The Consumer Financial Freedom and Washington Accountability Act, sponsored by House Financial Services Committee member Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc., went to the floor of the House Thursday afternoon. …read more

On its conference call with investors and in its earnings, Ocwen Financial sought to limit concerns about the many issues the mega mortgage servicer is facing. Here are the most important takeaways. …read more

Roger Staubach: From Cowboys QB To Real Estate MogulForbesToday’s NFL bears little resemblance to its former self from the 1960s. The first Super Bowl didn’t sell out the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Tickets for the game topped out at $12 and 30-second Super Bowl spots costs advertisers $40,000. Average … …read more

The Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee wants to reform the tax code, but his initial slate of ideas has people in the housing finance industry up in arms. …read more

The Federal Trade Commission issued a civil investigation against Green Tree Servicing on Thursday and will likely move forward with an enforcement action in the near future. …read more

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reached a settlement with Société Générale for $122 million for violations of securities laws in connection with private-label mortgage-backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. …read more

…read more

The number of loans in foreclosure is the lowest since November 2008, and the delinquency rate down by more than 10% since last January, Black Knight Financial Services reports. …read more

American consumers have shed more than $1.5 trillion in mortgage debt since the start of the financial crisis, helping buoy the total outstanding balances of home finance and bank and retail-issued cards increased for three consecutive months. …read more

Janet Yellen talks dual mandates, interest rates, housing recovery, tapering and unemployment at the Senate Banking Committee. …read more

Things aren’t looking good for the labor market or for the economy in general, at least if you read deep into two reports from the federal government this week. …read more

There were 48,000 completed foreclosures nationally in January, down from 59,000 in January 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 19%, but up 11.8% from the 43,000 reported in December 2013. …read more

All mortgage rates edged higher for the fourth week straight except the adjustable rate mortgage, which eased, following the recent report of new home sales exceeding expectations and hitting the strongest annual rate since July 2008. …read more

Freddie Mac’s full-year net income for 2013 totaled $48.7 billion, while its comprehensive income reached $51.6 billion, as income was buoyed by full-year tax benefit of $23.3 billion and pre-tax benefit of legal settlements of $6 billion for fourth quarter and $7.7 billion for full year. …read more

Walter Investment Management Corp. reported net income for 2013 totaling $253.5 million, or $6.63 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $22.1 million, or $0.73 per diluted share for 2012. The company saw revenues of $402.8 million for 2013, as compared to $171 million in the same quarter last year. …read more

“We will continue to grow our Solutionstar business with organic volume growth at Nationstar and third-party business along with fee-based services acquisitions that meet our return thresholds,” Chief Financial Officer David Hisey said. …read more

By Mandelman If you’re confused about whether the housing market is recovering… or getting worse, it’s probably because you’re reading the news… and if that’s the case, then it’s not surprising in the least. I mean, there are yo-yos that don’t go up and down this much or this often. On any given day, the […]

All-cash sales accounted for 44.4% of all U.S. residential sales in January, the seventh consecutive month where all-cash sales have been above the 35% level. Cash sales are usually investor buyers, be they individuals, mom-and-pop investors, or institutional. …read more

America’s Most Overpriced CitiesForbesasks Stuart Gabriel, director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. “Well, because we have awesome weather—we have certain amenities on the California Coast that don’t exist in Des Moines, Iowa.” And New York has cultural offerings, … and more …read more

“We are working cooperatively with the New York Department of Financial Services to address its concerns that led to an indefinite hold on our transaction with Wells Fargo. Longer-term we believe developments remain positive for our business, particularly in three areas,” said Bill Erbey, chairman of Ocwen. …read more

By Mandelman Another reader of mine for many years writes to thank me for helping a friend of hers… a homeowner whose 9 year-old son is autistic ands has very special needs. When she called to ask for my help, her friend was being evicted… she had already lost the home. She had already been […]

Camp Tax Plan Hits Homeowners, Real Estate Industry HardForbesIn an effort to simplify the nation’s unwieldy tax code, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) is socking it to homeowners. His proposal as chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, The Tax Reform Act of 2014, hits first-time home buyers, jumbo mortgage seekers … and more …read […]

The Federal government argued that investors in Fannie and Freddie thought the GSEs would become insolvent. The investors say they expected a path to profitability. Those investors now have a chance to prove it. …read more

Since the mortgage market its quickly shrinking, it is more important than ever to retain and gain customers. The key to success: lender relationships. …read more

Ambac Financial Group may benefit from something in Bank of America’s 10-K filing posted Tuesday evening regarding its plans to pay for representation and warranty breeches. …read more