's Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study for 2014, Millennials—aka “Generation Y” or “Generation Next”—comprised 31 percent of recent purchases, leading all other age groups. Following that were Generation X (defined as those born between 1965 and 1979), which made up 30 percent.