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. Making Sure Wrong Home Isn't Seized
2. Foreclosures Get Trickier In Florida
3. Wells Looks to Local Input to Underwrite Flood of Mods
4. PrinceRidge Aims to Ignite the Jumbo MBS Market
5. Columbus Accountant and Realtor Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud

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

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Wells Wants FHA Minimum Even Higher

By Paul Muolo

As early as next week the Federal Housing Administration will release its final rule on net-worth minimums for its lenders, setting the stage-perhaps-for a battle with nonbanks that can't meet the initial $1 million requirement, which will grow to $2.5 million within three years.

It's no secret that for thinly capitalized firms playing in both the FHA and government-sponsored enterprise markets, the writing is on the wall: raise more money or find some type of way to survive, either by joining an adequately capitalized nonbank or even a bank (or a net branch operation).

The FHA is tightening the screws because it desperately wants to stem losses at its beleaguered insurance fund, driving what's left of the industry's "bad guys" and weaker (financially) firms out of the business. But there's also a school of thought here that FHA is making these and other changes to intentionally reduce the number of lenders it has to manage.

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HAMP Mods Finally Gathering Steam

The pace of permanent Home Affordable Mortgage Program loan modifications is now averaging roughly 50,000 a month with the cumbersome government program finally getting its legs.

Downgrades Coming for Re-securitized MBS?

Moody's Investors Service has placed 40 RMBS re-securitization tranches with a current outstanding balance of $500 million on watch for possible downgrade.

Stung by warehouse lines it made to the now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Ocala, Fla., Sovereign Bank of Pennsylvania has decided to exit the sector, according to warehouse lending officials and customers that received credit from the bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has extended its "safe harbor" policy for six months while its board continues to work toward the adoption of new securitization standards.

The Obama administration is working on a national program to address negative equity, but first it wants to test existing programs managed by state housing finance agencies.

Mortgage bankers funded roughly $414 billion of new home loans in the fourth quarter, the industry's worst quarter of the year and an indication that production -- as anticipated -- will be weaker in 2010.

GMAC Mortgage LLC's corrective actions related to an unusual servicing practice that could hurt ratings on nearly $6 billion of RMBS it services are scheduled for completion by April 1, according to a Moody's Investors Service report.

GMAC Financial Services has hired Goldman Sachs to start the process of selling the company's money-losing mortgage unit Residential Capital Corp., according to a new published report.

Mortgage vendor Lender Processing Services Inc. is requesting nearly $3 million in city and state incentives to add 350 full-time jobs in Jacksonville, Fla., according to a report in the Jacksonville Business Journal.

Kevin Jackson, previously a director in convexity products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will be joining Wells Fargo Securities as part of the firm's efforts to bolster its residential financing, origination, and trading activities.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold $1.37 billion of structured guaranteed notes backed by residential and construction loan assets from Corus Bank.

Fitch Ratings, Chicago, believes that the title industry's 2010 revenue decline could range between 10% and 15%, based on the projected fall-off in mortgage origination volume.

Morgan Keegan & Co., Memphis, Tenn., will market Farmer Mac loan programs designed specifically for its bank clients which hold agricultural loans in their portfolios.