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Mortgage News Daily News Feed

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NAR: Existing Home Sales and Inventories Improved in January

Posted To: MND NewsWire

There was more good news from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) on Wednesday as they reported that the sales of existing homes rose in January, marking three months out of the last four where sales improved. Inventories of homes for sale were also improved and NAR disputed the need for a program to rent foreclosed properties Total sales of existing homes including single family houses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments, increased 4.3 percent to an annual, seasonally adjusted rate of 4.57 million units during the month compared to a downward revised rate of 4.38 million in December and are 0.7 percent above what NAR described as a "spike" in the rate in January 2011. December 2011 sales were originally estimated at a rate of 4.61 million. The median price of all property...(read more)

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MERS Has Second Court Win in Month

Posted To: MND NewsWire

For the second time in just under a month the Mortgage Electronic Registration System ( MERS ) has won a significant court victory. The company which serves as registration agent for major mortgage lenders is currently involved in multiple lawsuits throughout the country. It prevailed in one of these suits, a case filed the U.S. Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Tuesday when Christian County Clerk, by and through its County Clerk, Michael Kem; et al. v MERS; et al. was dismissed with prejudice. The county clerks had sued MERS and a group of MERS members under provisions of the Kentucky laws regarding the recording of deeds. The Plaintiffs asserted, on behalf of all of the state's County Clerks that MERS had violated the statutes in order to avoid recording mortgages and paying the...(read more)

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Inspector General Looks at GSE's as Legal Costs Pass $100 Million

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Both before and after they were placed into conservatorship the two government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) spent large amounts of money to defend themselves and former senior executives in class action lawsuits and other legal matters. For example, in cases arising out of alleged accounting malpractices in the 2004 to 2006 period, Fannie Mae has advanced $99.4 million for the legal defense of three of its former senior executives. Furthermore, $37 million of those funds have been advanced since the conservatorship began and hence were taxpayer funds and Freddie Mac has paid $10.2 million in legal defense costs for former senior executives since it was placed in conservatorship. In both post-conservator instances the Federal Housing Finance Administration...(read more)

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MBS MID-DAY: 2/22/2012

Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS Live : MBS MID-DAY Open MBS Live Dashboard FNMA 3.5 103-05 : +0-06 FNMA 4.0 105-03 : +0-03 FNMA 4.5 106-16 : +0-02 FNMA 5.0 107-31 : +0-02 GNMA 3.5 104-20 : +0-06 GNMA 4.0 107-18 : +0-03 GNMA 4.5 109-01 : +0-04 GNMA 5.0 110-27 : +0-02 FHLMC 3.5 102-29 : +0-05 FHLMC 4.0 104-23 : +0-03 FHLMC 4.5 106-02 : +0-03 FHLMC 5.0 107-19 : +0-02 Pricing as of 11:00 AM EST Morning Market Updates A recap of MBS Market Updates provided by MND Analysts and streamed live to the MBS Live Dashboard . 10:04AM : Existing-Home Sales Rise Again in January, Inventory Down - NAR Existing-home sales rose in January, marking three gains in the past four months, while inventories continued to improve, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Total existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that...(read more)

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Fannie and Freddie Future Plans; NMLS Licensee Stats on the Rise

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Under the title, "Too much time on one's hands", anyone involved in the residential construction/remodeling business might find this, uh, interesting . Hiring in the "mortgage space" continues. Altisource's Origination Services Division is currently hiring DE Underwriters in Missouri, Texas and Ohio to support its growing Correspondent and Quality Control businesses. Altisource is a "global provider of services focused on high value, knowledge-based functions principally related to real estate and mortgage portfolio management, asset evaluation and customer relationship management." Any interested parties should forward their résumé to amy.boblet@altisource.com. I have been retained by an Orange County, California-based lender that is looking for a highly skilled director/manager...(read more)

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