HARP…HARP 2.0…HARP 6.0… will the industry have trouble keeping track of which borrower refinanced under which HARP? The Home Affordable Refinance Program certainly has its proponents, and its critics, along with a fair number of LOs/lenders who are on the fence about it, warily watching what...
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Secondary MarketsRegulation
Knowing the value of something one owns, whether it is a Honus Wagner baseball card or a high-rise office building in Hong Kong, is important to many people. And it is critical to any investor in mortgages and in securities backed by mortgages. We’ve all been reminded of the importance of this in...
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Industry Outlook
Many in the industry continue to oppose the increasing amount of government direction, regulation, and interference in the housing market in the United States. To one degree or another, however, the U.S. government in this country has always had an interest in housing, with varying effects. The...
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For many months the residential mortgage market has, for lack of a better term, “relied” on news that Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s) were helping to support the market by buying large chunks of Fannie, Freddie, and FHA (agency) production. In the last month or two, however, REIT share prices...
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Secondary Markets
Every once in a while a rumor or somewhat-substantiated story sweeps through the mortgage banking world about some radical proposal. On the trading desks it was typically something like, “The Chinese are in buying” or “Middle East countries are in selling MBS’s.” Often there was nothing to back up...
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Categories:
Secondary MarketsIndustry Outlook
A certain percentage of the US financial community smiled late last week when they read, “Italian authorities seized documents from the Milan offices of ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service. The seizure was part of an investigation that the two agencies were allegedly...
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Secondary Markets
Early in June we discussed the provisions of QRM (“QRM” stands for “Qualified Residential Mortgage”). It is an issue that just won’t go away, and it did not help matters when the regulators extended the end of the comment period to August 1 – about one week away. The intention of the proposal is...
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