In Ontario, CA, First Mortgage Corporation is looking for
a corporate operations manager. (Many know First
Mortgage due to its offering of FHA/VA products with no
overlays.) The candidate will oversee transactional process
flow and departmental integration to ensure efficient file
movement. Duties include oversight of processing, docs,
funding, shipping, insuring, and will integrate with the Chief
Underwriter/Underwriting Department. The candidate must reside
within reasonable commuting distance. For confidential
inquiries or resumes, please email Susan Kowalski at skowalski@firstmortgage.com.
It is hard to tell if the recent drop in residential
mortgage applications is due to the waning summer vacation,
or to good rates losing their impact - probably a mixture of
both. This week's MBA figures totaling last week's
numbers showed that home loan apps were down 4.3% with
purchases up 1.4% and refi's down 5.7%. The average loan size
rose by approximately $5k to $203.3k indicating a shift back
to lower coupon refi’s. (Conventional refi's were down 5.3%
and GNs were down by 8%.) Everyone in the mortgage
food chain, from LO’s through HR directors to investors, is
keenly interested.
But a loan here, and loan there, and before you know it, they
add up. During the month of July Ginnie Mae guaranteed
$32.04 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS).
Issuance for Ginnie Mae II single-family pools led the way
with more than $24.79 billion, while Ginnie Mae I
single-family pools totaled more than $4.89 billion. Issuance
for Ginnie Mae Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed
Securities (HMBS) included in Ginnie Mae II single-family
pools came in at $703 million. Total single-family issuance
for July was $30.38 billion. Ginnie Mae’s multifamily MBS
issuance was more than $1.65 billion. Ginnie, which has about
90 employees, finances housing mortgage programs run by the
FHA, VA, the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), and
the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Housing and
Community Facilities Program (RD).
While we’re taking Ginnie’s, in case there is any confusion
out there, HUD does not allow Loan Officers to be an
actively licensed Real Estate Salesperson working for a
sponsored HUD approved mortgage company at the same time.
Very few companies are aware of this infraction and HUD loves
to key in on it whenever they hear that anyone (including
processors, underwriters, setup clerks, closers or QC staff,
etc.) in production is also an active licensed real estate
salesperson. No issue if the license is "inactive". Simply, an
FHA loan originator cannot wear 2 hats in the industry. To
participate in FHA lending programs and to obtain and maintain
HUD approval a mortgagee must meet numerous requirements.
Among those requirements, is the following: “Full Time, Part
Time and Outside Employment. A mortgagee may employ staff full
time or part time (less than the normal 40 hour work week).
They may have other employment including self-employment.
However, such outside employment may not be in mortgage
lending, real estate, or a related field.” (HUD FHA Handbook
4060.1 (approval of mortgagees)) This prohibition on outside
or dual employment applies to real property brokers, as well
as, any other type of settlement service provider. As such,
if an approved mortgagee’s loan officer obtains employment as
any type of settlement service provider, including a
settlement agent, then the mortgagee is not in compliance with
HUD’s requirements for FHA program participation.
What
the heck is going on out there with Wells Fargo?
Warren Buffett has $13 billion (yes, that starts with a "b")
of the company?! And Wells just booted Ally as the lender
for GM cars. Wait a minute - wasn't Ally's old name
GMAC? As in General Motors? Anyway, check it out: http://seekingalpha.com/article/833821-should-you-follow-buffett-s-lead-on-wells-fargo.
Now
for a collection of long overdue investor/agency/lender/MI
updates. Most are very recent, but sorry for the delay, but
these will at least provide some flavor for trends.
The
Chase pricing changes turned some heads this week. It
changed its government SRP (servicing released premium) grids,
breaking down Ginnie I and Ginnie II numbers. At the same time
it expanded its loan amount adjuster, and changed its FICO
& LTV grids for conventional, government, and high balance
products. On the one hand pricing was made worse, but on the
other hand some prices were improved. And once again,
aggregators can do what they want to pricing, in this case
increasing the base price and chopping SRP’s, and producers
can find other outlets for their products if they so desire.
(A
few weeks back Chase announced it was changing the following
Non-Agency risk based price adjustments: 0.50% improvement for
Fixed Rate and ARM transaction with LTVs greater than 70% and
less than or equal to 80%. Purchase and cash out adjusters
will no longer apply on Fixed Rate and ARM transactions and
will be removed from Non-Agency rate sheets. New Non-Agency
risk based price adjustments are effective with Best Efforts
loans locked on or after July 27, 2012. This includes loans
that are re-priced to current market due to relock,
renegotiation, or product change. Chase is increasing the
extension and relock fees on Agency Fixed and ARM loans by
0.125 for certain extension and relock periods. Note: There is
no change to the extension and relock fees for FHA, VA and
Non-Agency transactions.)
BB&T
said it will close 12 BankAtlantic branches and 9 of its own
branches in FL, as it consolidates operations related to its
recent acquisition of BankAtlantic.
Provident
Funding
told clients that the release of the appraisal fee changes
has been postponed to September 1st. “We recognize the fee
change will impact disclosures already made to consumers, so
the delay will allow time for you to honor any already issued
GFEs without the need to re-disclose for a change
circumstance.” The original announcement noted, “In order to
ensure appraisers are compensated with fair and reasonable
fees, LenderVend Appraisal Zone is making appraisal fee
changes within specific markets. The changes to the fees will
be effective for appraisal orders on Wednesday, August 22,
2012. In the following states the fee charged to the borrower
will increase by $45 for Interior Single Family Appraisals and
by $35 for Exterior Single Family Appraisals: CA, HI, FL, NC,
PA, NJ, IN, IL, and MD. In the following states the fee
charged to the borrower will decrease by $45 for Interior
Single Family Appraisals and $15 for Exterior Single Family
Appraisals: ID, ND, and WY. In all states, the fee for the
1004D/442 (Update/Recert of Value) will increase to $225.”
