FHA Condo Financing Evaporating

[Update 1: clarifies time line of the new guidelines] In a letter to lenders, the Federal Housing Agency (FHA) produced new guidelines that would constrict financing for condominiums. Since then, brokers and condo owners report that FHA financing for condos is going from a flood to a trickle. In a letter released Nov. 6, the FHA provided [...]

DBRS Sees Fannie’s D4L Coming to Non-Conforming Market

Despite research from Barclays Capital that indicates the Deed-for-Lease Program (D4L) launched earlier in November by mortgage giant Fannie Mae (FNM: 1.02 -0.97%) will “see limited use,” as it targets the same debt-to-income (DTI) ratio as a HAMP modification, independent rating agency DBRS expects a different outcome. DBRS said in market commentary the D4L plan — [...]

Bankruptcy Ruling May Breach CMBS Trust Structure: Moody’s

A US Bankruptcy Court judge ruled late last week to grant the debtor access to names of certificate-holders of a $4.1bn commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) trust, according to weekly market commentary by Moody’s Investors Service. The Extended Stay Hotel (ESH) chain, which filed for bankruptcy in June, requested the securitization trust holding legal title to the [...]

Builders’ Results Show Return to Profitability, Increased Contracts

Atlanta-based homebuilder Beazer Homes USA (BZH: 4.72 -3.48%) returned to profitability in its fiscal year fourth quarter, posting income from continuing operations of $35.3m, or $0.87 per diluted share. The profits from Beazer’s FYQ409, which ended Sept. 30, compare to losses of $27.9m in FYQ309 and $453.8m in FYQ408. The results were impacted by a non-cash pre-tax [...]

Program Connects Property Managers with Mortgagors

A new program aims to connect lenders, servicers and investors with independent property managers to handle tenant-related issues on recently foreclosed properties. The National Residential Property Receivership Program is a partnership between Carrollton, Texas-based specialty servicer Wingspan Portfolio Advisors and the American Legal and Financial Network (AFN), a network of mortgage banking and legal professionals. The program [...]

AHMSI, Ohio AG Swap Lawsuits Over Servicing Claims

American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. (AHMSI) is filing a “pre-emptive” lawsuit contesting allegations made by the Ohio attorney general this week. AHMSI said it received a letter from the Ohio attorney general’s office, claiming its mortgage servicing — including customer service, loss mitigation and loan modification business practices — may be in violation of Ohio’s Consumer [...]

Viewpoint: Like Us, Whitney Sees Risks in Fed’s MBS Exit

HousingWire readers have already been reminded on a number of occasions that the Federal Reserve dominates the agency/GSE MBS market (and has since the purchase plan was announced almost a year ago) and that banks and would-be mortgage borrowers are first in line to be whacked when the Fed exits the MBS market. So I was [...]

Payment Holidays Will Pressure Italian RMBS: Moody’s

A “payment holiday” scheme approved last week by the Italian Banking Association (ABI) is poised to negatively affect Italian residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), according to market commentary by Moody’s Investors Service. The ABI’s payment holiday initiative will grant payment relief for up to 12 months starting January 2010 to individuals that meet certain criteria. Moody’s indicated [...]

HUD May Withdraw FHA Approval from Reverse Lender

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Mortgagee Review Board proposed the agency revoke the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approval of a Hawaii-based reverse mortgage lender. The board is proposing HUD permanently withdraw the HUD and FHA approval of Financial Mortgage USA, a Honolulu-based home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) lender, because the company allegedly failed [...]

Monday Morning Cup of Coffee

A look at the stories on HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues: Last night commercial lender CIT Group (CIT: 0.00 N/A) filed for bankruptcy in addition to a planned private funded bailout. 90% of the number of debtholders voting on the decision, both large and small, cast affirmative votes for the prepackaged [...]

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