News

AmeriBid LLC, a real estate auction firm headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is expanding. The company has acquired National Commercial Auctioneers, LLC, along with its sister company National Residential Auctioneers, LLC—-both of which are also based in Tulsa.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended its investigation of potential fraud in offering documents for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) sold by Wells Fargo, Bloomberg reports. The biggest home lender in the country announced in a regulatory filing that the SEC notified the bank on November 20 that the agency was ending its probe without enforcement.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has been elected chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Hensarling replaces Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) who headed the committee for the past six years. Hensarling is a conservative supporter of a limited government and a free market economy. He has fought to cut government spending and reduce debt.

Despite a number of potentially damaging headwinds, the ongoing housing recovery will remain sustainable for the foreseeable future, analysts for Capital Economics say in a recently released report. The housing industry's rapid rebound took many experts by surprise--even the researchers who authored the report admit they ""have been slightly taken aback"" by the recovery's speed. However, they point to several major indicators that show the current upturn is more than a temporary blip or a false recovery.

Freddie Mac's single-family seriously delinquent rate decreased from 3.37 percent in September to 3.31 percent in October--the lowest it's been since August 2009. The GSE's multifamily delinquency rate also fell, from 0.27 percent in September to 0.24 percent for the month of October. At the same time, Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio continued to shrink, however increased purchase and issuance volume pushed the company closer to positive growth for the first time in more than a year and a half.

Prices for non-performing and impaired performing commercial real estate (CRE) loans climbed higher in October, according to DebtX, a marketplace exchange for whole loans. The company attributed the increase to the continuing recovery in the CRE capital markets and steady demand from a broad range of investors.

Cincinnati-based eLynx, a portfolio company of American Capital, announced its compliance with all guidelines recently published by the IRS for obtaining electronic signatures on Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced more than 90,000 mortgage loans through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in September, bringing the program's total reach to 1.7 million since its inception in 2009, according to the latest refinance report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The rate of HARP refinances has increased since the program was revised in the fall of 2011 to expand borrower eligibility. Year-to-date, 709,000 loans have been refinanced through HARP, already far exceeding last year's total of about 400,000.

David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Associations, is voicing concerns about legislation (H.R. 6429) that would raise guarantee fees charged on single-family mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to pay for immigration reforms. Stevens issued a public statement stressing that the GSEs' guarantee fees are supposed to be used to offset risks associated with their mortgage purchases. He says dipping into the housing piggybank to pay for unrelated policy items on the backs of America's homebuyers sends the wrong message.

Prospect Mortgage, LLC, announced the appointment of Michael J. Williams, former president and CEO of Fannie Mae, as chairman of its board of directors. Prospect Mortgage is a top-10 originator of home purchase loans, offering conventional, jumbo, super-jumbo, Federal Housing Administration, and Veterans Affairs mortgages as well as home renovation loans.