Private Loan Mods Outnumbering Government Mods

If your not too scared of social media you can follow us on Twitter by clicking Twitter.com/JasonLucchesi & add us as a friend on Facebook by clicking Facebook.com/Jason.Lucchesi

Olick - Private Loan Mods Outnumbering Government Mods

Diana Olick notes that The Hope Now Alliance, "the private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors," says "99,499 homeowners received proprietary loan modifications for the month. Combined with the United States Treasury’s recently released Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) data that showed 50,364 HAMP modifications for January, the total number of loan modifications is almost 150,000 for the month. Most significant in the data is the fact that 74% of proprietary loan modifications done in January involved reductions of principal and interest payments - more than 73,000 loans. Also, it should be noted that proprietary non-HAMP solutions outnumbered HAMP modifications almost two to one; further proof that the industry is looking at a breadth of solutions designed to keep families in their homes." Olick notes that proprietary loan modifications are those done outside of the government's $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program, and that those mods are being done at a rate of twice the HAMP mods.

According to Faith Schwartz, Executive Director of the Hope Now Alliance, the reason is this: "We know approximately 25% of foreclosures (on paper documented) are investor properties—Also note, for many loans, the occupancy may have become the issue, even if originally owner occupied. So, on paper they look like occupied but addresses are different and they no longer live there. So that would also translate to mods that fall outside of the Government programs—jumbo's, and then of course, the many mods that do not document properly to get government assistance. That is a big number. I think we need to pay more attention to the fact that all the non-HAMP mods are NOT government subsidized, and that is also a good thing." What? You mean we wasted $75 Billion on a program we didn't need?

Merrill Lynch Warned Regulators About Lehman

It turns out that Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve officials were warned that Lehman Brothers was incorrectly calculating a key measure of its financial health months before its collapse in 2008. Former Merrill Lynch officials said they contacted regulators about the way Lehman measured its liquidity position for competitive reasons. The Merrill officials said they were coming under pressure from their trading partners and investors, who feared that Merrill was less ¬liquid than Lehman. Anton Valukas, the Lehman bankruptcy court examiner, found that Lehman had used questionable financing tools to flatter its balance sheet before its September 2008 collapse. “We started getting calls from our counterparties and investors in our debt. Since we didn’t believe the Lehman numbers and thought their calculations were aggressive, we called the regulators,” says one former Merrill banker, now at another big bank. In response, Merrill debated changing the way it calculated its liquidity. “Lehman was telling the world that it had excess liquidity and we knew they couldn’t be better than we were,” one said. The SEC declined to comment beyond saying that the senior people at the unit that oversaw Lehman had left the regulator.

DSNews.com - Fannie Mae Introduces Alternative HAMP Modification

In February, the number of mods in the permanent column increased 45% compared to January. But the bitter truth is that some homeowners won’t qualify for long-term relief even after successfully making their trial payments – whether it’s because of insufficient documentation during the final application process or because once income is verified, their debt-to-income ratio pushes them out of the qualifying bracket. To offer these homeowners another option, Fannie Mae is instituting the “Alternative Modification” (Alt Mod) and requiring all its servicers to evaluate a borrower for the new solution before proceeding with foreclosure. In a letter to lenders Thursday, Fannie explained that the Alt Mod is “an alternative to the HAMP modification for those borrowers who were eligible for and accepted into a HAMP trial period plan but were subsequently not offered a permanent HAMP modification because of eligibility restrictions.”

For mortgage loans in active HAMP trials initiated prior to March 1, 2010, all Fannie Mae-approved servicers must consider the Alt Mod prior to the initiation of foreclosure for all eligible borrowers who were not offered a permanent HAMP modification after making all required trial payments. In addition to HAMP evaluation and fulfillment of trial payments, one of the following is required for eligibility:

- The monthly mortgage payment ratio based on verified income was less than 31%.

- The target monthly mortgage payment ratio of 31% based on verified income could not be reached using the standard HAMP modification waterfall.

- The borrower failed to provide all income documentation required for a HAMP modification but meets the streamlined income documentation requirements outlined by Fannie.

Auto sale forecasts up

Helped by higher customer incentives, sales by Ford, Nissan, and even Toyota showed dramatic increases in the month's first two weeks compared with the same period a year ago, said dealers and industry analysts. J.D. Power & Associates, an auto-research firm, is now forecasting March U.S. sales will reach an annualized pace of 12 million cars and light trucks, the highest level the industry has seen in 18 months except for last August, when "cash for clunkers" rebates spurred sales. "Buyers are starting to feel better," said Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power's director of forecasting. "While the incentives helped this month, we are looking for strong sales to continue throughout the year as access to credit and leasing continue to grow." J.D. Power expects U.S. sales to reach 11.7 million vehicles. It had previously forecast 11.5 million. In contrast, annual sales exceeded 16 million before the recession. In Albany, N.Y., Don Metzner, president of Armory Automotive, which owns Chrysler and Nissan franchises, said he can sense demand is picking up. "The stock market is going up, the good weather especially in the Northeast has been a psychological boost and people seem more cautiously optimistic instead of pessimistic," he said. Rob Gatchell, sales manager at Brighton Honda in Michigan, said he has seen an increase in activity on his lot and that more people are choosing to purchase rather than lease.

Projected 2010 Mortgage Originations down

Fannie Mae cut its projection for 2010 mortgage originations for the second month after new and existing home sales dipped sharply in January. Fannie said in the March outlook report that the housing setback, although temporary, underscores the fragile recovery seen so far in the economy. The housing market should rebound later in the year, the outlook states, but at a lower rate than previously projected. Doug Duncan and Orawin Velz of Fannie’s economics and mortgage market analysis group reduced their projection for purchase-only mortgage volume “somewhat” to $716 billion on lower projected home sales. They estimate total mortgage originations for 2010 to come in at $1.31trn, down from $1.97trn in 2009, with a refinance share of 44%. The overall origination projection was slashed again from $1.34 trillion in February’s outlook report, which also lowered the projection from $1.35 trillion in January. The March projection is now below the $1.32 trillion level estimated in December 2009. “Unfortunately, despite the high hopes associated with the extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, housing activity appears to have faced a setback that went beyond the impact of adverse weather conditions,” Duncan and Velz wrote in the March report. “Continued recovery in housing is the key to a durable economic recovery, and a renewed decline in activity adds downside risks to that outlook.”

Above Post Written by: Chris Mclaughlin with Short Sale Riches.com

Get even more solid up to date information on real estate and our economy by following us on Twitter just by clicking Twitter.com/JasonLucchesi & add us as a friend on Facebook by clicking Facebook.com/Jason.Lucchesi