The long-rumored sale of roughly $60 billion in mortgage servicing rights by Flagstar Bancorp is likely to get signed in the fourth quarter, but the bank continues to be coy about which investor its negotiating with. According to servicing advisors familiar with the transaction, Two Harbors Investment Corp. has been talking to the thrift about buying MSRs, but at press time it was unclear if the real estate investment trust is the winning bidder on the deal. Officials from both firms declined to comment. Flagstar, in a recent earnings call, confirmed...
Theres more to federal regulators risk-retention proposed rule and qualified residential mortgage requirements than the 30 percent downpayment option that the industry has strongly pushed back against. Lenders are also concerned about proposed disclosure requirements, horizontal risk retention and sunset provisions for risk-retention requirements. In August, six federal regulators issued a revised proposed rule for risk-retention requirements mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. Non-agency securities backed by mortgages that dont meet QRM requirements will be subject to required risk retention of at least 5 percent by the issuer or contributing lenders. If regulators conform the definition for QRMs with the standards for qualified mortgages established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 95 percent of originations will meet...
Efforts to redefine the FHAs mission under the pretense of eliminating taxpayer risk would be counterproductive to the goal of housing finance reform, warned FHA Commissioner Carol Galante. In recent remarks to a housing reform forum in Washington, DC, Galante said that while housing reform is necessary, restricting the FHAs ability to perform its dual mission in response to perceived risk is not the way to go. This type of over-correction would damage access to affordable credit, she cautioned. Apparently referring to pending House Republican reform proposals for the government-sponsored enterprises and the FHA, Galante said...
In a sign that Senate leaders are continuing their work on comprehensive housing finance reform, representatives of the mortgage lending industry were given an opportunity this week to opine on the exact features such a package should have, and they took full advantage of it. Gary Thomas, president of the National Association of Realtors, speaking before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, offered a bakers dozen of specific proposals for elements of a future finance system, including an efficient and adequately regulated secondary market, which he said is essential to providing affordable mortgages to consumers. Also, the government-sponsored enterprise system with private profits and taxpayer loss must be replaced...
Moodys believes the servicers transitions into mortgage originations was positive, but raised concerns about declining refinance opportunities, competition with banks and the potential for nonprime originations.
Our concern is whether companies have the resources internally to ensure that such arrangements are working as they should, said one Ginnie Mae official. Is the issuer adequately protecting itself and Ginnie Mae?
According to a copy of an early prospectus provided to IMF, lenders originating loans for the security include Nationstar Mortgage, Stearns Lending, Freedom Mortgage, Fifth Third Mortgage, Real Estate Mortgage Network and RMR Financial.
Citadel, which raised $200 million earlier in the year, has funded $18 million so far this year, but 40 percent of that has come in October. Eventually, it hopes to securitize its production.