Securitization

Short sale timelines and completions are improving, but servicing executives also know their industry can have better results in the government-backed Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, according to panelists at this week’s Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas, sponsored by National Mortgage News.

Deer Park Road Corp., a distressed mortgage and ABS fixed-income securities manager, has strengthened its portfolio management team as the firm’s assets continue to grow, it announced in a July 20 statement.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is developing an index of "healing housing markets" in an attempt to offset the negative press that casts a pall over the entire sector whenever national price statistics are released.

It appears that the sacred cow known as the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is on the table as the White House and Congress grapple on a budget deal to lift the federal debt ceiling.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) filed its comment letter on proposed rulemaking as required under the Dodd-Frank Act for qualified mortgages (QMs) with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB).

Fitch Ratings said in a report today that improved fundamentals in the in the U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) sector has led to a greater percentage of stable outlooks for investment grade CMBS deals.

JPMorgan Chase's net exposure to the sovereign debt of financially troubled countries is just $15 billion. At Goldman Sachs it's a paltry $1.5 billion. Bank of America's is under $17 billion and Citigroup has $22 billion.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is demanding the release of federal reviews of 14 banks that have agreed to fix their foreclosure processes and reimburse homeowners for any harm caused.

Fitch Ratings released unsolicited comment today that stated that investment grade ratings assigned to the most junior class of the City Center Trust 2011 CCHP CMBS would most probably warrant no more than a ‘BBsf’ rating. The conclusion is based on the rating agency's current analysis of hotel properties.

It was essentially "status quo" in terms of the mortgage rates in the week ending July 21.

Former officers and directors of WesCorp Federal Credit Union told a federal court yesterday that National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) growing legal battle with Wall Street banks over securities they sold to the failed corporate illustrates they could not have known the securities were faulty when they made the decision to buy them, thereby nullifying NCUA’s multi-billion dollar negligence suit against them.

Dechert has hired Jodi Schwimmer to join the firm’s finance and real estate practice as counsel.

Insurance giant MetLife said Thursday it plans to sell its banking affiliate but will remain in the residential finance and servicing business through its MetLife Home Loans division.

The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) reported its largest ever one-month increase of 6.3% in May. This is also the first rise in six months for the index.

Two Harbors Investment, a unit of Pine River Capital Management, has hired David Miller as a managing director to oversee business development and strategic initiatives.

NorthMarq Capital has arranged a $98.353 million tax-exempt bond securitization (TEBS) for a national bond portfolio owned by TCH I Depositor.

The Obama administration late Wednesday said it would veto House legislation aimed at restructuring the brand new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Loan brokers and correspondents that live in fear of mortgage buy back requests from secondary market investors may have a new nemesis to worry about: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC).

Wells Fargo & Co. will have to pay an $85 million civil penalty for misleading borrowers into costly subprime loans, the Federal Reserve Board said Wednesday.