The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) has announced that it will soon begin releasing monthly disclosure files on its outstanding mortgage-backed securities (MBS) approximately two weeks earlier than previously released. Ginnie Mae believes the expedited schedule will serve to maximize the value of its securities, which ultimately helps drive down mortgage rates for consumers.Read more

Embrace Home Loans, a direct lender for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, approved by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and an issuer for Ginnie Mae, announced that it has begun offering Streamline 203(k) loans. In a release, the company said the loans cover a variety of home improvements and repairs and allow borrowers to take out a single mortgage covering the purchase and rehabilitation of a dwelling. Much like other FHA loans offered by the company, the FHA insures the 203(k) loan in a partnership with Embrace Home Loans.Read more

MountainView Capital Holdings LLC, a provider of solutions for mortgage and capital market participants, has announced the acquisition of Capmark Securities Inc. and the hiring of a seasoned team of fixed-income professionals from Madison Williams and Company LLC. The acquisition and key hires broaden the capabilities of MountainView Securities LLC in mortgage pipeline hedging and trading of fixed-income securities, including mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Read more

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has praised Senate passage of HR 5872, General and Special Risk Insurance Funds Availability Act, a bill to increase the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) multifamily commitment authority, and HR 5981, which would allow FHA to increase its annual premiums for its single-family program. Both bills have passed the Senate and will now go to the President for his signature.Read more

The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding decreased in the first quarter, to $3.31 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) analysis of the Federal Reserve Board Flow of Funds data. Declines were driven by drops in commercial and multifamily mortgages held in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and construction loans held by banks and thrifts.Read more

Ginnie Mae saw it coming. The experts predicted it. And it has finally arrived, with a vengeance. The entry costs reduction food-fight among home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) reverse mortgage lenders is on. Among the major players, MetLife Bank lobbed the first salvo on March 26, by discarding origination and servicing fees on its fixed-rate HECMs.Read more

On Sept. 18, 2009, David H. Stevens, Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), made an announcement in a press release. This announcement was that a proposed rule (published in the Federal Register) would not require mortgage brokers to get FHA approval in order to have access to FHA programs. This rule, in fact, became final on April 20, 2010, when the rule was published in the Federal Register.Read more

Embrace Home Loans, a direct lender for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, approved by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and an issuer for Ginnie Mae, has officially opened a new branch in Lynchburg, Va., located at 103A Paulette Circle. The new Embrace Home Loans branch will be managed by 23-year industry veteran Billy Woolridge. Woolridge has contributed numerous articles on local and national housing market trends.Read more

Mortgage Delivery Specialists LLC (MDS), a provider of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Mortgage Delivery Services and Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR) Acquisition Due Diligence Analysis Services and Indecomm-Mortgage Dynamics Inc. (IMDI), an Indecomm Global Services (IGS) Company and one of America's leading mortgage banking management consulting and outsource services firms, have announced they have formed a strategic partnership.Read more

Lehman Brothers lives in U.S. reverse mortgage history. The Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) has had Fannie Mae’s deep pockets as a secondary market source of cash for reverse mortgage lenders since its inception in 1989. And since 2007, Ginnie Mae has opened HECM to world investors through its HECM mortgage-backed security (HMBS).Read more