So aside from not having to wear
ties on Fridays, or even collared shirts for that matter, the boys and girls
over at Barclays have released their 3rd Quarter Regional Housing
Update. Their forecast: US housing prices will ultimately rise by 11.0% in
2013, with an additional +7.0% in 2014; prices are up 7.6% and 7.2% YTD
through June (seasonally adjusted) on CoreLogic aggregate and
distressed-excluded indices, housing prices are up 11.8% year-to-year, and the
price-to-income ratio (or "affordability index") has rapidly returned
to its long run average, standing just 0.4% below the 1976-2000 average. Must
be those all-cash buyers...
Assurance Financial Group, a
lender in Baton Rouge, LA, is searching for a Mortgage Servicing Manager. This
person will be tasked with continuing build out of our servicing department.
The person will need to have servicing experience (servicing loans sold into
the secondary market, investor reporting, cash management, payment processing
and custodial accounts) to apply for all agency approvals. The ideal
candidate should have at least five years of servicing experience with a
managerial background. The lender is an independent, non-depository retail-only
mortgage firm with several locations, headquartered in Louisiana and doing
business throughout the Southeast. It has been open for 12 years, has no
legacy issues, is well capitalized, does mandatory sales execution in the
secondary markets, and is a member of the MBA. Please visit the website at www.lendtheway.com, Careers, for more information
regarding the position and to apply.
"Delivering Mortgage Risk
Solutions Since 1946", Informative Research is seeking experienced
Account Executives in the Northwest, North-Central, and Southeast regions of
the United States. "You might think the demand for credit reporting
services are reduced due to the recent decline in refinance volume. And while
that is true for the traditional tri-merge credit report it does not take into
account the lead generation, portfolio monitoring, and compliance related
products that companies like Informative Research tell me is a quickly
growing segment of its business. You might think the demand for credit
reporting services are reduced due to the recent decline in refinance volume.
And while that is true for the traditional tri-merge credit report it does not
take into account the lead generation, portfolio monitoring, and compliance
related products that companies like Informative Research tell me
is a quickly growing segment of its business." AEs should be well-versed
in consumer and property data products, including credit reports, income tax
verifications (4506-T), fraud detection services, servicing/portfolio
monitoring and lead generation tools. If you have 2+ years' experience selling
credit related products and services and are interested, or would like more
information, please send a confidential resume to Informative Research Human
Resources at ContactHR@informativeresearch.com.
Whether it is in your checking
account, leaving earnings in your company to bolster net worth and gain
investor approval, or a big bank that is critical to the world, capital is
critical. This week the Financial Stability Board (has it looked at our government?)
released the list of banks that must hold extra capital.
When a small lender trade group
AND a consumer group voice the same frustration with a Senate bill, something
must be up: Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) and the Center
for Responsible Lending (CRL) have independently come to the same
conclusion: without major changes, the small lender co-op in the Corker-Warner
GSE Reform bill will not prevent Too-Big-To-Fail banks from gobbling up more market
share. Here's the CMLA letter. And the CRL
quote in its recent white paper: "These disadvantages would prevent the
FMIC Mutual Securitization Company from effectively competing in the
marketplace. As a result, smaller lenders could end up still selling their
loans to larger competitors who could aggregate these loans. This approach ends
up back at square one with smaller lenders in jeopardy of losing access to a
cash window, getting less favorable pricing, and not having the option of
retaining servicing rights."
Speaking of banks & capital,
I'm pretty sure we've all received the occasional mailer from our banks
offering overdraft protection on our checking accounts. I'm also pretty
sure, in today's banking environment, that what worked in the past will work
slightly differently in the future once the CFPB forces their input. So
it is with some interest when I read the American Bankers Association recent
letter to the CFPB responding to the agencies June 2013 white paper reporting
its initial data findings on overdraft programs. In its letter, the ABA
cautions the CFPB that "unnecessarily complicating the process will
only result in increased confusion and add unnecessary regulatory costs which,
in turn, will limit the availability of overdraft services for those who value
them most and may ultimately push more consumers out of the banking
system." The ABA's letter outlines the value and benefits that
overdraft services provide, the ability of responsible consumers to avoid
overdraft fees, and the protection provided by existing regulations. They also challenge the need for
the CFPB to regulate payment order or require detailed disclosures about
presentment and settlement. (It came out last month, but is still very
relevant.)
But back to mortgages! The
CFPB and HUD are probing Walter
Investment Management Corp. (Read that however you'd like.) "The
Tampa-based mortgage firm (NYSE: WAC) has set aside millions of dollars to deal
with the issues...staff with the CFPB are considering recommending the agency
take action against Walter subsidiary Green Tree for alleged violations of
federal consumer laws, the company said." (More on Walter, Green
Tree, and EverBank below!)
We have 39 business days until
January 10th's QM - as a reminder, the CFPB
released a bulletin and interim final rule last week to provide greater clarity
to the market concerning mortgage servicing rules that take effect in January
2014. In the letter, they provide clarifications, and respond to requests for
further explanation on three servicing issues: home retention efforts after a
borrower dies, early intervention requirement to contact delinquent borrowers,
and interplay between the servicing rules, bankruptcy code and the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The interim final rule also clarifies
regulations issued by the Bureau in January to implement a provision of the
Dodd-Frank Act that requires consumers to receive housing counseling before
taking out a high-cost mortgage. The rule specifies which federally required
disclosure must be used as the basis for counseling for a small subset of
closed-end loans that are not subject to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures
Act. The official release from a couple weeks ago can be found here.
Let's continue playing catch up
with investor & agency updates to gain a sense of the rhyme and
reason out there...
