Fannie cracks the foreclosure whip

Servicers warned to meet timelines or face fines

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September 03, 2010

Finding what clicks in real estate

Agent Reboot Speaker Profile: Mariana Wagner

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September 03, 2010

Homebuyer tax credit off the radar

GAO puts bill for program at $22 billion through 2019

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September 03, 2010

Economic genie is out of wishes

Commentary: Welcome to the political fun house

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September 03, 2010

Control your online destiny

Agent Reboot Speaker Profile: Kristal Kraft

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September 03, 2010

Employment Situation Report: -54K Total Job Losses. Private Sector Adds 67k Positions. Bonds Sell

Posted To: MBS Commentary

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – AUGUST 2010 – BETTER THAN EXPECTED From the Release... Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Government employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up modestly (+67,000). The number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.6 percent) were little changed in August. From May through August, the jobless rate remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7 percent. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) declined by 323,000 over the month to 6.2 million . In August, 42...(read more)

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September 03, 2010

Banks Prefer Cash Buyers in REO Sales; Freddie Mac Streamline Refi Program; Originator Capacity Constraints; Comments on Property Flipping

Posted To: Pipeline Press

If there's one thing that an investor will never let any originator off the buyback hook for, it's fraud . Not only that, but the penalties can go far beyond merely buying back the loan, and saying' "My bad." Just in the last few days, Laura-Jean Arvelo and Ronald O'Malley, a New Jersey mortgage broker and former head of the Bergen County Improvement Authority, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of preparing fraudulent mortgage applications. Both are charged with wire fraud, bank fraud and loan application fraud in order to take bogus documents and falsified applications to trick lenders into making mortgage loans and benefited from fees they received. Ryan Miller of Missouri was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison and pay $6 million in restitution for mortgage fraud...(read more)

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September 03, 2010

FHFA Establishes New Housing Goals for GSEs

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), conservator of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the Enterprises) has established its final housing goals for the Enterprises in 2010-2011. FHFA is required by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to set such goals for targeted segments of the mortgage market The new rules establish three goals for single-family, owner-occupied home purchases; one for low-income families, another for very low-income families, and a third for families living in geographical areas with lower-income populations, areas with high concentrations of minority residents, or federal declared disaster areas. The goal for disaster areas contains a sub-goal to ensure that the needs of lower-income and minority areas are addressed. A goal has also been established for...(read more)

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September 03, 2010

All Signs Point to Higher Rates in Week Ahead

Posted To: MBS Commentary

NFP has come and gone, let's see where things stand.... The October delivery FNCL 4.0 is -0-09 at 102-15. In the chart below I called attention to a few technical inflection points. The ascending trend channel that helped mortgage rates hit new lows on Wednesday has broken down and FNCL 4.0s have made their way back into the range that moderated price action for the majority of August. The falling knife found support and bounced higher directly in the middle of that range. 10s flagged lower for the entire month of August (all summer really) and are now flagging higher. The 2.625% coupon bearing 10 year TSY note is off its session price lows (98-24) at 99-07 yielding 2.715% (+8.8bps). 10s are the worst spot on the curve followed by 7s (+8.6bps) and the long bond (+7.6bps). Volume was heavy into...(read more)

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September 03, 2010

How Did The Employment Report Affect Mortgage Rates?

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

It is the first Friday of the month and that brings us the official government report on the labor market: The Employment Situation Report, the most highly anticipated montly dataset available to the market. This release provides four headline measures on the health of the jobs sector. Nonfarm Payrolls: totals the number of jobs that were added to or cut from employer payrolls in the prior month. Consensus Forecast: -100,000 vs. -131,000 in July (Private payrolls increased 71,000 in July and +41,000 expected today) Unemployment Rate: the percentage of working-age, mentally able-Americans who are jobless. Consensus Forecast: 9.6% of the labor force vs. 9.5% last month Average Hourly Earnings: the average amount of earnings per hour of labor performed. Consensus Forecast: +0.1% vs. +0.2% last...(read more)

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September 03, 2010