Survey Question

As loan volumes slow this year, will brokers benefit as big retailers move to cut costs and opt to use the wholesale channel instead?

Most Popular Stories

These were the past week's most frequently emailed stories on our site:

1. Foreclosures Get Trickier In Florida
2. Due Diligence Firms Boom, But Questions About W-2s/a>
3. Illinois AG Sues Two Reverse Mortgage Brokers
4. California DRE Revokes Record Number of Real Estate Licenses
5. Fannie and Freddie Foes No Longer

Quote of the Week

“If Ginnie Mae is to fulfill its mission in the years ahead, it requires a structure that provides for its independence and the ability to respond to the always changing secondary markets.”

Joseph Murin, managing director, The Collingwood Group, Washington, and former president and CEO of Ginnie Mae

Reprints

If you would like professionally prepared reprints of articles or permission to re-publish an article or post an article on a Web site, please contact Denise Petratos at 212-803-6557.

A New Concept Aims to Help Resolve Problem Loans

By Bonnie Sinnock

The SwapRent concept has been slow to find traction and faces some challenges, but its potential benefits make the case that there may be hope for it yet.

Among a host of benefits that could be realized from its large-scale implementation is its ability to address today's loan resolution problems, according to creator Ralph Liu, founder/chairman of consultancy Advanced e-Financial Technologies Inc. and a veteran of the derivatives and global financial markets.

SwapRent could allow borrowers to reversibly and flexibly sell some, but not all, of the equity in their property back to the lender in exchange for a reduction in payment.

Read more

Senate Banking Committee leaders are close to agreement on a way to enhance consumer protection as a part of a larger financial regulatory reform bill.

Appraisers are raising alarms that the Treasury Department's decision to use broker price opinions (BPOs) for its new short sales program will exacerbate mortgage fraud and property "flopping."

Purchase mortgage application volume had a strong week and was the driver of the increase in the Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index for the week of Feb. 26.

Although 20% of U.S. mortgages are currently under water, Americans' risk of defaulting on their home loans is at its lowest point since 2005, according to an executive and academic expert at a risk-management firm.

Index Finds Home Prices Drop with Less Micro Variation

Data from Integrated Asset Services LLC, Denver, Colo., show that national home prices fell 2.3% in January, when there was somewhat less variation than usual at micro-market levels.

Condominium developers in South Florida's famed South Beach area have closed on some 4,150 new units since 2003, for an average price of $891,000 per unit. But that still leaves about 1,450 apartments that remain unsold, according to a report published by Condo Vultures, a Bal Harbour-based real estate consulting firm.

ICP Capital has agreed to transfer its domestic and international capital markets businesses to PrinceRidge Holdings LP to create an international investment-banking boutique serving investors and issuers in the institutional fixed income markets.

The sale of commercial mortgage-backed securities servicer Centerline Servicing Inc. to an Island Capital affiliate has reversed the ratings damage caused by its corporate parent's financial woes, according to analysts.

ResCap has been working to change a practice involving the netting of cash flows of multiple residential mortgage-backed securities deals serviced by its GMAC Mortgage LLC subsidiary.

1010data, a provider of data warehouse and business intelligence for mortgage-backed securities market participants and others, has secured a $35 million equity investment from Norwest Venture Partners.

Fannie Mae is planning to offer a new-issue of three-year Benchmark Notes.