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WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) --Community Associations Institute (CAI) is expressing support for proposed federal rules that accomplish two important CAI goals: helping more homebuyers obtain safe mortgage financing and stimulating a housing market that has struggled since home prices began falling in late 2006. Both will provide more stability to community associations across the country.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 7, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- I’ve been asked a lot lately about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act which is due to expire December 31, 2013. This act provides homeowners with cancellation of debt, huge tax relief.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 7, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress today that an effective housing finance reform plan must include a federal backstop to ensure that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages and reliable mortgage financing for multifamily housing remain readily available and affordable.

Reston, Virginia, - November 7, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. today announced that United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina found in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), JP Morgan Chase Bank, and other MERS® System members.

Wherever you may stand on the climate change debate (cue the angry comments!), it’s undeniable that Mother Nature has grown a bit unpredictable in exacting her revenge for hairspray and Styrofoam. Superstorms in New Jersey. Mudslides in Colorado. Cyclones in India. But while we may not know where the next natural disaster is going to hit, one House Republican is doing his best to encourage people to be prepared

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 4, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Shanna L. Smith, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, issued the following statement urging the Senate to hold an up or down vote for U.S. Representative Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency

Reston, Virginia - November 1, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. today reported that a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last month ruled in favor of MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. and its co-defendants, affirming a lower court’s decision dismissing the plaintiff’s claims of wrongful foreclosure. The Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 31, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The non-partisan, independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (PATH Act) that the House Financial Services Committee passed in July will slash the federal budget deficit by $5.7 billion over the next 10 years

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 30, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- As lawmakers debate how best to reform the secondary mortgage finance market, they must ensure that any new system retains access to safe, secure and affordable sources of mortgage capital for creditworthy consumers in all market conditions or risk a major disruption to the economy, warned the National Association of Realtors® today in testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Washington, DC - October 25, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A $1.5 million grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation will help NeighborWorks America substantially increase its work to help NeighborWorks network members and nonprofit community development corporations around the U.S. build stronger and sustainable mortgage lending operations, expand affordable homeownership opportunities, enhance the availability of financial capability programs and strengthen community stabilization efforts. The grant is part of a $6.3 million overall commitment to affordable housing this year from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 23, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, issued the following response after the Federal Reserve, CFPB, FDIC, OCC, and NCUA issued an interagency statement on fair lending compliance with the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage (QM) rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 23, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Five federal regulatory agencies today issued a statement to address industry questions about fair lending risks associated with offering only Qualified Mortgages. Creditors have asked for clarity regarding whether the disparate impact doctrine of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, allows them to originate only Qualified Mortgages. For the reasons described in the statement, the five agencies do not anticipate that a creditor's decision to offer only Qualified Mortgages would, absent other factors, elevate a supervised institution's fair lending risk.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 17, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- As part of Fannie Mae’s continued effort to provide greater transparency to the marketplace, Fannie Mae will begin publication of monthly loan level disclosure for single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS) starting in December. The monthly loan level disclosure file will contain loans underlying single-family MBS with issue dates beginning on or after January 1, 2013. The first monthly loan level disclosure file will be published on the eighth business day of December (December 11, 2013)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is releasing a bulletin and interim final rule to provide greater clarity to the market concerning mortgage servicing rules that take effect in January 2014. The clarifications address communications with family members after a borrower dies, contact with delinquent borrowers, and treatment of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy or invoked certain protections under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - October 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Charles “Chuck” Quick, president and CEO of IBERIABANK Mortgage, Little Rock, Ark., has been named to the Real Estate Industry Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The NRMLA/RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index (RMMI) rose in Q2 2013 by 3.1 percent to 160.1, its highest level since Q4 2008.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced that it has reached an agreement in principle with SunTrust Banks, Inc., and certain of its subsidiaries (SunTrust) regarding the issuance of $160 million in monetary sanctions. The monetary sanctions would be assessed for unsafe and unsound processes and practices in residential mortgage loans servicing and foreclosure processing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 9, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Mortgage Master, Inc. and Washington Federal to pay civil penalties for violating the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), which requires certain mortgage lenders to accurately collect and report data about home mortgage loans. Mortgage Master will pay $425,000 and Washington Federal will pay $34,000 in civil penalties. The CFPB is also releasing a bulletin today that puts mortgage lenders on notice about the importance of submitting correct mortgage loan information under HMDA.

Fairfax, VA - October 9, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement noting the irony of Barack Obama calling delinquent mortgage borrowers “deadbeats,”comparing them to Congress questioning whether the nation can continue increasing the national debt by more than $1 trillion a year via the debt ceiling:

SEATTLE, WA - October 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- After more than five years of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship, now is the time to move past the temporary fixes that were put in place during the crisis and create a functional and sustainable housing finance system. But with so many plans being put forward, it can be confusing for consumers to understand how changes to the mortgage finance system might affect them. What is in store for the future of mortgage finance? How will the reform of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) evolve with the housing recovery?