1. Some Republicans Back State Minimum-Wage Increases
“In Washington, Republicans are allied against President Barack Obama’s call to raise the federal minimum wage. But in the five states where voters will have a say on wage floors this fall, GOP candidates in competitive races say they favor an increase.”
2. U.S. poverty rate drops for first time since 2006
“There’s not much good news for working Americans struggling to rebound from the recession, except perhaps this: the U.S. poverty rate is finally on the decline.”
3. Realtors® President Calls on Policy Makers to Protect Middle Class Homeownership at Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Summit
“WASHINGTON (September 16, 2014) – National Association of Realtors® President Steve Brown delivered remarks about the ongoing obstacles to mortgage credit facing creditworthy buyers today at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s 2014 Housing Summit, Housing America’s Future: New Directions for National Policy.”
4. Investcorp says buys U.S. real estate assets for around $250 mln
” (Reuters) – Investcorp, an alternative investment manager based in Bahrain, said on Tuesday it had acquired a portfolio of office and industrial property assets in three cities in the United States for around $250 million.”
5. COLUMN-China hasn’t got investors’ backs: James Saft
“(Reuters) – In a world in which investors increasingly assume policy-makers have their backs, China may be about to demonstrate how it can work the other way.”
6. New York regulator probes so-called ‘hard money lenders’
” (Reuters) – New York regulator Benjamin Lawsky has launched an investigation into potential predatory practices by lenders who make short-term, high-interest loans secured by homes or other real estate.”
7. MIDEAST MONEY-U.S. rate hikes to trim inflation, expose weak finances in Gulf
“DUBAI, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Most of the Gulf’s rich oil exporting economies will cope comfortably with an era of rising interest rates, but fund flows within the Gulf may shift and fragile state finances in the less wealthy countries will become more exposed.”
8. Homeowner association won’t make repairs; is there recourse?
“Question: We bought our property in a homeowner association more than 15 years ago, influenced by the salesperson, board and managers who promoted “community.” They emphasized amenities and goals of increasing and maintaining property values, ensuring marketability of homes. We now realize they’re more interested in planting flowers than fixing maintenance problems. They’d rather plan holiday events and potlucks than adequately repair our crumbling infrastructure. Many buildings have cracks in floors and walls. The covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) require owners to insure their units or be fined. When our unit suffered damage caused by a common area, our insurer said it was the association’s fault, but the association’s insurance hasn’t committed to payment. The board hasn’t repaired it, and won’t let us repair it. Can we sue the manager, board and owners for damages and for diminishing the value of our unit?”
9. Will Congress renew tax relief for homeowners’ debt forgiveness?
“Congress is back from its summer vacation, so the burning financial question on thousands of homeowners’ minds right now is this: Are you guys finally going to help out consumers who are underwater on their mortgages, many of whom face crushing federal tax bills if they accept — or have already accepted — principal reductions by their lenders?”
10. MBA Offers Single-Family, Multifamily Recommendations to FHFA Strategic Plan
“Sept. 16, 2014–Sorohan, Mike msorohan@mba.org
The Mortgage Bankers Association, in comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, offered recommendations to the agency’s single-family and multifamily strategic plan for fiscal years 2015-2019.”
11. Wells Fargo finds mortgage myths hamper home purchases
” (Reuters) – Getting a mortgage in the United States may be easier than many borrowers think, according to a survey released Monday by Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), the largest U.S. mortgage lender.”
12. Housing and mortgage financing are not ready for demographic shift
“The housing industry and the mortgage finance industry are not ready for the great demographic shift that is coming as boomers age and a more ethnically diverse block of millennials and post-millennials come of age.”
13. Fannie, Freddie profits should fund transition to new housing-finance system, analyst says
“Rather than funneling profits from housing-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the government, those funds could be put to better use by providing capital that supports a transition to a new mortgage-finance system, a housing expert said Monday at a summit in Washington.”
14. Delinquency rates fall at major U.S. banks in August
“(Reuters) – A majority of big U.S. banks reported a fall in delinquency rates for August as customers made their credit card payments on time. However, charge-offs rose at most of these banks.”
15. HOPE NOW: 35K Loan Mods in July
“Sept. 16, 2014–Tucker, Michael mtucker@mba.org
The HOPE NOW alliance said 35,000 homeowners received non-foreclosure assistance from mortgage servicers in July, including modifications completed under both proprietary programs and the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.”
16. Residential Briefs
“Sept. 16, 2014–MBA Staff
Fay Servicing Adds RES.NET REO Platform to Manage Portfolio
RES.NET, Lake Forest, Calif., now provides its REO Portal to Chicago-based Fay Servicing, a special servicer and mortgage originator, giving Fay’s clients access to an agent network, vendors and operating tools.”
17. KBW: ‘Optimistic’ Outlook for Commercial Mortgage REITs
“Sept. 16, 2014–Tucker, Michael mtucker@mba.org
The outlook for commercial mortgage real estate investment trusts remains good, reported Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, New York.”
18. Virginia targets banks with $1.15B toxic mortgage lawsuit
“Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced a giant lawsuit against some of the largest commercial banks for fraud committed against Virginia taxpayers during the height of the financial crisis.”
19. Even credit-worthy borrowers struggle to get a mortgage
“The national homeownership rate continues to decline, and many say that it’s only going to get worse because of tighter lending standards, burdensome regulations that create lender uncertainty and affordability challenges.”
20. Credit unions to Senate Banking: Enough is enough
“XCEL Federal Credit Union President and CEO Linda McFadden will tell the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that “enough is enough” when it comes to the overregulation of credit unions, sources in Washington tell HousingWire.”
