National Mortgage News - October 2016

Servicers have long skimped on technology investment, leaving legacy systems that can't keep pace with compliance demands. But rising costs and a new round of regulations are compelling both servicers and vendors to finally address these deficiencies.

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Unfortunately, it's taken years of widespread regulatory upheaval for mortgage servicing to find it necessary to start thinking about technology innovation.

The slow start to Fifth Third's 3%-down mortgage illustrates some of the logistical challenges with such programs, which are on the rise across the industry.

Though the Federal Housing Finance Agency has yet to provide full details about its new refinancing program to be launched next year, some analysts and industry observers are already convinced it will have only a limited impact.

Plenty of banks have ended their federal loss-share deals early, but despite the incentives to wind them down, plenty more still have these crisis-era arrangements in place. It may be due to varying deadlines, mistakes calculating loan values or worries that they still might need the coverage for home equity lines.

Equifax and TransUnion have stopped selling traditional credit reports, forcing lenders to buy their new, more expensive "trended" data reports that mortgage investors aren't using yet.

A rising number of banks are looking to become community development financial institutions, emboldened by low-cost capital and an exemption from the ability-to-repay rule.

Regardless of who wins in November, the mortgage industry will see significant changes, but Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would take very different approaches to housing and regulatory issues, said Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens.

The first commercial mortgage-backed security to comply with "skin in the game" requirements was extremely well received. Market participants credit the way the large banks sponsoring the deal retained the risk – a strategy unavailable to nonbank lenders.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is keeping lenders in the dark about how it will ensure borrower data is secure and private under the expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements.

Concern around billionaires from abroad creating a price bubble by sheltering wealth in U.S. real estate is nothing more than hype caused by market commentators for the sake of ratings and page clicks.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Sept. 9.

Loan officers encounter a wide range of obstacles in the process of seeing a mortgage loan through to closing, but how many can spin silence into livestock?

Craig Strent of Apex Home Loans saw potential in blending his mortgage banking services with the strategy of financial advising, finding strong partners and a niche in helping clients through one of life's most difficult transitions.

Nationwide, new home construction isn't keeping up with rising prices and demand. But in certain areas of the Southwest and Southeast, builders are bucking this trend, creating housing supply that is more flexible to market fluctuations.