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(has several reasons good to be big) Secondary market still favors large mortgage servicers - by JON PRIOR - Housingwire

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(incredible story look at charts) Bill Gross Has Record $60 Billion Short Cash Bet Fed To Proceed With MBS Monetization - Submitted by Tyler Durden - Zero Hedge
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Principal reduction outpaces short sales under HAMP - by JON PRIOR - ... The principal reduction alternative, or PRA, began in October 2010 and only for mortgages not guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. But in six fewer months, servicers started 33,376 modifications by writing down principal. The effect of the reduction is eye catching. The Treasury released characteristics of HAMP modifications last week. The median loan-to-value ratio on modifications that went through principal reduction was 158%. After the workout was complete, the borrower held an LTV of 115% ... - Housingwire
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(thank G*d) FHFA Sues the City of Chicago Over Vacant Buildings Ordinance
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(steps have been taken) Managing Risk To The FHA's Insurance Fund - BY SHAUN DONOVAN -  While the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund has remained positive, we are keenly aware of the importance of remaining vigilant to the risks the agency faces and will continue to take the actions necessary to protect the fund and taxpayers. - MortgageOrb
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Isakson Bill Aims To Wind Down GSEs, Recoup Bailout Costs - BY MORTGAGEORB.COM - Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. ... A veteran of the real estate business for more than 30 years, Isakson introduced the bill, the Mortgage Finance Act of 2011, Thursday. “This legislation is a detailed road map to change the unsustainable course we’re on in which the American taxpayers have been bailing out the mortgage industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars,” Isakson said in a statement. “My bill will shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through an orderly transition, and it will repay the taxpayers.”
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(Janet disappointed by Robert Shiller) Wealthy Patriots Wage Class War - Janet Tavakoli - A strange thing happened in Chicago on Thursday, December 8. An audience of well-heeled professionals, a mixture of Democrats and Republicans, packed a room at the Drake Hotel to hear Robert Shiller, a Yale professor, give a presentation on the housing market. - Huffington Post Blogs

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(HARP2) Few use federal refinancing program, bank says - IDAHO STATESMAN STAFF - At least one bank doing business in the Treasure Valley says too few eligible people are taking advantage of a federal program to help them refinance mortgages.Not enough people know about low-interest loans through the federal government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program, the Bank of the Cascades says. ... HARP is limited to mortgages that are owned or backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Homeowners must be current in their mortgage payments, and with only one late payment in the past year. ...
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(very interesting) Leveraged Moveouts - By CONSTANCE ROSENBLUM - WHEN real estate was booming, many New Yorkers joined in the rush to turn their houses and apartments into ATMs, withdrawing cash through home-equity loans, or flipping them. Now, with property values under pressure and the rental market on fire, they are trying a new move to pull value out of their homes without selling: they are renting out their roomy apartments and stately town houses for high prices and moving into cheaper, more modest quarters. ... - NY Times

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Fed May Revise Zero-Rate Vow as Bond-Buying Need Fades - By Joshua Zumbrun - The Federal Reserve will probably revise its pledge to keep interest rates close to zero through mid-2013 as the need for large scale asset purchases diminishes, according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey. – Bloomberg

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Bank of America Sells $18 Billion of Reverse Mortgage Servicing to Nationstar - by John Yedinak - ... for approximately $25 million. ... The decision to sell the servicing rights comes after Bank of America announced it was exiting the business in February, it was the second largest reverse mortgage lender in the country. Sources close to the transaction tell RMD that Celink, a subservicer based in Lansing, Mich., will handle the servicing for Nationstar. When RMD asked Celink to confirm, the company declined to comment. ... - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Federal reserve report: Home flipping drove housing bubble in Nevada, California, other states - By Associated Press - ... driving the housing bubble that led to record foreclosures and sent economies plummeting in Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and other states. Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that investors who used low-down-payment, subprime credit to purchase multiple residential properties helped inflate home prices and are largely to blame for the recession. The researchers said their findings focused on an “undocumented” dimension of the housing market crisis that had been previously overlooked ... - Washington Post

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