MBA Newslinks Archive

“If retailers live and die by cool, the same also holds true of retail properties, shopping centers and entire neighborhoods. And in an age of frugality, e-commerce encroachment and vast gaps in shopping center performance, ‘cool’ matters now more than ever.”–C&W Vice President of Retail Research Garrick Brown.

“HDMA will be the tip of the spear. Big data is approaching our very regimented origination world, and if we aren’t prepared to action our data, we can be assured the regulators will.”–Ruth Lee, senior director of mortgage services with Titan Lenders Corp. (MetaSource), Denver.

“Financial markets reacted severely to the Brexit, with Treasury rates dropping about 20 basis points initially. At this point, it is unclear whether this will just be a short-term disruption, or whether it will have a longer term impact. Our best guess at this point is that the impact on the mortgage market will be to keep mortgage rates lower for longer, likely leading to another pickup in refinance activity.”–MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni, on Thursday’s historic vote in the U.K. to leave the European Union.

“The recent flight to quality in the treasury markets and increasing demand for commercial mortgage-backed securities paper has resulted in both a reduction in the pricing indices and the tightening of credit spreads, resulting in an overall lower cost of capital for borrowers of commercial real estate loans.”–Sonnenblick-Eichner Co. Principal David Sonnenblick.

“No borrower should face arbitrarily high prices for mortgage credit, especially when the burden is felt particularly hard by low- and moderate-income and first-time homebuyers. We therefore request that FHFA direct the GSEs to reduce or eliminate LLPAs going forward. Eight years after the financial crisis, mortgage credit quality has improved dramatically and regulations have improved the industries risk management practices. We believe these changes justify eliminating LLPAs.”
–From an MBA/trade group letter asking the Federal Housing Finance Agency to reduce or eliminate loan-level price adjustments charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on loans.

“MBA believes that housing counseling can play an important role in expanding homeownership opportunities. e look forward to being part of the forums so that lenders and other stakeholders can work toward solutions in this area.”
–MBA President and CEO David Stevens, CMB, announcing a national collaboration of lenders, investors, real estate agents and housing counseling agencies to raise awareness of opportunities and benefits of working with housing counseling agencies.

“There are more than 24,000 taxing agencies in the U.S. In some areas, as many as four different entities may tax an individual property. Each of these has different due dates, penalties and borrower notification requirements. Managing these complexities for even a small portfolio is difficult without the right expertise, processes and technology.”–John Walsh, CEO of LERETA, Covina, Calif.

“With the level of uncertainty surrounding home mortgage interest rates these days, residential brokers would be wise to take their cue from their commercial counterparts and diversify their business with small-balance commercial loans. The residential brokers who have already made the transition see small-balance commercial as a smart way to guard their bottom line in times of uncertainty.”–Mike Boggiano, national sales manager with Silver Hill Funding, Coral Gables, Fla.

“The TCPA was not intended to obstruct effective communications between mortgage servicers and their borrowers.”–From an MBA petition to the Federal Communications Commission, asking for an exemption for mortgage servicing calls from the prior express consent requirements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

“Given the weak job market report for May, it was no surprise that the FOMC decided to hold the fed funds rate target unchanged following their June 2016 meeting. The Committee noted that the pace of economic activity has picked up and there continued to be positive news with respect to the housing sector and consumer spending, but that the pace of job growth has slowed significantly.” –MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.