(Provident also recently told clients that it is now accepting
electronic signatures on purchase contracts.)
Citi reminded its correspondent clients, "The
Opportunity to Cure Letter (OTC) is Citi’s first formal
notification to a Correspondent about a possible
representation/warranty breach in connection with a loan that
may result in a potential repurchase. As secondary market
investors and insurers more strictly enforce their contractual
rights in today’s environment, a Correspondent’s timely and
thorough response to an OTC is essential to the proper
handling of the issue in the most favorable manner possible.
Per your agreement with Citi, the OTC requires a response
within 30 days so that our Repurchase Department can research
your response, supporting documentation (if applicable), have
ongoing communication with you, and meet investor/insurer
timelines. Responding to the OTC within 30 days can affect the
mortgage insurance status and/or repurchase outcome for Citi
and you. There are many times your response may help resolve
an alleged breach. If you do not reply within 30 days,
surrendering your right to refute the claim at the OTC stage,
Citi may have no other option except to repurchase the loan
from the investor. In turn, Citi will require the
Correspondent to repurchase the loan in most cases. Upon
receipt of any OTC, please respond to your Repurchase
Coordinator as soon as possible with written details to
address the facts set forth in the OTC, as it is to your
advantage to provide any relevant information on the loan.
That allows time for us, if possible, to follow up with you
for any more required information during the OTC stage."
M&T Bank has updated its FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation
Program guidelines such that projects that alter the number of
units within a dwelling are no longer permitted. The
definition of “partially completed projects” has been revised
to include the purchase of a property in which the previous
owners began work that was never finishes and the refinancing
of a home with incomplete work-in-progress. Partially
completed projects will only be reviewed on an exception
basis, and clients are reminded that FHA 203(k)’s can’t be
used to “finish a build,” as the subject property must have
been issued with a non-continent Certificate of Occupancy at
least 12 months before the application date.
Clients
are reminded to lock FHA Streamline refinances with the
correct product code and to use the original LTV; all loans
should include a Freddie HVE for pricing as well. A 12-month
“look back” for disaster alerts should be conducted, and if
the property is in an affected area, it is necessary to do a
drive-by with photos. Even if income hasn’t been verified, it
should be disclosed on the 1003. M&T also reminds clients
that, for FHA Streamline refinances, it will not consider
condos for purchase if they’re not currently approved by the
FHA.
Following FEMA’s announcement about disaster aid in New
Jersey, M&T is requiring properties in the relevant
counties to be re-inspected if their appraisals were completed
before June 30, 2012. The original appraiser should complete
the re-inspection as per Freddie Form 442/Fannie Form 1004D
and include an exterior photo of the property and a
certificate to confirm that there is no damage. In
circumstances where the property has been damaged, the
appraiser must provide commentary on any condition that could
affect its marketability. All re-inspections should be
submitted to M&T prior to closing so that an underwriter
can certify that the property has not been adversely affected.
Yesterday
the U.S. economy had some conflicting news, although once
again it was good for the housing market. The Case-Shiller
June Home Price Index rises +0.94% above expectation of +0.45%
and just below revised up prior gain of +0.97%. Even with
its two month lag and relatively limited survey scope, this
is the fifth straight monthly gain and, for the first time
in almost two years, the YOY read was a positive +0.50%.
But any economic growth depends on jobs and housing, housing
and jobs, and unless there is a revival of the employment
gains seen from October last year, this nascent "recovery" in
housing could be short lived. Fed is keenly aware of this and
continues to stress job growth as key for continued economic
gains, including housing. And thus it was disappointing to
hear that the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index
declined to 60.6 in August from 65.4, and is now at its lowest
level since November 2011.
Interest
rates focused on the poor Consumer Confidence numbers, and the
10-yr T-note reached a two week low in yield, closing at
1.63%. There is a lot of “hope” out there that the economy is
slow enough for the Federal Reserve to launch a new plan to
buy more longer-dated securities to support the economy. In
mortgages, volume remained in the "doldrums" with Tradeweb
reporting at 76% of the 30-day moving average as many
investors remain out on vacations, waiting for better entry,
or more clarity from Chairman Bernanke.
Today
we’ve had the second look at the 2nd quarter’s GDP
numbers, with a slightly higher revision to 1.7% from 1.5%.
“Plodding” is a descriptive word for this statistic, and it
was pretty much as expected. At 7AM PST we’ll have Pending
Home Sales for July, expected higher, and also a $35 billion
5-yr note auction. Later on we’ll also have the Fed's Beige
Book at 2PM EST. In the early going rates are nearly
unchanged with the 10-yr at 1.63% and MBS prices up or down
a shade, depending on coupon.
If
you're interested, visit my twice-a-month blog at the STRATMOR
Group web site located at www.stratmorgroup.com.
The current blog discusses the new CFPB Rule combining TILA
& RESPA disclosures. If you have both the time and
inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on
other comments so that folks can learn what's going on out
there from the other readers.
