Citing concerns about increased mortgage fraud, four organizations representing more than 35,000 real estate appraisers voiced their opposition to changes to an Obama administration program that will encourage short sales of homes. The coalition was led by the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest organization of real estate appraisers.Read more

Judy “Miu Wan” Yeung was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, and three counts of witness tampering by a federal jury, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. The jury, after deliberating for one day, found that Yeung engaged in a mortgage fraud conspiracy between approximately December 2004 and January 2007. Yeung, together with two mortgage brokers, recruited five individuals to submit loan applications in their names in order to obtain loans totaling more than $6.5 million.Read more

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has issued the following reactions and analysis to the fiscal year 2011 federal budget, as proposed by the Obama Administration. "Reducing the federal deficit is vital to the long-term health of the U.S. economy and our industry. However, we believe it can and should be done without negatively impacting the already-fragile housing market," said Robert E. Story Jr., CMB, MBA's chairman. "Limiting the mortgage interest deduction and imposing additional taxes on lenders will only make economic recovery more difficult."Read more

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, together with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have announced the completion of all transactions under the recently-introduced state and local Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Initiative, a key element of the Obama Administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP).Read more

The Obama Administration has announced that the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) is renewing grant funding needed to keep thousands of local homeless assistance programs operating. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said a total of nearly $1.4 billion will help an unprecedented 6,445 programs to continue offering critically needed housing and services to homeless persons and families. The grants announced are being awarded through HUD's Continuum of Care programs.Read more

The following is a statement from Conrad Egan, president and chief executive officer of the National Housing Conference (NHC), on the Obama Administration's Cash for Caulkers Program, a governmental initiative that would help create and save an estimated 360,000 to 500,000 jobs, among other impacts: "NHC applauds recent efforts to develop incentives for home energy-efficiency retrofits, and urges Congress and the Administration to work together to authorize a "cash for caulkers" program that would help to create jobs, improve residential energy-efficiency, and reducRead more

As part of the Obama Administration's commitment to create a more open and transparent government, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has announced two measures to make information more accessible to the general public. HUD will begin publishing online a full historical view of detailed information on the physical condition of public housing and multifamily units across the U.S.Read more

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) is on the way and its gestation stage will not be as long as many expect.¹ Although its nascence will endure the inevitable crucible of politics churned out by the Congress, federal and state regulatory bodies, bank and non-bank industry lobbyists, and eminent legal scholars,² the actors in this drama seem to argue, at one extreme, for a CFPA with robust oversight and regulatory enforcement authorities, and, at the other extreme, some kind of oversight agency that reviRead more

Edward J. DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released FHFA’s 2009 Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) detailing the agency’s performance and achievements for fiscal year 2009. “FHFA played a leadership role in working with other government agencies, the housing GSEs, and market participants in responding to the housing finance crisis,” said DeMarco.Read more

NewOak Capital announces the appointment of Jay Lown as managing director and senior member of the financial institutions group. He will be responsible for coordinating all activities relating to the U.S. government-related mortgage lending programs through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA, as well as developing mortgage advisory solutions and focusing on the bank advisory and recapitalization at NewOak Capital.Read more