News

Times haven't been too swell for the Federal Housing Administration. That was apparent, by some accounts, when the agency raised insurance premiums for lenders of single-family mortgages in February, a choice it made to shore up its crisis-weary Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Now, according to Fitch Ratings, a new tide of mortgage delinquencies and price declines may tip the fund back toward troubled waters - and possibly insolvency.

The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) can't foreclose on a property through the state's non-judicial process unless it holds the promissory note. In the court opinion, Justice Tom Chambers wrote, ""Simply put, if MERS does not hold the note, it is not a lawful beneficiary.""

A working paper released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests that foreclosures may not negatively impact nearby property prices as much as originally thought. The paper examines and refutes the argument long used by experts that mortgage foreclosures greatly reduce the sale prices of properties in the area. The study actually found while neighboring home prices do tend to sink when a property becomes distressed, the effect is only minor.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) strikes once more - against the little guy, reports suggest. One of those came from Moody's Investors Service on Thursday. The ratings agency released a report that linked a tide of new rules from the credit bureau to ""costly"" and ""challenging"" new costs for small to midsize servicers. According to Moody's, these servicers will likely encounter ""significant hurdles"" in moves to adopt the single point of contact strategy.

Treasury announced Friday a set of modifications to agreements between itself and FHFA designed to help speed up the wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In addition to reducing the GSEs' mortgage portfolios in a more timely manner, these modifications are designed to ensure that each firm's earnings benefit taxpayers and help reform the housing finance market.

Oh behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), managing director Tim Cameron prepared remarks for a meeting in San Bernardino County to once again, express opposition towards the area's proposed use of eminent domain. In his remarks, Cameron stated, ""we believe that the use of eminent domain would significantly harm mortgage finance markets, reduce access to credit for borrowers, and negatively impact average investors' portfolios."" San Bernardino County and the cities of Fontana and Ontario created a Joint Powers Authority to explore the use of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages at fair market value.

There are some things we tend to take as fundamental truths. Nowadays, people may add to their roster the idea that home buyers and sellers seem to downright dislike their real estate companies. According to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates, home buyer satisfaction with national real estate companies fell to its lowest level in the history of the five-year-old survey, a record low on par with mortgage rates.

HUD is asking for the public to bring their innovative ideas to the agency's new online platform, Innovation of the Day.

Integra Group Real Estate found a reason or two to celebrate recently. According to a release, the firm posted a 28 percent increase in REO property transaction volume over the first half of this year.

A study released Thursday by Ellie Mae found that community bankers see increasing regulations as the biggest immediate challenge to their mortgage businesses. More than half of community bank executives (51 percent) said that handling changing compliance standards is the most significant challenge for their banks. They specifically spoke of regulations created by the Dodd-Frank Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).