"Having
a cold drink on hot day with a few friends is nice, but having a hot friend on
a cold night after a few drinks - PRICELESS." While we're talking prices,
let's talk about the $26 billion in equity gain
in Colorado in 2014 - Rocky Mountain High! What are not gaining are the stock
prices of non-bank servicers. At one point yesterday Ocwen was down 26%,
Nationstar was down 8%, and Walters was down 7%. I hope employees have
diversified 401(k) plans
Estimates
for 2015 are flying. Zillow predicts that growth
in rents will outpace home values in 2015 due to skyrocketing rental demand.
The combination of young adults renting longer and families continuing to rent
after losing their home to foreclosure has increased the rental market. The
millennial generation (23-34 years old) will be the largest home buying age
group and current millennial renters are more optimistic than other generations
that they will be able to eventually afford a home. As rent prices increase,
more of these young adults will turn to the purchase market and given their
lifestyle preferences, home purchases could lean more towards condominiums or
townhouses. Home builders are also beginning to cater to the millennial home
buyer, as they are beginning to build more inexpensive homes. This is good news
for buyers, as they will have more negotiating power in 2015 and buying will
begin to look more attractive to current renters that can afford a down payment
on a desired home.
Zelman
& Associates Land Development Survey indicates development activity remains
strong. The November land development index equaled 62.5, down from 63.3 a
month earlier, but is still indicative of an above average development
activity. A negative impact on home-building demand due to decreased oil prices
has yet to be felt in Texas as development is still robust in the Texas market
but may decline over the next year. Finished lot demand is down for the eighth
consecutive month but finished lot value is up 13% YoY. Acquisition demand also
fell for the eighth consecutive month and raw land demand is also down but
remains above the normal level. Development costs are up 6.9% YoY and land
appetite ranking are down for builders and investors in November.
Let's
see what the agencies have been up to lately. First, fee increases and private sources
of mortgage financing are expected to significantly cut new-loan business by
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the next decade, congressional analysts said recently.
The share is expected to fall to about 40% by 2024, compared with 60% from 2008
to 2013.
And
many believe that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
share prices could drop as the U.S. mortgage giants face lawsuits over the
taking of profits. A federal court in September dismissed lawsuits brought by
Perry Capital and Fairholme Funds over the government taking profits, and
Pershing Square Capital Management sought dismissal of its own lawsuit.
Government lawyers have asked the court to reject the Pershing request and
instead rule that the previous dismissal includes the third suit.
Fannie
Mae is
talking technology and asking are you ready for Collateral Underwriter™ (CU™)?
View the recently posted training Understanding CU's Risk Score, Flags and Messages,
the updated FAQs,
and other resources on the CU page.
As
a reminder, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both announced enhancements to
the life-of-loan representations and warranties under the selling
representation and warranty framework. The enhancements are detailed on
each website and provide more specific guidelines, Freddie Mac bulletin or Fannie Mae announcement.
Ginnie
Mae has
added "Consolidation of Disclosure Pages on its website, choose the link
to view the bulletin. Ginnie Mae also
added periodic information in its November 17th notes and news.
Freddie
Mac's Servicer Success Scorecard
has been reissued to correct certain calculation descriptions in Attachment A.
Additionally a preview of your 2015 Scorecard was available in your Servicer
Performance Profile Friday, December 5. Simply click on the Servicer Success
Scorecard link in your Servicer
Performance Profile.
Fannie
Mae
servicing guide updates include changes to loss drafts processing, changes and
clarifications to Mortgage Release borrower incentive payments. Updated
information can be viewed in SVC 2014-21 Announcement.
Additionally, an updated Evaluation
Notices Exhibit has also been published.
There
is 6 Months to the effective date for certain sections in FHA's Single
Family Housing Policy Handbook. As announced on September 30, 2014, FHA's
origination through post-closing and endorsement policies in its new Single Family
Housing Policy Handbook (SF Handbook) (HUD Handbook 4000.1) become effective
for FHA Case Numbers assigned on and after June 15. Information can be accessed
in the Origination through Post-Closing/Endorsement for Title II Forward
Mortgages (Origination through Endorsement) section from FHA's Single Family Handbook web page.
FHA has also revised Form and Model Documents to Align with Eliminating
Post-Payment Interest Charges and Changes to the Adjustable Rate Mortgage
"Look-Back" Period Rules. The updated form, "Important Notice to Homebuyers
(HUD-92900-B)" is posted on the HUD Client Information Policy Systems (HUDCLIPS) web page.
Mortgagees may begin using this new form immediately, but must use this new
form for all mortgages closed on or after the effective date of the Handling Prepayments: Eliminating
Post-Payment Interest Charges rule, which is January 21, 2015.
As
a reminder, since I continue to be asked about it, back in October Fannie
Mae has made changes to its self-employed income policies and requirements
to provide clarity and increase consistency in the application of these
policies. Click the link to review this Announcement.
Desktop Underwriter Version 9.2 has been implemented. Review the DU
Version 9.2 Release Notes for additional information. Additionally,
EarlyCheck Version 2.5 was released. View the EarlyCheck
Release Notes from October for more information.
Freddie
Mae Loan Coverage AdvisorSM launches on January 12, 2015. Visit the Loan
Coverage Advisor Web page to
learn more about the features and benefits. Freddie is updating Loan
Prospector® on January 26, 2015, to support Freddie Mac Home Possible
Advantage, as announced in the Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin
2014-22 on December 8, 2014. This new offering is available for
mortgages with Freddie Mac settlement dates on or after March 23, 2015.
FHA's "Lender
Insight" newsletter is designed to provide FHA lenders with up-to-date
information about what it is seeing in lender approval, recertification,
monitoring and compliance, and enforcement. Each issue contains core
information to help lenders better understand the trends and policies that
affect their business. To view Lender Insight Issue #7, click the link to the Lender Insight page on www.hud.gov/lenders. The
newsletter is distributed to lenders and other interested parties via FHA's
Single Family Housing Industry Email List. If you would like to receive the
newsletter, but are not on the email distribution list, please visit SFH News to sign up.
Freddie
Mac announced
the expansion of the Freddie Mac MyCity Modification to include Cook County,
Illinois in its Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2014-25.
Additionally, it is also revising MyCity Modification requirements for the City
of Detroit, Michigan as previously announced in Guide
Bulletin 2014-11.
It's always disappointing when you draw your Secret Santa
card from the hat and you selected someone in Secondary Marketing....what do
you get someone who never appears to smile? My suggestion is a handful of
skittles and a research paper. The Chicago Fed has just
the paper, it writes in, "The labor force participation (LFP) rate-the
share of the working-age population that is either employed or jobless and
actively looking for employment-has fallen from 66 percent at the beginning of
the Great Recession in December 2007 to 62.7 percent in September 2014. To
some, this decline suggests the possibility that there may be labor market
slack over and above that captured by the unemployment rate." This is
hard core economics at work and particularly interesting to those of us who
look at anyone under the age of forty and think "THESE are the kids who
are going to take care of us in our old age?"
Looking
at the markets, yields on government-backed mortgage securities have narrowed the most in two years,
reducing the effect to home buyers of a fall in Treasury yields. Yields on
30-year bonds guaranteed by Fannie Mae narrowed Thursday to within 0.92
percentage point of an average on five- and 10-year Treasuries, down from 0.99
percentage point on Tuesday and the lowest since October 2012.
http://globalhomefinance.blogspot.com
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