As Alex reported 4/14/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Tues April 10, 2012
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it will be offering up new rules for mortgage servicers aimed at making monthly mortgage statements more transparent in disclosing fees or changes in a loan.

“For too long, mortgage servicers have not been held accountable to their customers, and the result has been profoundly punishing to home owners in distress,” says Richard Cordray, director of the consumer bureau. “It’s time to put the ’service’ back in mortgage servicing.”

Servicers will be required to provide more details in monthly mortgage statements. For example, the agency is considering a requirement that servicers offer a breakdown of mortgage payments by principal, interest, and fees in the statements. Also, servicers may soon be required to itemize fees and charges part of a loan and include warnings to consumers about possible late fees. The agency is also seeking a rule that statements must contain warnings about any future interest rate changes and penalty fees if a mortgage is paid off early.

The new rules are expected to take effect January 2013.

Source: “Consumer Bureau to Crack Down on Mortgage Servicers,” CNNMoney (April 10, 2012)

As Alex reported 4/7/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Mon April 2, 2012
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Economists have been warning that a flood of foreclosures will soon be hitting the real estate market, likely this summer. Increases in foreclosures traditionally pull down nearby home prices. So should home owners be worried?

As of now, housing reports continue to show month-over-month drops in foreclosures. CoreLogic released a report late last week that showed completed foreclosures fell from 71,000 in January to 65,000 in February.

But as more banks look to clear a backlog of defaulting home loans from their books, economists say the public should expect a turn with foreclosures and the numbers are expected to soar in the coming months. Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, expects the wave to hit this summer.

However, Fleming doesn’t view the increase as a bad thing for the overall housing market. “I would like to see the pace increase, because that means we’ll be able to work off the inventory faster,” Fleming told AOL Real Estate. He says that recent improvements in the real estate market and economy may mitigate any traditional downward pressure seen on overall home prices by foreclosures.

In fact, despite an increase, Fleming still expects home prices to rise in some markets.

RealtyTrac has predicted that completed foreclosures will jump 25 percent this year, reaching 1 million.

“All of this will result in more foreclosure pain in the short term as some of the foreclosures that should have happened last year instead happen this year,” Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said in a public statement in February.

Source: “Home Prices May Withstand Foreclosure Wave,” AOL Real Estate (March 30, 2012)

As Alex reported 3/31/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Tues, Mar 27, 2012
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The Federal Housing Administration announced that starting April 1 it will not insure mortgages to borrowers who have an ongoing credit dispute of $1,000 or more on their file.

To be considered for an FHA-backed loan, borrowers will either have to pay the remaining balance on the credit dispute or enter into a payment plan, making at least three payments on it. Any payment plans will need to be documented and submitted to FHA, which will then figure it into the debt-to-income ratio for the new mortgage.

FHA’s new rule does not include disputed credit accounts from more than two years ago or any related to reported identity theft.

Still, the new rule has some in the housing industry worried that it’s going to keep more potential home buyers from securing a mortgage.

“We expect this revision will certainly kick some buyers out of the marketplace, and we’re in ongoing efforts to quantify how extreme the impact will be,” Lisa Jackson, senior vice president of research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, told HousingWire.

Jeremy Radack, a real estate attorney in Houston who assists with financing, estimated FHA originations may be reduced by 33 percent to 50 percent this year due to the new rule.

FHA says the rule is aimed at protecting the FHA’s emergency fund, which has fallen below the mandated amount Congress requires.

“We found that many borrowers with mortgage payment delinquencies had prior credit deficiencies including unpaid collections and unresolved disputed accounts prior to the approval of their loan,” the spokesman said. “This change was made to eliminate this layer of risk to FHA-insured loans and help protect our insurance fund.”

Also in reimbursing the emergency fund*, FHA announced it would raise its insurance premiums starting April 1 too.

Source: “FHA to Deny Mortgage Backing for Credit Disputes Above $1,000,” HousingWire (March 26, 2012) and “Tougher Requirements Start Monday for FHA Mortgages,” Tampa Bay Times (March 27, 2012)