Category: News and Trends

The Senate last week approved Mark Calabria as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., deployed a controversial rules provision to speed judicial and executive nominations through the chamber.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities defeasance volume rebounded last year after a two-year decline, reported Moody’s Investors Service, New York.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and more than a dozen industry trade groups sent a joint letter to Capitol Hill urging that House to reject legislation that would end capital gains treatment of carried interest.

MISMO, the mortgage industry’s standards organization, recommended use of the Decision Model and Notation standard for documentation, implementation, execution and exchange of business rules and decisions across the mortgage industry.

Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C., on Mar. 22 posted Fact Sheet clarifying how to determine eligibility for non-citizen borrowers, including immigrants who participate in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, known as “Dreamers.”

With the spring home buying season showing some signs of promise–but with construction still at depressed levels–several reports suggest many would-be move-up homeowners are turning to remodeling in the short term.

Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., said mortgage delinquencies rose in February, the first increase in that month in 12 years.

ACES Risk Management, Pompano Beach, Fla., said its Critical Defect Rate rose in the third quarter of last year to its second-highest level since the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule went into effect.

A quarterly survey of 100 economists by Zillow Inc., Seattle, and Pulsenomics LLC found with climate change and natural disasters posing a growing threat to communities across the United States, funding for preventative measures and construction regulations makes better sense than the government providing or requiring insurance.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 12, 2019–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association approved changes to its good delivery guidelines that ease the path to the government-sponsored enterprises issuing uniform mortgage-backed securities starting on June 3.