The economic justification for outsourcing in mortgage originations is generally thought of in terms of the historic cyclicality of the underlying mortgage business. The source of this historical variation in mortgage originations emanates from the seasonality in the home purchase market and interest rate moves in the refinancing market. But the business has experienced radical changes in the last decade and the historic behavior of the market has been overwhelmed by periods of paucity and demand from the financial crisis and the responses to it.Click to continue

CoreLogic has released its February MarketPulse report, where Chief Economist Mark Fleming discusses the current state of the economy and housing markets, as well as challenges facing the mortgage market in 2013. The potential influence of the Qualified Mortgage (QM) and Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rules is analyzed.Click to continue

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (T-TN), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has submitted a letter to six federal agencies, urging federal banking regulators to simplify and synchronize underwriting standards for new mortgage lending rules to avoid permanently regulating the private sector out of the housing finance business. The qualified residential mortgage (QRM) being implemented under the Dodd-Frank Act currently exempts loans sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration.Click to continue

Despite growing signs that the housing market is starting to recover from the depression-like conditions of the past few years, first-time homebuyers don’t seem to be benefiting from that recovery. According to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulseTracking Survey results, the first-time homebuyer share of home purchases fell to 34.7 percent in October. That was not only down from the 37.1 percent share seen as recently as June, but also the lowest first-time homebuyer share ever recorded in the HousingPulse survey.Click to continue

In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Moe Veissi, president of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) expressed its support of the Fed’s latest efforts to address housing and urged for rules that allow reasonable access to credit for home buying consumers.

"Reducing mortgage interest rates in general through MBS purchases will have diminished impact if three important rules counter the availability of mortgage credit," said the letter.Click to continue

Last month, mortgage professionals from across the country convened in Washington, D.C. to participate in the 2012 NAMB Legislative & Regulatory Conference. Not only did these industry volunteers learn the latest news on issues affecting their business, they passionately advocated on behalf of all mortgage professionals, small business and the preservation of consumer choice on Capitol Hill.Click to continue

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) are part of a coalition of lender, real estate agent, consumer and civil rights groups that has sent a letter to Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), urging for a broadly defined Qualified Mortgage (QM) that covers a wide range of traditionally safe products and underwriting criteria.Click to continue

Last March, more than 200 mortgage professionals from across the country convened in Washington, D.C. to participate in the National Association of Mortgage Brokers Legislative & Regulatory Conference. Not only did the attendees learn the latest news on issues affecting their business, they passionately advocated on behalf of all mortgage professionals, small business, and the preservation of consumer choice on Capitol Hill. From Sunday-Tuesday, March 18-20, NAMB will rally the troops once again and your presence is imperative!Click to continue

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has commended President Barack Obama for offering proposals in Tuesday's State of the Union Address to help families stay in their homes and stanch foreclosures, and is urging policymakers to take additional actions to mend the housing market and boost the economy.Click to continue

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has announced the release of its latest study, "Balancing Risk and Access: Underwriting Standards for Qualified Residential Mortgages." Findings of the report show that government-mandated downpayment rules as established by the qualified residential mortgage (QRM) initiative, could push 60 percent of creditworthy borrowers into high-cost loans or out of the market altogether. The QRM proposal defines a high-quality mortgage as one with at least a 20 percent downpayment, or possibly 10 percent.Click to continue