The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency suits, which are expected to be filed in the coming days in federal court, are aimed at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, among others. The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors, failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers’ incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value. Fannie and Freddie lost more than $30 billion, in part as a result of the deals, losses that were borne mostly by taxpayers. In July, the agency filed suit against UBS, another major mortgage securitizer, seeking to recover at least $900 million, and the individuals with knowledge of the case said the new litigation would be similar in scope.
Bad news coming?
Today's employment report is expected to show a gain of only 75,000 nonfarm jobs during August, with the unemployment rate steady at 9.1%. While the report is always important, Wall Street and economists will pay particular attention to whether businesses pulled back on hiring last month in response to the plunge in stock prices and the gloomy economic outlook. Recent employment indicators suggest "zero growth in private payrolls,"
said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "If that comes to pass we are going to have some big disappointments tomorrow." Many economists have been slashing their forecasts for US employment and economic growth in recent weeks. Economists at Goldman Sachs cut their forecast for August payrolls growth to 25,000 from 50,000, citing weakness in online job postings in recent months. Even the White House issued a gloomy report on Thursday that predicted a 9% unemployment rate in 2012, when President Obama faces re-election.
WSJ - mortgage rates at all-time lows
Mortgage rates in the US remained at or near historic lows over the past week amid weak signals from the economy and the housing market, according to Freddie Mac's survey of mortgage rates.
Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said the stiff decline in August consumer confidence and a downward revision to US second-quarter economic growth helped ease upward pressure on mortgage rates.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.22% for the week ended Thursday, unchanged from the prior week and below the 4.32% seen last year. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.39%, down from 3.44% last week and 3.83% a year earlier. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.96%, down from 3.07% last week and 3.54% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.89%, down from 2.93% in the prior week and 3.5% in the prior year. To obtain the rates, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average payment of 0.7 point, while 15-year fixed rates required an average 0.6 point payment. Five-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages required an average 0.6 point payment.
A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
Tougher rules for credit bureaus coming?
Borrowers may soon have more weapons to fight back against erroneous credit reports and credit scores. This includes uncovering discrepancies when a report or score obtained by a consumer differs from the data that land on a lender's desk, simply because the numbers were derived from another service. In this new era of controversial, tighter banking and mortgage rules, one sliver of the loan market hasn't changed: the credit bureaus. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)--a layer of regulation created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act--issued a new report and took public comment late this summer on whether it should oversee credit bureaus with the same scrutiny it is leveling at big banks. Up for debate is whether the CFPB should fully supervise the three primary credit bureaus--Experian, Equifax and Transunion--as well as other specialty credit bureaus and credit scoring companies.
Fannie pays more for lawyers
Fannie Mae will allow its servicers to pay its network of attorneys more for foreclosure work in New York, Delaware and Hawaii. Each state recently included new steps in the foreclosure process. In the case of Hawaii, the state legislature effectively shifted all foreclosures to the judicial system. All pending Fannie Mae foreclosures that have not proceeded to a resale must be dismissed and restarted in the new judicial process, according to guidance issued to servicers Thursday. Fannie Mae warned servicers of this new policy in June. As a result, Fannie had to establish a new maximum foreclosure fee of $2,200 for attorneys. Only two firms make up the Hawaii attorney network for Fannie: RCO Hawaii and Clay, Chapman, Iwamura, Pulice & Nervell. "Due to potential title insurance issues, Fannie Mae may be required to eliminate certain recent acquisitions that resulted from nonjudicial foreclosures," Fannie said. "Upon being notified of any eliminations, servicers must immediately restart the matters as judicial foreclosures."
Fannie increased the maximum allowable attorney fee for lawyers working in the states of New York and Delaware. The new foreclosure fee in New York climbed to $1,800 from $1,400. In New York City and Long Island, Fannie raised the fee to $2,200 from $2,000 per foreclosure. Fannie said it would reimburse servicers an additional $50 for every affirmation a New York firm must file on all cases referred to that firm between Sept.
1, 2009 and July 31, 2011. In Delaware, Fannie increased the maximum allowable attorney fee to $1,150 from $950. The new fees are effective for cases referred to an attorney on or after Aug.
1, 2011.
Millionaires on the mend
In the nation's top 20 markets, million-dollar property sales rose 18% in 2010 with a 21% increase in California. In 2007, there were about 9.2 millionaires in the country. The level dropped 27% in 2008 during the height of the financial crisis.
The millionaire count rose 16% in 2009 and 8% in 2010, return back to more than 9 million this year. Overall wealth for this group grew 9.7% last year to $42.7 trillion, bringing it to pre-crisis levels. A high-net-worth individuals is one with investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding their primary home, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.
Still, attitudes have changed since the downturn with some portions of the wealthy segment exhibiting more concern about quality than bling. This spring, Russian entrepreneur and billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner bought a $100 million mansion in Silicon Valley, the most expensive luxury home sale this year. Also this year, the 22-year-old daughter of sports entrepreneur Bernie Eccestone bought an $85 million Los Angeles home. Trophy properties from $34 million to $50 million also sold this year in Bel Air, Calif., Greenwich, Conn., and Corona del Mar, an affluent area of Newport Beach, Calif.
In Miami, 517 properties sold for $2 million or more during the first seven months of 2011, up nearly 16% from a year earlier.
In July, nearly 63% of the luxury properties exchanging hands did so in cash — an indication of foreign buyer involvement.
Improvements were also noted in markets such as Aspen, Colo.; Miami Beach, Fla., and the California markets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Newport Beach. Some 30% of the über rich plan to invest in real estate this year, according to an Institute for Private Investors survey.
