Rising vacancies and falling rents are impacting all sectors of commercial real estate. Landlords are focusing on tenant retention and negotiating lease extensions at low rents with favorable allowances to sustain revenues. The Beige Book Jan. 13, 2010 Summary indicated that while economic activity remains at a low level, conditions have improved modestly further, and those improvements are broader geographically than in the last report. Commercial real estate markets deteriorated in most districts based on information collected on or before Jan. 5, 2009.Read more

On Dec. 16, 2009, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published Mortgagee Letter 09-52, which issued guides for mortgage originators in circumstances where borrowers receive a short payoff from their current lender on either a sale or a refinance. Here is a summary of the five things you need to know about these changes:

1. Changes are effective as of Dec. 16, 2009.Read more

Recently I participated in a Murder Mystery weekend at a bed and breakfast lodge. Every guest was a given a role to play. There were eight suspects; each of whom had one or more of the following: Means, Opportunity and Motive. Having the Means and Opportunity was very important, but having the right Motivation was the key to solving the puzzle. We interviewed the suspects, collected clues, then presented who we thought was the killer and why. It was great fun, but I failed to figure out who done it. I was very logical and surmised that a suspect with a monetary motive was the one.Read more

I’m sure you’ve heard that incredulous gasp or moment of silence on the other end of the phone when you tell someone that they might benefit by considering an interest-only adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). It’s as if the very mention of an interest-only ARM places you in a category of being, “One of THOSE”—a big bad mortgage broker who singlehandedly caused the whole housing, financial and economic crisis.

So, I have two questions for you:Read more

During the last two weeks of 2009, rates made a pretty significant move upward. We have been warning about potential regarding volatility with regard to the bond market. The past few months before the end of the year were void of this volatility. Despite this, the markets moving significantly should not have caught us by surprise. Many will say that there was very light volume in the markets during these two weeks. Certainly light volume can exacerbate tendencies toward volatility in the short run. However, even if rates move back down, we believe there is a lesson to be learned here.Read more

The deadline for covered institutions to submit their 2009 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data is March 1, 2010. There are four steps that can be taken to assure accuracy and timely submission of HMDA data. Control data quality (Step 1):

1) Periodically evaluate HMDA data to ensure that all relevant product lines are included and that the data include all loan applications that are originated, denied or withdrawn.Read more

Mention the word “mortgage broker,” “bank” or “lender” and many people today cringe. Most are not even sure why because what they hear has not really been their experience with a home loan. How did an industry that dominated the finance arena become such huge targets for every housing issue in the past few years?Read more

On Dec. 22, 2009, more than six years since President George W. Bush signed into law the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the final rules that require creditors to provide consumers with a notice when they have been charged more for credit based on their credit score. The final rules implemented in FACTA amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the primary federal law that governs the use of credit reports.Read more

Today’s issue is fraud. Fraud affects the secondary markets in two very important ways: The existence of fraud is a valid reason to require a seller to repurchase a mortgage. This is commonly known as a “buyback.” The higher the prevalence of fraud within mortgages originated, the higher the risk of default of these mortgages, and thus, the lower the value of the commodities created and sold in the secondary markets. In other words, the more fraud in our industry, the higher rates will go.Read more

Mortgage fraud is a serious problem … still. Of course, credit standards are much higher today than a few years ago, and it is difficult for a borrower to obtain a mortgage by fibbing about their income or otherwise doctoring their loan application. But where there is a will to defraud, fraudsters will find a way.Read more