Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin recently signed legislation to restrict Wall Street home resale fees, also known as private transfer fees. The fees require that a private third party receive a percentage of the final sale price of a home every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. Oklahoma is the 30th state to restrict their use. On the federal level, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has issued a proposed rule that would prevent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from investing in mortgages with these fees.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently announced they will be issuing new guidelines this summer that will align their procedures for handling past due mortgages and implement a new incentive and penalty structure based on individual servicers' performance. Moody's Investors Service says this new directive - in particular the monetary motivation involved - will likely shift servicers' focus to loans backing the GSEs' mortgage bonds and away from loans in private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

Fannie Mae's latest market outlook continues to call for a ""modest improvement"" in housing activity this year, although the prevalence of distressed properties on the market has led to renewed weakness in home prices and the industry's shadow inventory looms large. The GSE's chief economist notes that as the economic recovery approaches its two-year anniversary in June, housing has not yet contributed to economic growth in any meaningful way and is significantly underperforming compared to previous market recoveries.

California's Inland Empire Economic Recovery Corporation (IEERC) recently announced it will receive a $1 million grant from HUD. The non-profit, which works to stabilize real estate values in distressed neighborhoods, will use the grant to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties. IEERC recently made its first offer to purchase 34 foreclosed houses from Fannie Mae.

Fannie Mae sent a notice to its lenders and servicers Tuesday announcing that the GSE has approved a unit of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation to provide mortgage insurance for conventional first mortgage loans. Yhe subsidiary, Genworth Residential Mortgage Assurance Corporation, is approved to write coverage on Fannie Mae loans in a limited number of states, which the GSE says may change over time.

House lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan plan that would replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a group of private firms to fill the role of issuing government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. The bill's authors say it would not only protect taxpayers but would ensure financing for home loans and products like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remain available to middle-class families. Market observers say the proposal is the only one so far that could win sufficient support from both sides of the aisle.

Nearly twice as many underwater borrowers think it is okay to walk away from their mortgage than harbored this sentiment a year ago, according to the results of a survey conducted by Fannie Mae. A separate academia study, however, found that the number of cases in which the homeowner defaulted even though they cold afford their payments - at least as perceived by their neighbors - appears to be trending down. The researchers also asked about respondents' feelings on robo-signing penalties.

MLSListings, Inc., a not-for-profit, California mutual benefit corporation formed by eight Northern California Realtor associations, will participate in the Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk program. MLSListings, which represents more than 18,000 subscribers in 6,000 firms in an area covering 28,000 square miles, is the first multiple listing service (MLS) in California to participate.

Fannie Mae reported a net loss of $8.7 billion for the first three months of this year, which company executives say was primarily driven by a decline in home prices during the quarter. Fannie's first-quarter shortfall actually narrowed compared to a year earlier, when the company reported a loss of $13 billion. The GSE has requested another $8.5 billion in taxpayer funds from Treasury, bringing its total draws to nearly $100 billion. Fannie Mae acquired 53,549 single-family REO properties through foreclosure in the first quarter.

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage has added three key executives to its ranks within the last few weeks. Industry veteran Luther Peacock has joined the company as chief risk officer. Stephannie Mower has been named managing director and will lead the company's newly launched Investment Client Services business. And Mortgage banker Mike Duggan has joined Berkadia's St. Louis office, which is the center of operations for its HUD and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) platform.