HUD
By Carrie Bay | 02/06/2012
More than 930,000 homeowners have received a permanent modification through the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), saving an estimated $10.5 billion in monthly mortgage payments, according to Treasury. While this tally - nearly three years after the program's launch - falls well short of the results initially promised by President Obama of helping 3 to 4 million homeowners restructure their loans, federal officials continue to tout a key success of HAMP as improving standards and processes within the industry.
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By Kelli Snowgren | 01/31/2012
IndiSoft announced Tuesday that the company has enhanced its RxOffice Premium Counselor Edition. The updated module has been approved by HUD to meet the reporting requirements of agencies participating in its Housing Counseling Program. It was created to address the surge in the number of homeowners needing counseling to make informed housing decisions, and gives counseling agencies a scalable and flexible web-based case management tool to manage their internal business operations.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/25/2012
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced Wednesday the appointment of Peter J. Grace as the trade group's new VP of strategic planning and internal technology. Grace will facilitate the implementation of initiatives that involve membership engagement through a coordinated project management and leadership role. He joins MBA from HUD, where he most recently served as chief of staff for the Acting Deputy Secretary Estelle Richman.
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By Krista Franks | 01/23/2012
After HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last Wednesday that a final settlement between state attorneys general and the nation's largest servicers is just weeks away, the news broke Monday that a settlement draft is now in the hands of the attorneys general for review. Dispelling rumors suggesting President Barack Obama will announce the settlement during his State of the Union address Tuesday evening, the lead negotiator for the states has issued a statement saying, "...we won't reach a settlement any time this week."
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By Ed Delgado | 01/20/2012
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has announced new measures to strengthen standards for the lenders it works with - measures the agency says will help it better manage the risk that comes with insuring mortgages against default. The new regulations raise the bar in terms of lender performance when it comes to seriously delinquent and claim rates, and shores up the agency's processes for requiring lenders to cover losses from insurance claims paid on mortgages that involve fraud or don't meet FHA's underwriting guidelines.
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By Krista Franks | 01/18/2012
After estimations that state attorneys general would reach a settlement with banks by Christmas failed to pan out, word today is the settlement is weeks away. Negotiation talks between state counsels and the nation's five largest servicers are entering their second year, and a few attorneys general have already left the table. The parties are supposedly "very close" to a settlement that would provide 1 million homeowners with principal reductions, according to remarks from HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan on Wednesday.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/03/2012
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is extending the temporary waiver of its property anti-flipping rule. FHA rules typically prohibit insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. In 2010, however, the agency waived this regulation, and later extended the waiver through 2011. This latest extension permits the use of FHA-insured financing for HUD-owned and bank-owned properties, no matter how long the homeowner has held the title, through December 31, 2012.
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By Krista Franks | 12/20/2011
At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held $2 trillion in high-risk subprime loans, amounting to 42 percent of their single-family portfolios, according to Edward Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute. Pinto, who served as chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, arrived at this number by relying on data from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed a lawsuit against six former GSE executives for fraud.
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By Carrie Bay | 11/18/2011
Lawmakers voted late Thursday to increase the ceiling for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Included in a "minibus" spending bill passed by both the House and Senate was an amendment to restore the FHA loan limit to $729,750 in high cost areas. The maximum loan limit was lowered from that amount to $625,500 on October 1st for government housing agencies, including FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The loan limits for Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-backed mortgages were not raised with the newly passed measure.
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By Carrie Bay | 11/16/2011
Hudson & Marshall conducted an REO auction event for HUD in Las Vegas earlier this month targeting owner-occupants. The result? There are now more than 100 new owners of homes throughout both Nevada and Arizona that were previously sitting idle and vacant as part of the government's foreclosed inventory. The Las Vegas event was the culmination of a five-week aggressive marketing campaign, and was conducted in conjunction with BLB Resources.
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