The Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015 sponsored by Senator Richard Shelby, R-AL, was recently passed out of the Senate Banking Committee, chaired by non-other than Senator Shelby, himself. This is the first step in the long journey toward full passage of the Bill by the Senate and then the House. Will it make it? If so, will it be…
With rents on the rise in many areas, are renters looking to make to move to homeownership? Not so, according to a study commissioned by Freddie Mac (Study). In the past, many consumers rented a home or apartment until they could save enough money, and have sufficient income, to afford to buy a home. That is the American Dream. Is…
A major challenge ahead for the market is the transition central bankers policy. A few years ago the G-20 was fairly much in sync on their plan for aggressive stimulation, specifically quantitative easing (QE). The difficulty for some was determining how and how much. Now, the disparity of policy is larger because some have little left in their arsenal to…
Independent Mortgage Lenders are becoming major players as issuers of Ginnie Mae securities. Major banks like Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America have pulled back on FHA lending because of the increased risk plus past and potential enforcement actions from Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Justice (DOJ). This opens the door for non-bank lenders to fill the…
I was chatting with a friend, John Castiello, who works at Radian about the potential pitfalls associated with high Loan-To-Value lending. If you’ve followed my blog, you know my concerns. John mentioned that Radian, as well as most mortgage insurance companies, offers programs to insure lenders against loss in the event of the non-performance of these loans. That’s good for…
On May 18, 2015 the Housing and Urban Development/Federal Housing Agencies announced that a draft version of their Origination Thru Post-Closing/Endorsement Handbook is available on-line via a link from their HUDCLIPS web page. The link will direct them to the Handbook on the AllRegs online electronic policy platform. This is truly a step in the right direction for FHA as…
