The Lede

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Action Alliance issued a Call to Action, urging members to contact the Federal Housing Finance Agency on a controversial proposed question on Limited English Proficiency in loan applications.

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., said home sellers in the second quarter saw the highest average price gain in 10 years.

When asked the best way to invest money not needed for more than 10 years, more Americans said "real estate" than any other option, albeit not by much.

Largely absent for the past decade, some big banks could be staging a return to the private-label U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities market in the second half of this year, said Fitch Ratings, New York.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rates edged up to their highest levels since 2015, although analysts cautioned that those rates could be nearing their peaks.

The market shift toward more purchase mortgages, coupled with rising rates and tight inventory, is generating the consistent upward trend in defect risk, said First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.

MBA Education presents Advanced Risk Management for Mortgage Pros in at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Oct. 18-20.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Risk Management, Quality Assurance and Fraud Prevention Forum takes place Sept. 24-26 at the InterContinental Miami.

MBA Education and its popular Compliance Essentials Series has partnered with MISMO® to bring you a series of recorded on-demand webinars highlighting the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule.

RESPA News, July 27, 2017 (subscription)When TRID initially became effective Oct. 1, 2015, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray repeatedly stated that the bureau's examinations would be "diagnostic and corrective" as opposed to "punitive." Is this still the CFPB's stance?

National Mortgage News, July 31, 2017--Thomas P. Vartanian (subscription)There can realistically be only muted hope that today's Congress, nine years after the conservatorships started, will agree on a feasible strategy to unwind Fannie and Freddie and replace them with a viable alternative. Washington is too divided; the chances of a bipartisan bill are still in question.

HousingWire, July 31, 2017--Ben LaneAccording to details provided by the bank, the $444 million offering is backed by 668 jumbo prime (75%) and high-balance conforming (25%) mortgages.

National Mortgage News, July 31, 2017--Ian McKendry (subscription)After a grueling defeat for their health care bill last week, Senate Republicans are expected to turn to other priorities, including attempting to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule banning mandatory arbitration clauses.

Mortgage Daily, July 31, 2017Mortgage servicing continued to expand at Quicken, growing from $251.0 billion as of March 31 and $215.0 billion from a year ago. During the three months ended June 30, Quicken closed $19.6 billion in residential loans.

Mortgage Daily, July 28, 2017--Rachel G. Packer, Joy Harmon Sperling (Day Pitney LLP)A New Jersey appellate division found mortgages outlive life estate.

American Banker, July 28, 2017--Kate Berry (subscription)Republican efforts to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule were dealt a significant blow Friday by Wells Fargo's admission that it improperly forced borrowers to pay for unnecessary auto insurance policies.

UExpress, July 28, 2017--Lew SichelmanThe main reason homebuyers need co-borrowers is because they can't qualify to purchase the house they want, says ATTOM executive Daren Blomquist, who co-signed for his wife's sister and her husband so they could afford to buy in pricey Southern California.

Bloomberg, July 28, 2017--Joe LightShareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say a trove of documents they have obtained bolsters their case that the government lied when it decided to take all of the mortgage companies' profits.

National Mortgage News, July 25, 2017--Bonnie Sinnock (subscription)Prepayments for the second month in a row got a little higher but remain below the levels they were at a year ago, said Black Knight Financial Services.

HousingWire, July 27, 2017--Kelsey RamirezThe Census Bureau report also showed that national vacancy rates for rental housing increased in the second quarter to 7.3%. This is up 0.6 percentage points from 6.7% last year and up 0.3 percentage points from last quarter's 7%.

Mortgage Daily, July 27, 2017Freddie Mac has improved its outlook for industry-wide single-family lending this year and next year by $140 billion. A majority of the increase went to home purchase financing.

Mortgage Daily, July 26, 2017Changes being made to mortgage insurance premiums at MGIC will result in lower costs for some borrowers and greater choices for others.

National Mortgage News, July 26, 2017--Brad Finkelstein (subscription)The government-sponsored enterprises transferred $5.5 billion of credit risk on $174 billion of mortgages in their portfolios during the first quarter, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency report.

GoRion, July 26, 2017--Sam BourgiThe mortgage lending industry is facing one its toughest market environments in years. Amid the apparent slowdown in origination volumes, excessive regulation has triggered a sharp rise in mortgage servicing costs. Once again, lenders are looking for revolutions in FinTech to tackle new cost burdens.

National Mortgage Professional, July 26, 2017--Phil HallThe Mortgage Bankers Association is calling on industry professionals to voice their concern over a proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to accommodate borrowers with limited English proficiency by putting the borrower's "preferred language" on the Universal Residential Loan Application.

New York Times, July 25, 2017--Matthew GoldsteinHUD sold 108,000 distressed mortgages to private equity firms and hedge funds did so without following the proper rules for setting up the program, a government audit found.

Reuters, July 25, 2017--Daniel WiessnerThe rule, which was supposed to take effect in December 2016 but was blocked by a federal judge, is a top target for business groups that say it would force employers to convert many salaried employees into hourly workers.

HousingWire, July 27, 2017--Ben Lane, Brena SwansonFreddie Mac announced this week that it is changing the requirements to its low down mortgage program and will no longer allow lenders to contribute gifts or grants to reach the 3% down payment requirement.