Category: Top National News

HousingWire, Sept. 15, 2017–Kelsey RamirezMnuchin said moving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship will come after tax reform, and will be an issue brought up in 2018. He said the mortgage giants still have a lot of changes they need to make before being moved out of conservatorship.

Mortgage Daily, Sept. 15, 2017During the week ended Sept. 15, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily was 143. The index climbed 8 percent from the prior week.

Mortgage Daily, Sept. 15, 2017Freddie Mac is now allowing unlicensed and trainee appraisers to perform and sign an appraisal report in accordance with state law. They can also perform a completion report as long as a supervisory appraiser signs it.

National Mortgage News, Sept. 15, 2017–Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)At the heart of the MBA’s concern is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s interpretation of policy that determines when lenders can re-inspect homes.

Investopedia, Sept. 17, 2017–Joe LiebkindReal estate transactions are often conducted offline involving face-to-face engagements with various entities. Blockchain, however, opened up ways to change this.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 17, 2017–Dan Frosch, Laura Kusisto (subscription)The effort to find both temporary and long-term housing for the tens of thousands of people displaced by Harvey is already one of the largest missions the Federal Emergency Management Agency has undertaken.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 16, 2017–Laura Kusisto, Arian Campo-Flores (subscription)As homeowners in Florida begin to take stock of the damage from Irma, one pattern is beginning to emerge: homes that were built to the stricter building codes seem to have fared better.

Bloomberg, Sept. 15, 2017–Sho ChandraAn unexpected decline in August retail sales and downward revisions to the prior two months mainly reflected weaker results at auto dealerships, Commerce Department figures showed Friday.

Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2017–Kathy OrtonAccording to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average held steady at 3.78 percent with an average 0.5 point, same as it was last week. It was 3.5 percent a year ago.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 14, 2017–AnnaMaria Andriotis (subscription)The Federal Trade Commission Thursday said it is investigating the Equifax data breach, adding to the mounting investigations into the credit-reporting company since the attack was disclosed last week.