Kinecta will
accept new applications for the Interest Only Jumbo ARM product through
Thursday 11/14/13. Beginning Friday 11/15/13, Kinecta will no longer accept new
applications for the Interest Only Jumbo ARM product.
MSI is
offering 15-year terms on FHA Streamlines and is accepting FHA and Agency
Conforming loans on single-unit primary residence and second homes in Bronx
County, NY.
Walter Investment Management
Corp. announced that it has entered into a series of definitive agreements
through its Green Tree subsidiary with EverBank Financial Corp. The
definitive agreements cover the following key items: Purchase of approximately
$10.2 billion unpaid principal balance ("UPB") of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac backed residential servicing assets and related advance receivables,
purchase of approximately $3.3 billion UPB of private label residential
servicing assets and related advance receivables, rights to subservice an
approximately $5.2 billion UPB Ginnie Mae forward portfolio and a $1.7 billion
UPB whole loan portfolio, and assumption of their default servicing platform
and offer of employment to a significant number of related employees.
Additionally, Walter expects to
finalize in the near term the establishment of a delinquency flow outsourcing
arrangement wherein the Company will provide outsourced default servicing on a
flow basis to EverBank from its mortgage portfolio. The portfolio of assets
acquired and subserviced consists of over 179,000 loans that are projected to
be approximately 75% current at transfer. The transaction will have an economic
closing as of October 30, and the bulk of the servicing transfers will take
place during the first quarter of 2014. Mark J. O'Brien, Chairman and CEO of
Walter Investment said, "We are pleased to announce this transaction with
EverBank, which will add over $20 billion of UPB and 179,000 accounts to our
serviced portfolio, and extends our complement of serviced product to Ginnie
Mae forwards.
Provident Funding reminded
clients that "beginning November 1, all licensees will be allowed to start
their license renewal process through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System
(NMLS). Provident Funding encourages that you renew your license early and
submit proof of renewal to Provident Funding as soon as possible. If we do not
receive notification that your license has been renewed prior to December 31st,
2013 loans in your pipeline will not be able to move forward."
EverBank has
revised a number of its Non-Conforming guidelines, including raising the
maximum loan amount to permit up to $2m on transactions with LTV/CLTVs of 80%
and below, while the minimum loan amount for Fully Amortizing ARM products has
been reduced to $250,000 (the Fixed Rate minimum loan amount remains at
$417,001). In addition, business assets may now be used for the entire
amount required for the down payment and reserves. For S Corporation
partnership assets, the borrower and/or co-borrower must own 100% of the
business entity (the percentages held by the borrower and co-borrower are
irrelevant so long as they add up to 100%); for Schedule C assets, the borrower
or co-borrower must own 100% of the entity. All relevant loan files
should contain a letter from an independent third party stating that withdrawal
will not have a material impact on the viability of the business entity, that
funds are not an advance on future earnings, that no repayment of the funds is
required, and the dollar amount of the funds available. A 12- or 6-month
cash analysis may be used for S Corporation partnership assets and Schedule C
assets, respectively. All of the above updates take immediate effect.
Effective immediately, EverBank
has updated the requirements for using asset amortization when generating a
monthly income stream. The retirement age requirement of 59 ½ has been
removed, as has the 70% maximum for primary residences and second homes, for
which there is no longer any LTV restriction. The previous requirement to
calculate the eligible asset amount as being amortized over 360 months has been
clarified such that the amortization period is still 360 months for 30-year
transactions but has been revised down to 180 months for 15-year
transactions. For ARMs, the rate of return is now calculated as the
lesser of 3% or the note rate minus 2% instead of the 1-Year LIBOR index as
published in the WSJ. As a reminder, asset amortization must equal at
least 50% of the qualifying total monthly income.
Carol Poupart who has servedas
President of AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation for the past 7 year has
announced her retirement effective November 1, 2013. During Carol's
tenure the company has grown exponentially and added a third party division to
its very successful on-line lending program. The company is pleased to
announce the promotion of Mark Lively to the President position. Mark
joined AmeriSave in December of 2009 after a lengthy career in the industry
with several national mortgage entities. He joined AmeriSave as Senior
Vice President of Credit Risk and was later promoted to Executive Vice
President. He has been an integral part of the senior management team
since joining AmeriSave. He will continue to utilize his experience and
knowledge to take the company to the next level.
Turning to the markets...The
traders can say all they want about spreads, swaps, supply and demand (yes, it
is always important!), but by the time Tuesday's Happy Hour rolled around, the
agency MBS market was basically unchanged from Friday's close, which means
that rate sheets were also about unchanged. The U.S. 10-yr T-note, however,
worsened by almost .250 in price. For tomorrow's exciting news we have the
MBA's application index, confirming what lock desks & pipeline hedging
companies around the nation already sense, along with a $24 billion 10-yr note
auction. Speaking of which, its yield at the end of Tuesday was 2.77%, and
in the early going this morning it is at 2.76% with little change in agency MBS
prices.
KNOW YOUR OWN STATE MOTTO. (Part
2 of 4)
Illinois
Please, Don't Pronounce the
"S"
Indiana
2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free
Iowa
We Do Amazing Things With Corn
Kansas
First Of The Rectangle States
Kentucky
Five Million People; Fifteen Last
Names
Louisiana
We're Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos,
But That's Our Tourism Campaign.
Maine
We're Really Cold, But We Have
Cheap Lobster
Maryland
If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax
It
Massachusetts
Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's
And Our Senators Are More Corrupt
Michigan
First Line Of Defense From The
Canadians
Minnesota
10,000 Lakes... And 10 Zillion
Mosquitoes
Mississippi
Come visit And Feel Better About
Your Own State
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