The Lede

With mortgage rates still low and housing inventory scarce, some people in the housing industry are starting to use the "b-word" again.  

Fitch Ratings, New York, said robust advances in U.S. starts and new home sales should enable public home builders to report meaningfully higher revenues, on average, in the coming year.

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said the U.S. foreclosure inventory in October fell by 27.1 percent from a year ago, while completed foreclosures fell by 21.5 percent over the same period.

Commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding increased by $38.0 billion in the third quarter, as three of the four major investor groups increased their holdings, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning.

As the end of the year approaches, many people start considering what personal resolutions they're going to make to better themselves in the coming year. For quality control professionals, now may also be the time to decide the needed changes to improve loan quality in 2016.

Registration is now open for the Mortgage Bankers Association's Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo, Where Market Makers Meet, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando.

New York Times, Dec. 11, 2015--Prevost, Lisa For buyers willing to take on the role of landlord, multifamily properties can be one of the more affordable ways into pricey housing markets.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 11, 2015--Peters, Andy Securitizations that involve commercial mortgages are increasingly dropping loans from their pools before the final transactions close, according to Fitch Ratings.

New York Times, Dec. 10, 2015--Moyer, Liz Morgan Stanley will pay $225 million to settle lawsuits related to its sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities to five now-defunct corporate credit unions.

Entrepreneur, Dec. 10, 2015--Moran, Gwen After 11 years in the mortgage business, Jason van den Brand couldn't believe that a process so convoluted hadn't been addressed with new technology. So he left his position at a brokerage firm and started Lenda. Dubbed "TurboTax for mortgages," San Francisco-based Lenda (originally called GoRefi) lets borrowers apply for and complete a mortgage refi online.

HousingWire, Dec. 10, 2015--Lane, Ben Despite Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray's recent proclamation that the October implementation of the CFPB's new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures rule was akin to the unfounded panic that surrounded Y2K, a new report from Moody's Investors Service finds that TRID compliance violations are running rampant among newly originated loans.

On the Economy, Dec. 9, 2015--Bernstein, Jared As a financial-markets-muckraker for the New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson provides an important and valuable service, especially when you consider the depth of muck in that sector in recent years. But there can be a fine line between raking muck and pointing fingers at legitimate activity.

HousingWire, Dec. 9, 2015 Last month, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropped the benchmark interest rate for the standard mortgage modification programs below 4% for the first time since the programs began in Jan. 2012. But that's looking like a singular occurrence.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 8, 2015--Collins, Brian Fannie Mae has updated its underwriter servicing tool to make it easier for servicers to determine the eligibility of distressed homeowners for a loan modification.

National Mortgage News, Dec. 14, 2015--Collins, Brian Mortgage lenders and servicers weary from a raft of regulatory changes in recent years may see some respite in 2016. Pete Mills, senior vice president with the Mortgage Bankers Associatoin, said the current good-faith compliance framework is "helpful," but wants the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to grant a formal safe harbor.

National Mortgage Professional, Dec. 14, 2015--Hall, Phil After successfully pushing through bipartisan legislation that capped the salaries of the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) chief executives, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) is taking a new aim at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a bill that would change the GSE credit scoring process.

Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11, 2015--Jenkins, Holman W. Jr. The New York Times' 'investigation' of the battle over the housing giants' fate may be nonsensical but that's OK by certain hedge funds.

Wall Street Journal, Dec. 13, 2015--Kusisto, Laura Last-minute negotiations in Washington have left real-estate agents and sellers nervous about the possibility that distressed homeowners could receive an unwelcome tax hit. "Borrowers need the certainty that they will not be faced with a large, unexpected tax bill," said Bill Killmer, senior vice president for legislative and political affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Ann Arbor News (Mich.), Dec. 13, 2015--Perkins, Tom Lending institutions leave houses to rot for a simple reason - there is no financial, legal or moral motivation to do otherwise, according to several industry officials.

Los Angeles Times, Dec. 15, 2015--Lazarus, David "The Big Short," which I saw over the weekend, is an entertaining movie. It's also deeply disturbing because one take-away is that we learned nothing from the stupidity and greed of the subprime mortgage meltdown.