News

The U.S. Senate has voted down legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to modify the interest rate, terms, or even principal balance owed on primary-residence mortgages. After passing by a good margin in the House in early March, the cramdown bill failed in the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 45 to 51.

Southfield, Michigan’s Woodward Asset Capital, LLC has announced the launch of OfferSubmission.com, a proprietary web-based software program that allows mortgage asset owners to control the REO disposition process, while providing transparency for real estate agents and institutional sellers.

Jacksonville, Florida’s Lender Processing Services (LPS), Inc. released its latest LPS Mortgage Monitor this week, which provides mortgage industry performance indicators as of March month-end. Among the findings, LPS reported that the number of newly delinquent loans declined in March to 7.

Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), submitted a proposed rule to the Federal Register this week to revise the GSEs’ housing goals for the year.

The government has said its Home Affordable Refinance Program will lower monthly mortgage payments for four to five million homeowners. The initiative targets those home loans that are held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the administration has expanded the eligibility pool by allowing borrowers to refinance even if they owe 5 percent more than the home’s current market value.

The U.S. Senate approved a bill this week that will give federal investigators new resources and additional funding to combat mortgage crimes and housing scams. According to officials, an estimated 5,000 new mortgage fraud cases are reported every month.

The single-family median home price in Rhode Island fell 25.9 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2008, according to a report released Thursday by The Warren Group, which provides real estate data for the New England area.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) on Thursday, which showed that rates for fixed-rate mortgages this week lingered at their record lows and those for adjustable-rate mortgages also eased.

The Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it has received more than 100 applications from companies interested in serving as fund managers for the legacy securities portion of its Public Private Investment Program (PPIP).

The May 1 deadline for the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) is rapidly approaching. Beginning Friday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will refuse to purchase mortgages that do not comply with the HVCC regulations for property appraisals.