The Federal Housing Finance Agency has filed suits against 17 financial institutions for selling government-controlled GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac around $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that later went south. Word of the suit leaked early in the day last Friday, causing Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs stocks to fall 8.3 percent, 4.6 percent and Read full article »
Tag archives for Attorney General
HUD, Justice Department Bring Pressure to Contrary Attorneys General
If you live in New York, Nevada, Massachusetts or Delaware, then you can rest assured that your attorney general is pretty steamed about the robo-signer crisis. So steamed, in fact, that they are doing everything possible to prevent the current proposed settlement with the nation’s biggest lenders from happening. A lot of people support this reluctance to cave in and, Read full article »
tags: Attorney General, attorney general probe, Bank Of America, bank settlement, beau biden, BEREL, big bank settlement, Bloomberg, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, carole vansickle, catherine masto, delaware, delaware attorney general, delaware real estate, Draft, eric schneiderman, Foreclosure Fraud, foreclosure fraud settlement, fraud investigation, Housing And Urban Development, Housing Market, housing market news, Hud, Justice Department, Martha Coakley, Massachusetts, massachusetts attorney general, massachusetts real estate, nevada, nevada attorney general, Nevada Real Estate, New York, new york attorney general, New York Real Estate, principal reductions, Real Estate, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate Market, real estate market news, Real Estate News, robo signer settlement, Robo-signer, shaun donovan
Department of Justice Pressuring State AGs to Sign Bank Settlement
The Department of Justice believes that it has worked out a good settlement with the nation’s biggest lenders to resolve allegations of foreclosure fraud and the robo-signer fiasco, and both parties are preparing to sign the agreement. Not, however, with the blessing of all 50 state attorneys general, which could create a major roadblock for the deal. Part of the Read full article »
tags: Attorney General, bank deal, bank settlement, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, carole vansickle, department of justicce deal, Department Of Justice, Draft, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Fraud, foreclosure probe, foreclosure settlement, Foreclosures, Martha Coakley, massachusetts attorney general, massachusetts MERS, MERS, MERS misconduct, mortgage electronic registration systems, Real Estate, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate News, robo signer settlement
Massachusetts AG Ramping Up Attack on MERS
Martha Coakley, Massachusetts attorney general, is taking on the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) in order to determine whether or not the lender-created company is guilty of foreclosure fraud. “We are currently investigating creditor misconduct in connection with unlawful foreclosures… false or misleading documents with registries in the Commonwealth,” Coakley announced via a letter to the Massachusetts Register of Deeds Read full article »
tags: ag settlement, Attorney General, BEREL, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, carole vansickle, Draft, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Fraud, Foreclosures, lender settlement, lending fraud, ma attorney general, Martha Coakley, massachusetts ag, MERS, mortgage electronic registration system, Promissory Note, Real Estate, Real Estate Fraud, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate News, register of deeds association
OCC Expands Review Requirements to All Servicers
From now forward, all servicers under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) must conduct self-assessments to examine foreclosure management practices no later than September of this year. Upon completion of the assessment, the lenders must identify and “take immediate corrective action” to address weaknesses in the process. The OCC has issued this mandate in Read full article »
tags: Attorney General, Banks, BEREL, Bryan Ellis, Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, carole vansickle, Draft, Foreclosure, foreclosure review, Foreclosures, Lenders, OCC, office of the comptroller of currency, Real Estate, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investing News, Real Estate Investors, real estate investors news, Real Estate News, Robo-signer, State Attorney General
The Politics of Real Estate
Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it's old legislation like Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama's massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S. political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate.
Ideally, we could ignore politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity - including the reality of Washington's aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements... every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared.
Mortgage Industry News
Few things change more rapidly than the mortgage market, and with the increasing dominance of GSE's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the mortgage business, it's more important than ever to keep up. Here are a few recent mortgage news updates:
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Mortgage News
- HAMP Success Tally Slowly Growing
- Western States Working Through Foreclosure Backlog Quicker than Eastern
- Biggest Down Payments in the Country Found in New Jersey
- President Bypasses Congress, Appoints Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau
- Federal Reserve Recommends Expanding GSEs to Turn Housing Market Around
- Mortgage Rates Likely to Remain Low for a While Longer
- Top Former FDIC, Wells Fargo Execs Say Fannie and Freddie Must Go
- FHA Continues to Extend Anti-Flipping Waiver
- More Homeowners Using Delaying Tactics to Slow Down Foreclosures
- Now that It’s Passed: The True Cost of the Payroll Tax Cut
About Bryan Ellis
Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter "The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter". With over 200,000 subscribers - including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals - the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America's largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.
Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own right and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today's real estate industry.
Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here.