HousingWire executive editor Jacob Gaffney managed to stir up quite a firestorm yesterday in discussing the most recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek housing cover -- with an assertion in his own commentary that flipping homes might be considered "fraudulent" activity.
His original comments -- later amended to clarify that he was referring to a...
In a recent survey conducted by real estate broker Redfin, 66% of those polled listed low inventory as a high concern. That number is up from 59% in the fourth quarter, which indicates more buyers becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of inventory.
Had I been surveyed, I would have marked the same thing as those 66%. Currently in the home searching process, I can attest to the shockingly low supply of homes on the market. After...
Twitter is blowing up over the latest cover of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. The cover depicts a household of minorites grabbing at cash. The implications are huge. But, judging by the cover lines, the article can simply be described as misinformed.
The claim that minorities are creating a housing bubble through flipping, no-look bids, and 300% returns is simply not reality. Flipping is not a form of fraud -- except on the lending side, perhaps -- but not representative of a...
Squatters are a continuing problem with little solution. But after HousingWire published a blog on SecureView, the Cleveland company started to get some attention.
For example in Florida — where a 23-year-old man was recently found using “his” $2.5 million mansion not only to live in, but also to entertain his friends — is one of the states dealing...
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is furious at the Treasury. And the extent of that fury came into sharp focus when SIGTARP emailed not only today's testimony of top TARP cop Christy Romero before the house oversight committee, but a reminder copy of...
If Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, went to the U.S. Senate to take the populist approach, her showdown with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shows the CFPB architect may be succeeding in her mission.
But what the showdown doesn’t resolve is the ongoing feeling that Congress is only capable of grilling monetary policy officials to keep the voters happy, while doing very little of anything to fix the nation's housing and financial issues on their own.
But back to Warren’s...
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., believes he's finally found an opportunity to restructure parts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, while still giving President Obama what he wants: a reconfirmation of CFPB Director Richard Cordray.
The senator suggested as much in a statement issued Monday. Corker apparently released the statement to clarify a report published by Politico, suggesting the Senator was "angling to broker a compromise" on the re-confirmation of...
From the desk of FTN Financial "who owns what" data base, the company revealed the biggest buyers of term fixed-income securities, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds, during the last five years.
And the winner is — drum roll, please — households and taxpayers investing via mutual funds and the Federal Reserve.
Coming in a close second were overseas governments and central banks — no surprise...
With home prices inching up and Fannie Mae projecting housing will contribute to gross domestic product in 2013, a person’s attention could easily switch to all the optimism surrounding the 2013 housing market.
But the true outlook of today’s market – according to a collection of observations from the MBA National Servicing Conference & Expo – is still somewhat uncertain.
The overall takeaway from sources at the conference is that today’s housing and finance system is...
If there is one takeaway so far from the 2013 MBA Servicing Expo & Conference, it’s that compliance is king and the servicing industry is focused on the constant stream of mortgage servicing rights transfers currently surfacing in the market.
But the verdict on how to view the massive MSR transfers is still out from both a regulatory and compliance standpoint.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's...
