Principal Cuts on More Lender Menus as U.S. Foreclosures Rise – By John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal – Bloomberg – BusinessWeek
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Irrevocable Trusts and the Reverse Mortgage Opportunity – Reva Minkoff – Irrevocable trusts can now be used for reverse mortgages, according to Paul N. Lovegrove Esq., President of Attorney Trust Review. …. “Nothing in the HECM guidelines that says you can’t use an irrevocable trust.” Although lenders cant sell a reverse mortgage with an irrevocable trust to Fannie Mae, the recent growth of Ginnie Mae’s HMBS program has provided an opportunity for HECMs. – Reverse Mortgage Daily
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Subprime Mortgage Securities Projected to Return Two Thirds of Their Original Principal on Average – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has released its most recent assessment of projected principal recoveries for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in prime, Alt-A, and subprime transactions. These show that in the most likely scenario, subprime securities would return two thirds of their original value, while Alt–Securities would return almost 80%. – Research Recap
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FOMC Minutes: … The housing sector has shown some signs of improvement over recent months. Household spending appears to be expanding at a moderate rate, though it remains constrained by a weak labor market, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. … With substantial resource slack likely to continue to dampen cost pressures and with longer-term inflation expectations stable, the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time. … Read if all here.
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Mortgage Program Splits Fed Officials – By JON HILSENRATH – … with some saying a weak economy could warrant expansion and at least one arguing for scaling back, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday. The minutes show some officials worried the housing recovery could be cut short next year when the Fed stops buying mortgage debt and when other federal support programs — such as a government housing tax credit — expires. … – WSJ Economy
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FOMC Hints at MBS Purchase Program Extension. GSE Reform is Real Issue – by Adam Quinones – Mortgage News Daily
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Walk Away From Your Mortgage! – Roger Lowenstein – John Courson, president and C.E.O. of the Mortgage Bankers Association, recently told The Wall Street Journal that homeowners who default on their mortgages should think about the “message” they will send to “their family and their kids and their friends.” … He was speaking about the rising number of folks who are voluntarily choosing not to pay. … – NY Times
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Go Ahead, Walk Away From Your Mortgage! – Henry Blodget – Roger Lowenstein gives Americans permission to do what companies do every day: … By the way, one advantage of this move, aside from saving underwater homeowners from pouring money down a rat hole, is that it will help fix the housing market faster. If underwater homeowners walk away, the banks willl be forced to take a writedown on the bad loan instead of pretending that it’s worth what they say it’s worth. This will help the bank clean up its balance sheet faster. So think of walking away as helping to force banks to do what the government refused to make them do–take their losses! … – Business Insider
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Out Of Work Americans Clear Out Of Apartments, Driving Vacancy Rates To 30 Year High – John Carney – Unyielding job losses and a renewed government push to expand home buying dealt owners of rental apartments a savage blow in 2009. – Money Game at Business Insider
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Foreclosure.com Files for Bankruptcy – (How Ironic.) – “The parent company of Foreclosure.com and a stable of more than 150 other Web sites says its doors will remain open after two lawsuits forced it to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.” – Surly Trader ————
Fannie Mae to bend rules for some Florida condos – By Al Yoon – annie Mae, the largest funder of U.S. home mortgages, on Thursday said it is making it easier for some Florida condo buyers to qualify for loans in a bid to stabilize one of the worst-hit real estate arkets. The housing finance giant said it is reassessing hundreds of Florida condo projects to see if they are “sufficiently stable” enough to qualify for funding, even if they don’t meet current requirements, Fannie Mae said in a statement. – Reuters
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Ginnie Issues $130M BofA Reverse Mortgage REMIC – by DIANA GOLOBAY – Ginnie Mae guaranteed and issued its first real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) composed of Bank of America (BofA) (BAC: 16.93 0.00%) reverse mortgage securitizations late last year, a spokesperson tells HousingWire. – HousingWire
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Implement More Than 405,000 – HAMP Mods; Refinance 4 Million Loans Through November 29 pages – FHFA Press Release and Report