21. Everyone agrees there must be housing finance reform
“Housing finance reform is a nut that still can’t be cracked because of a lack of consensus among those involved, but most agree the status quo can’t continue.”
22. Treasury doesn’t want former Fannie CFO in GSE investor lawsuit
“A week ago HousingWire first reported that former Fannie Mae CFO J. Tim Howard was hired by Fairholme Funds in their lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury, and now the government is arguing against allowing Howard access to 800,000 pages of discovery documents.”
23. $478 million in subprime-boom bonds to hit market
“Investors looking to get their hands on some subprime vintage debt will get their chance on Tuesday, when $477.8 million in non-agency pre-bust bonds are scheduled to trade as part of $727.3 million package.”
24. Former HUD Secretary: Housing assistance programs in dire need of reform
“Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros says that the current affordable housing assistance programs are skewed in both scope and effect, shutting out three of four of those in need.”
25. HUD, U.S. Bank resolve lending discrimination allegations
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reached an agreement with U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bank subsidiary Red Sky Risk Services, (formerly known as USB Lending Support Services) and one of U.S. Bank’s loan officers, resolving allegations that they refused to refinance the mortgage of an American Indian couple in Belcourt, North Dakota, because their property is located on a reservation.”
26. Calpers Has Lost Interest in Hedge Funds
“Here is a simple model for hedge fund fees:
1.There are some people who can reliably generate alpha — returns in excess of the market return — but those people are rare.
2.It is somewhat difficult to tell who those people are; in particular, at any given time, there are more people who look like they can generate alpha than who actually can.1
3.If you are one of the people who can generate alpha, you should charge a fee for your services that is equal to the alpha that you generate.2
4.If you are not one of those people, you should charge a fee equal to the alpha that those people generate, because then investors might think that you’re one of them.”
27. SoCal housing market so hot, sellers finding the need to cut prices: One third of sellers in Orange County have found the need to cut asking price.
“While the heat wave continues in SoCal drawing out the summer, there is little momentum from the 2013 real estate bonanza. Sellers with their awe inspiring wisdom are finding that no, they simply cannot ask for delusional prices on their stucco box crap shacks. As it turns out, a large number of sellers need to cut asking prices to get interest on their properties. New data shows that in Orange County, the most expensive SoCal county, one-third of sellers have chosen to drop their asking price. Some sellers of course are opting to pull their properties from the market with the hope that next spring, a new breed of sucker will be out in the market ready to plunk down $700,000 on a dumpy pad. In reality, many buyers just don’t have the cash to support current prices even with historically low interest rates. Given the option, many would buy if they had the means to do so. Instead, you have a large number of adults living with parents enjoying meals of Fancy Feast with a glass of Kool-Aid since they don’t even have the deposit for a rental, let alone a down payment for a home. The renting trend is moving along steadily. The market is so hot in SoCal that sellers are now having to lower their asking price.”
28. Fannie Mae Applauds The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Release of the ENERGY STAR Score for Multifamily
“WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advised industry partners that an ENERGY STAR® score for multifamily properties is now available. The score gives property owners and managers the ability to quantify and compare the energy performance of their multifamily housing properties against similar properties, and provides information to help prioritize energy efficiency efforts to ultimately save money. Since 2011, Fannie Mae has been the primary sponsor of EPA’s development of this score by sharing expertise and collecting the data necessary to develop the score with its Multifamily Energy and Water Market Research Survey.”
29. Freddie Mac Announces Eleventh Multifamily Securities Offering This Year, K-716
“MCLEAN, VA–(Marketwired – Sep 15, 2014) – Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today announced a new offering of Structured Pass-Through Certificates (“K Certificates”) backed primarily by fixed-rate multifamily mortgages with 7-year terms. The company expects to issue approximately $1.2 billion in K Certificates (“K-716 Certificates”), which are expected to price the week of September 15, 2014, and settle on or about September 25, 2014. This is Freddie Mac’s eleventh K Certificates offering this year and its second offering this month.”
30. Freddie Mac September 2014 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook
“MCLEAN, VA–(Marketwired – Sep 15, 2014) – Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) released today its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for September, showing that while the single-family building sector is slowly chugging along, the multifamily sector, especially apartment buildings for rent, continue its strong rebound.”
31. Did the HAMP Mod Program Delay the Foreclosure Crisis?
“After the housing bubble burst in 2006, it ushered in the foreclosure crisis, with 5.5 million borrowers losing their homes to banks. Now that the foreclosure tidal wave has receded, most believe that the foreclose storm is over. Nationwide, foreclosure activity is down 9 percent from a year ago in July, according to RealtyTrac — the 47th consecutive month where foreclosure activity decreased annually.”
32. Why The Real Estate Market Remains Fragile
“The foreclosure numbers look so much better these days that at first glance it’s hard to see any big national problems looming ahead. After all, as RealtyTrac points out, July foreclosure levels were 16 percent below a year earlier.”
33. Once-troubled reverse mortgages poised for rebound
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Advertised as a path to an affordable retirement, federally insured reverse mortgages are showing signs of a rebound, drawing the scrutiny of regulators seeking to reduce historically high default rates that have cost the government billions.”
34. Just Approved: Relative’s co-signing allows home purchase
“Mortgage adviser: John Holmgren.
Property type: Single-family residence in Berkeley.
Loan amount: $440,000.
Loan type: 30-year fixed.
Loan rate: 4.5 percent.”