__________________
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
This is a great article by Chris McLaughlin.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency suits, which are expected to be filed in the coming days in federal court, are aimed at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, among others. The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors, failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers’ incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value. Fannie and Freddie lost more than $30 billion, in part as a result of the deals, losses that were borne mostly by taxpayers. In July, the agency filed suit against UBS, another major mortgage securitizer, seeking to recover at least $900 million, and the individuals with knowledge of the case said the new litigation would be similar in scope.
Bad news coming?
Today's employment report is expected to show a gain of only 75,000 nonfarm jobs during August, with the unemployment rate steady at 9.1%. While the report is always important, Wall Street and economists will pay particular attention to whether businesses pulled back on hiring last month in response to the plunge in stock prices and the gloomy economic outlook. Recent employment indicators suggest "zero growth in private payrolls,"
said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "If that comes to pass we are going to have some big disappointments tomorrow." Many economists have been slashing their forecasts for US employment and economic growth in recent weeks. Economists at Goldman Sachs cut their forecast for August payrolls growth to 25,000 from 50,000, citing weakness in online job postings in recent months. Even the White House issued a gloomy report on Thursday that predicted a 9% unemployment rate in 2012, when President Obama faces re-election.
WSJ - mortgage rates at all-time lows
Mortgage rates in the US remained at or near historic lows over the past week amid weak signals from the economy and the housing market, according to Freddie Mac's survey of mortgage rates.
Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said the stiff decline in August consumer confidence and a downward revision to US second-quarter economic growth helped ease upward pressure on mortgage rates.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.22% for the week ended Thursday, unchanged from the prior week and below the 4.32% seen last year. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.39%, down from 3.44% last week and 3.83% a year earlier. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.96%, down from 3.07% last week and 3.54% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.89%, down from 2.93% in the prior week and 3.5% in the prior year. To obtain the rates, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average payment of 0.7 point, while 15-year fixed rates required an average 0.6 point payment. Five-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages required an average 0.6 point payment.
A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
Tougher rules for credit bureaus coming?
Borrowers may soon have more weapons to fight back against erroneous credit reports and credit scores. This includes uncovering discrepancies when a report or score obtained by a consumer differs from the data that land on a lender's desk, simply because the numbers were derived from another service. In this new era of controversial, tighter banking and mortgage rules, one sliver of the loan market hasn't changed: the credit bureaus. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)--a layer of regulation created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act--issued a new report and took public comment late this summer on whether it should oversee credit bureaus with the same scrutiny it is leveling at big banks. Up for debate is whether the CFPB should fully supervise the three primary credit bureaus--Experian, Equifax and Transunion--as well as other specialty credit bureaus and credit scoring companies.
Fannie pays more for lawyers
Fannie Mae will allow its servicers to pay its network of attorneys more for foreclosure work in New York, Delaware and Hawaii. Each state recently included new steps in the foreclosure process. In the case of Hawaii, the state legislature effectively shifted all foreclosures to the judicial system. All pending Fannie Mae foreclosures that have not proceeded to a resale must be dismissed and restarted in the new judicial process, according to guidance issued to servicers Thursday. Fannie Mae warned servicers of this new policy in June. As a result, Fannie had to establish a new maximum foreclosure fee of $2,200 for attorneys. Only two firms make up the Hawaii attorney network for Fannie: RCO Hawaii and Clay, Chapman, Iwamura, Pulice & Nervell. "Due to potential title insurance issues, Fannie Mae may be required to eliminate certain recent acquisitions that resulted from nonjudicial foreclosures," Fannie said. "Upon being notified of any eliminations, servicers must immediately restart the matters as judicial foreclosures."
Fannie increased the maximum allowable attorney fee for lawyers working in the states of New York and Delaware. The new foreclosure fee in New York climbed to $1,800 from $1,400. In New York City and Long Island, Fannie raised the fee to $2,200 from $2,000 per foreclosure. Fannie said it would reimburse servicers an additional $50 for every affirmation a New York firm must file on all cases referred to that firm between Sept.
1, 2009 and July 31, 2011. In Delaware, Fannie increased the maximum allowable attorney fee to $1,150 from $950. The new fees are effective for cases referred to an attorney on or after Aug.
1, 2011.
Millionaires on the mend
In the nation's top 20 markets, million-dollar property sales rose 18% in 2010 with a 21% increase in California. In 2007, there were about 9.2 millionaires in the country. The level dropped 27% in 2008 during the height of the financial crisis.
The millionaire count rose 16% in 2009 and 8% in 2010, return back to more than 9 million this year. Overall wealth for this group grew 9.7% last year to $42.7 trillion, bringing it to pre-crisis levels. A high-net-worth individuals is one with investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding their primary home, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.
Still, attitudes have changed since the downturn with some portions of the wealthy segment exhibiting more concern about quality than bling. This spring, Russian entrepreneur and billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner bought a $100 million mansion in Silicon Valley, the most expensive luxury home sale this year. Also this year, the 22-year-old daughter of sports entrepreneur Bernie Eccestone bought an $85 million Los Angeles home. Trophy properties from $34 million to $50 million also sold this year in Bel Air, Calif., Greenwich, Conn., and Corona del Mar, an affluent area of Newport Beach, Calif.
In Miami, 517 properties sold for $2 million or more during the first seven months of 2011, up nearly 16% from a year earlier.
In July, nearly 63% of the luxury properties exchanging hands did so in cash — an indication of foreign buyer involvement.
Improvements were also noted in markets such as Aspen, Colo.; Miami Beach, Fla., and the California markets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Newport Beach. Some 30% of the über rich plan to invest in real estate this year, according to an Institute for Private Investors survey.
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
Shaun Omar
DSD Investor Group Inc
www.dsdinvestorgroup.net
www.decoscapesinc.com
http://h1.flashvortex.com/display.php?id=2_1315708016_24517_144_21583_70...