The overlap between federal and state laws and regulations becomes very apparent once there is an examination and/or an enforcement action. With COVID dominating our work environment over the past two years, not many audits or exams were scheduled by state regulators. That is all about to change. They are way behind and will begin the process of catching up sooner than you may be ready for. In many cases where mortgage companies get caught …
With the new URLA behind us…along comes the next major change in residential lending. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (aka the GSEs) have provided an update on the new URAR. Yes, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report is undergoing some major changes. Here are just a few highlights: Input was gathered from 107 stakeholders across the industry in designing the new form. The key benefits of the new form are: Dynamic output with commentary placed within each …
With rates going up, refinance volume quickly heading south and originators looking for the next shiny thing, we are bound to see movement in the industry. That means mergers, buyouts and some companies closing. Migrating originators can be a tricky challenge for the next employer. There are two issues that may surface; who owns the customer and how were the originators compensated? I’ll save the former for another time. Last week I received a call …
You wouldn’t know we were in the middle of a pandemic based on the housing market. That conforming limit keeps creeping up. It all seems crazy from when I started in the mortgage business in 1994, the conforming loan limit was $225,000. Fast forward 26 years…the 2020 limit was just increased another 9.0% to $548,250 for 2021. Checkout the Loan Limit Geocoder. Now, all we need to know is…what will Fannie and Freddie be doing come …
Money laundering is a huge problem for financial institutions and monitoring compliance and reporting is a challenge. As I read through FinCEN’s recent announcement, it became clear…the law is not really clear! Because real estate transactions are large in dollars, they are one of the easiest places to “clean up the money.” If you think Anti-Money Laundering regulations are vague or too complicated, now is your chance to help clarify how current regulations may be …