We have heard that Fannie Mae is cutting back on their REO outsourcers. From HW: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration is working on a plan to make it easier for Americans to refinance underwater mortgages and to turn REOs into rentals....
Excerpted from this article in ProPublica: For HAMP’s first two years, the government offered very little public detail about its oversight efforts. It was virtually impossible for the public – or even Congress – to know how well the banks and mortgage servicers were...
The Fed's annoucement of buying longer-term treasuries is a nothing-burger for housing. Any benefit of lower mortgage rates will be scooped up by the lenders, not us. You might see an occasional high-3% offering, but is it even necessary? I don't think so, buyers...
Hat tip to Susie for sending this in from the nytimes.com: The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners, stimulate the economy and cost next to nothing. One...
By Matt Taibbi: Got a chance to meet Josh Rosner (co-author, with Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson, of the new book Reckless Endangerment) last night during an appearance on Eliot Spitzer’s In the Arena. We were brought in to talk about the new investigation of the...
From N.A.R. As you may know, there is a proposal before regulators to require a minimum of 20 percent down on all residential transactions. If allowed to take effect, the rule would put home ownership out of reach for middle-income Americans. It would take the average...
From HW: Republicans in the House of Representatives unveiled seven more bills Friday to reform the government-sponsored enterprises for a total of 15 since March. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) is chairman of the GSE subcommittee and leads the GOP effort to wind down...
From Alejandro Lazo at the latimes.com: A proposed law facing a key vote in Sacramento on Wednesday would require lenders in California to make a decision on mortgage modifications for delinquent homeowners before beginning the repossession process, in effect ending...
An excerpt from Realty Check on cnbc.com: "March could be the month where we begin to see the return to the kind of levels of foreclosure activity we would expect given the underlying conditions," says RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga. "We actually did start to see increased...
Hat tip to kwaping for sending this along, from the AP: WASHINGTON – The federal government on Wednesday ordered 16 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers to reimburse homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon. Government regulators also directed...
