Friday, January 27, 2017

Lender's Appraisal, Pricing, and Disaster Updates




Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a bar in Austin, Texas. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so apparently intoxicated that he could barely walk.
The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing.
After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man
managed to find his car and fall into it.
He sat there for a few minutes as several other patrons left the bar and drove off.
Finally, he started the car, switched the wipers on and off--it was a fine, dry summer night, flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights.
He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left.
At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road.
The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test.
To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all!
Dumbfounded, the officer said, I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken.'
"I doubt it", said the truly proud Redneck. "Tonight, I'm the designated decoy."
Recent weather has renewed the disaster declarations from lenders. As always many take their cue from FEMA's disaster declaration site. Here is a smattering of updates.

In response to the wildfires in Tennessee and in response to a Federal Disaster Declaration, M&T Bank will enforce the Disaster Re-Inspection Policy for all properties located in the affected parishes in the counties of Sevier.
 Federal disaster aid with individual assistance has been made available to counties in the State of Georgia to supplement individual, state, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds beginning January 2. Current active disaster declarations in Georgia includes Baker, Calhoun, Dougherty, Early, Mitchell, Turner, and Worth counties. Prior to closing and funding, ResMac, Inc. will require a property inspection for any loan secured by a property in the affected area. If the subject property is in one of the impacted counties and the appraisal was completed prior to the incident period end date, ResMac will require a post disaster inspection confirming the property was not adversely affected by the disaster.
 AmeriHome re-inspection requirements are in effect for 4 counties in the state of Mississippi affected by severe storms and tornadoes January 20-21, 2017.
 With the bond market shifting, companies are tweaking their fee and loan level price adjustment schedules, and in some cases, lock policies. And even the way money is handled. As an example...
 To maintain proper disbursement schedules and data uploads for determination of payment due dates and calculations, Pacific Union has revised the window for prepaid collections and final settlement payment.  Specifically, Correspondents are now required to collect or verify payment of any unpaid tax disbursements that will be due and payable within 60 days of the loan closing or 30 days from the Pacific Union Purchase Date.
 LDWholesale has done away with escrow waiver fees for all conforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac products. Program Highlights are available on its website.
 For new Best Effort commitments taken on or after Monday, January 23rd, PennyMac will reduce the minimum extension term to one (1) calendar day. Correspondents will be permitted to extend the commitment delivery due date of a Best Efforts commitment for the maximum cumulative term of the lesser of thirty (30) calendar days or the original (or relock) commitment term. PennyMac will reduce the commitment price by the extension fees as noted in its announcement.
 Effective Monday, January 23rd, PennyMac will be making changes to values in select LLPA grids. No structural changes are being made at this time.  Sample rate sheets highlighting the changes were placed onto PennyMac's Portal on Wednesday, January 18th, at approximately 6 PM PST. Clients should have reviewed the sample rate sheets, and notify their pricing vendor of the changes.
 Effective immediately, Flagstar Bank's Marketing Department is now able to lock loans that are in underwriting, at an increased interest rate, without sending the loan to an underwriter for approval first.
 As the industry know, the MIP change was temporarily suspended. Mountain West Financial published that its management foresaw that, and that the most recent MIP reduction (as published in HUD Mortgagee Letter 2017-01) would be rolled back. "This change will likely be effective immediately, and could create significant operational challenges for lenders and their customers. Given this information, if this reversal is implemented, Mountain West Financial, Inc wants its customers to know that we are preparing the contingency steps necessary to unwind recent changes due to the reduced MIP rates."
 U.S. Bank has updated its portfolio interest only ARM notes and riders to reflect a lifetime floor rate equal to the margin. The new loan documents may be used immediately and are mandatory for U.S. Bank interest only ARM loans with notes and riders dated on or after February 1, 2017. The updated product forms are available in its Seller Guide.

Flagstar posted updates regarding The USDA has clarification that a Realtor Administrative Fee is an unallowable fee for the borrower to pay at closing.  The fee may be paid by the seller and/or lender credits may be used to offset this fee and must be reflected in the Paid by Others column on the CD. Also, noted, Pro-rations reflected in Section L cannot be utilized towards the borrower's investment.  
 Penny Mac has updated requirements regarding Trailing documents and Unmatched data fees.
 What about changes in appraisal requirements and evaluating collateral?
 A recent Citibank bulletin referenced general credit policy updates that include Age of Appraisals, Citibank Assessment Areas, Detached / Site Condominiums: Limited Project Review Requirements, Property Inspection Waivers, Condominium Projects: Mixed Use Space. Clarifications include: Proof of TILA Error Corrections, Self-Employed Business income, Verifying Assets and Student Loans.
 Wells Fargo Funding will no longer require a project review on site condominiums that meet Fannie Mae requirements and secure conventional Conforming Loans underwritten by Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) effective for loans purchased on or after January 24th.
 Nationstar Mortgage posted the continuation of Appraisal oriented deficiencies trending within the loan submissions received. In this best practice, Nationstar's focus is on its Appraisal Review process and provide top trends, tools and resources that are available.
 Capital markets & rates
 Hunt Mortgage Group, a leader in financing commercial real estate throughout the United States, announced it provided a Fannie Mae loan facility in the amount of $5.3 million to enable the acquisition of a manufactured housing community located in San Andreas, California.  The final loan covered approximately 75% of acquisition costs. Oak Shadows Mobile Home Park is comprised of one, one-story community building and 105 pads. The property was developed in 1977, is situated on a 17.8acre parcel and offers 230 parking spaces. It is age-restricted to 55 and older and is 100% occupied.  Property amenities include the leasing office and clubhouse with a kitchen and fitness room. Outdoor recreational activities include a swimming pool and spa. All the pads at Oak Shadows are double-wide. Some of which can accommodate "triple-wide" homes.
 Yesterday morning the bond market started off with losses but then recovered after we saw a plunge in new home sales for December and solid demand for the 7-year Treasury auction. On top of that, Initial Jobless Claims reportedly rose more than expected last week (but the absolute level of claims remains near historic lows and unemployment is a lagging indicator anyway), but the job market remains quite healthy. By the end of the day agency MBS closed higher in price (about .125) and spreads to risk-free Treasury securities mostly tighter, and the 10-year's yield at 2.51%.
 This morning we've seen the first look at Q4 Gross Domestic Product (+1.9% but there are always revisions the next two months) and final sales (+.9%), and Durable Goods (-.4%, ex-transportation +.5%). Coming up is January's Michigan Sentiment. After the GDP and Durable Goods data, which are very complicated numbers, we find the 10-year's yield wandering around 2.51% with agency MBS prices better by a smidge versus Thursday's close.

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