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(interesting bio) Cleaning Up In Mortgages - by KAREN HUBE - Pine River's Steve Kuhn made a killing in mortgage securities in 2009 and 2010. Why he thinks 2012 could be another banner year. - Barrons

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(bad deal - 10 years mortgage fees to pay for 2 months of tax cut) Three Big Questions Following The Payroll Tax Cut Deal - Bruce Krasting - ... Totals — (two months) — $31.2B — Annualized $181.8B The total cost of $31B is paid for with an increase in mortgage fees to be charged by Fannie and Freddie. Given that these two are providing 90% of new mortgages, most folks who buy a home or refi an old mortgage will get hit with these fees. CBO estimates when these fees will come into the Treasury. - Business Insider Contributors  
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Morgenson on the Sham of the OCC’s Foreclosure Reviews - Yves Smith - Given that the Office of Bank Boosterism Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is the clear first among the highly competitive ranks of bank-friendly regulators, the fact that the OCC launched a program for borrowers to obtain restitution for financial harm suffered due to foreclosures seemed more than a bit sus. Gretchen Morgenson does an admirable job of exposing the multiple shortcomings of this OCC program. She quotes Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center, who nails it: “Not only will it not help people, it could easily harm them.” This is yet another Obama Administration “pretend we are helping ordinary citizens when we are in fact helping the banks” scheme. - Naked Capitalism
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(FF&C means nothing? Who can you trust?) "Full Faith and Credit" of General Obligation Bonds Comes to Critical Test in Alabama Bankruptcy - Michael Shedlock - MISH'S Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Flippers' role in housing flop larger than thought - By KIMBERLY MILLER - Palm Beach Post - More than 30 percent of Florida homebuyers during the boom year of 2007 had two or more mortgages, evidence of rampant investment that is partly blamed for real estate's ruination, a recent federal report says. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York study released this fall uses previously undisclosed credit and loan information to show that home flippers played a bigger role than previously thought in bringing down the market. In 1999, just 16 percent of Florida homebuyers had two or more loans.

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Study Finds 38% of Homes Purchased in 2011 Bought with Cash - BY: CARRIE BAY - Despite record low mortgage rates, 2011 has seen a surprisingly high level of cash home purchases, according to the real estate research firm Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. - DS News
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WaPo: "Falling home values mean budget crunches for cities" - by CalculatedRisk - From Brady Dennis at the WaPo: Falling home values mean budget crunches for cities - Because of the time it often takes for property assessments to reflect falling home values, the bust that began in 2007 has just begun to ravage tax revenues in communities from coast to coast. The problem is unlikely to subside soon. ...

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Deutsche Bank Among Firms Giving U.S. Plans to Rent Seized Homes - (Bloomberg Businessweek) - ... The Federal Housing Finance Agency asked for ideas  ... Carrington Holding Co., Barclays Capital Inc., Neuberger Berman Group LLC, Ranieri Partners LLC and UBS AG also were among the financial and investment companies that responded to the FHFA, according to a list of 439 proposals. The agency released the names in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Bloomberg News. ... - more
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Banks still waiting on most Dodd-Frank rules - By Danielle Douglas - A year and a half has gone by since the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was signed into law, but barely a quarter of the rules in the legislation have been finalized, though federal regulators are rolling out key components of the bill. Regulators released a highly anticipated proposal on capital and liquidity requirements last week, several weeks after issuing a long-awaited rule on bank trading activity. The proposals are subject to comment periods and possible amendments before they take effect. As of Dec. 1, regulators have issued 154 proposals, finalized 74 of them and missed 200 deadlines, according to a monthly progress report by law firm Davis Polk. - Washington Post
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Bank of America Mulls More Asset Sales to Boost Capital - By: Reuters - Bank of America is lagging behind its major U.S. competitors in complying with new capital rules, leading the bank to consider even more asset sales, sources said. - CNBC.com
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(read all of this) The Case For Fully Privatized Mortgage Markets - BY DR. WILLIAM POOLE - The U.S. is the only country with mortgage intermediaries of the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ... We also have the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks and (FHA) to address. Other countries with well-functioning mortgage markets do not have the mortgage intermediaries of the sort we do. There is no evidence of which I am aware that mortgage markets abroad function less well than ours. Indeed, the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at a taxpayer cost of about $150 billion so far, should be a clear warning to us. – MortgageOrb

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(endrun coming?) Advocates press for recess appointment of consumer bureau chief by Obama - Source: The Hill - Backers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are urging the White House to use whatever means necessary to get a director in place, and argue that “extreme” Republican opposition has made such moves not only acceptable, but necessary. - Housingwire 

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