The next story reminds me of the husband who was asked by his wife (who invited the guests, cleaned the house, did the shopping, made the stuffing and all the side dishes, set the table, and cooked Thanksgiving dinner) to carve the turkey, replied, "Do I have to do everything?!?" I wonder if folks at the FHFA feel the same way - so much of what they do impacts residential lending. "Yay, the new loan limits are here! The new loan limits are here!" Well, actually, they're the old loan limits - which are certainly better than lower limits. Freddie, for example, sent, "In line with today's Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announcement on the 2015 loan limits, we are maintaining our base conforming loan limits at the existing 2014 levels through December 31, 2015, and increasing the high-cost areas loan limits in certain counties. FHFA has identified 46 counties in designated high-cost areas where the high-cost area loan limits will increase. All other high-cost area loan limits will remain unchanged from the 2014 levels. Please review FHFA's website for the 2015 loan limits permitted for individual counties in high cost areas."

Servicing is an asset, as is the actual underlying security, so this headline caught my eye: "MBA Releases White Paper on the Market for Mortgage Assets".  Economist Mike Fratantoni was quoted saying, "We are approaching an important turning point with respect to the mortgage market. The Federal Reserve will soon no longer be the dominant purchaser of agency mortgage backed securities (MBS) and unlike the case prior to the financial crisis, there is no single player waiting in the wings to be the dominant buyer day in and day out going forward. However, many of the potential private investors face significant constraints that would prevent them from increasing their share of the MBS market. Identifying the barriers to private capital increasing its ownership of mortgage assets, and moving to reduce those barriers where feasible, should be part of the ongoing conversation and debate."

And these securities will be filled with...what? Remember that last month HUD's secretary Julian Castro stated that the housing finance reform remains a top priority for the Obama administration. Castro advised the next Congress to consider legislation that would wind down and ultimately eliminate, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as part of the effort to increase the housing market's recovery.  Castro said, "Introducing more private capital into the market and taking the taxpayers off the hook if we do ever experience what we just went though as part of the housing crisis in 2007, 2008, 2009, this is a priority for this administration and for HUD." Castro also mentioned the difficulty current potential home buyers have to qualify for a mortgage and questions where the pendulum is best placed when it comes to qualifying buyers. He also noted that FHA's insurance fund should reach the mandated 2% capital requirement in 2016.

The Obama administration will not end government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without legislation, a Treasury Department spokesman said. This may have been in response made to a comment from South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson that housing regulators and Treasury should end the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie even if Congress doesn't enact legislative changes.

And we can't really talk about lending without talking about credit unions. The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) believes three senate bills could strengthen credit union mortgage lending and remove some barriers credit unions face. CUNA is urging action on all three bills. The first bill is S.1806, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act. This legislation would allow privately insured credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank System and strengthen safety and soundness of the 130 privately insured credit unions by opening access to additional liquidity. The second bill is S.635, the Privacy Notice Modernization Act. This act would amend the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to require credit unions to send privacy notices to existing members only when credit unions change their privacy policy. The final bill is S.1577, the Mortgage Choice Act. This bill would exclude the points and fees associated with affiliated companies for purposes of determining whether or not a mortgage meets the CFPB's QM definition. Companion bills for all three bills passed the House of Representatives.

Events

Radian will have NAR present the 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers annual survey for its customers. "Please join Jessica Lautz, Director of Member and Consumer Survey Research, on December 10th at 2PM EST and learn the latest industry trends, data on home buyers and sellers, and see why consumers are making the choices they are making." "The core of her research focuses on demographic trends for both NAR members and housing consumers, and issues such as: how housing preferences shift in an ever changing market place, the consistent trends of consumers for the desire to own a home, consumers search to find a real estate agent, and buyer psychology."

AllRegs is providing a webinar regarding CFPB issued Bulletin 2014-01. This webinar will provide compliance and policy guidance to residential mortgage servicers and subservicers to address "potential risks to consumers" that may arise in connection with transfers of servicing and what to expect from CFPB examinations of servicing transfers.

The Silicon Valley CAMP holiday luncheon will be held on 12/4 at Maggiano's. David Luna is the featured speaker who will talk about 2015 outlook and marketing ideas. Lots of raffle prizes including mini iPad. No walk in. Pre-registration is required here.

Ellie Mae's Encompass Experience is a leading user conference for mortgage professionals with a projected 2,000 attendees. "It has become a must-attend event for Ellie Mae clients and partners offering an unprecedented opportunity to hear from industry leaders, network with the best and brightest, learn about compliance changes and best practices. The conference promises to be jam-packed with visionary keynotes, such as Dave Stevens, President & CEO of the MBA, leaders from the CFPB and GSEs as well as Ellie Mae's own clients sharing their knowledge, insight and best practices.  Thought-provoking breakout sessions with tracks that range include compliance, executive level topics (including a session that I'll participate in with Garth Graham from the STRATMOR Group focusing on driving business through niche markets), day to day operations sessions, technology trends and innovation, and Sales and Marketing techniques and tools. And don't forget the Disney venue in Orlando.

Everyone is talking about the RESPA-TILA Integrated Mortgage Disclosure rule. The AllRegs Education Package now includes an audio-on-demand educational course designed specifically to address and educate the mortgage industry on this topic.

CFPB released its First Enforcement Action under the CFPB's Mortgage Servicing Rules: What to Expect in 2015? American Banker is hosting a paid webinar on December 10th featuring servicing industry experts providing critical information. Click the link to register.

BuckleySandler LLP is offering a complimentary webinar on the topic of cyber and data risk. If you are interested in registering for the December 10th webinar, click here.

If you are planning to be in Arizona in early December, MBA Education is conducting an underwriting workshop. If you would like to register for Risk Analysis & Manual Underwriting for Pros, click here.

Morrison & Foerster is conducting a Teleconference December 2nd on the topic of Financing in Close Proximity to an Acquisition. To register email: hlawrence@mofo. com and reference "Register for Dec 2 Financing in Close Proximity to an Acquisition Teleconference" in the subject line.

The Texas Mortgage Bankers Association is gearing up for its annual 2015 Southern Secondary Market Conference on February 2 & 3 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas. Sponsorship, exhibit, and attendee registration information can be found on its website click here for information.

MGIC is conducting a free 30-minute webinar on December 2^nd, created for loan officers and managers, to present ideas on where to look for refi opportunity.

Ellie Mae is accepting registrations for its December 10th complimentary Webinar, RESPA-TILA: The Closing Disclosure part 2. To enroll in its webinar, click here.

Ellie Mae came out with a webinar entitled, "New Best Practices in Online Lending." The presentation covered market trends and an overview of the Encompass Consumer Direction solution. The presentation indicated that originations costs are now at $8,025 per loan, up from $3,500 per loan in 2009. The purchase share for 2015 is predicted to be 65%, whereas the purchase share in the 2^nd quarter of 2014 was 59.2%. Total mortgage originations are projected to fall to $1.046 trillion by the end of the year, down from $1.755 a year earlier. Current demographics of recent borrowers are younger (18-34 years old), more educated (48% are college graduates) and earn higher incomes than prior borrowers. They are also more technologically savvy and use the Internet when shopping for a mortgage. Almost two-thirds of borrowers making more than $100,000 use the internet to obtain mortgage quotes, search for lenders and utilize mortgage calculators.

Unlike short term rates, which are greatly influenced by the actions of the Federal Reserve, long term rates (including MBS) are the spawn of supply and demand. Monday Thomson Reuters stated that "mortgage bankers had only half a billion by late morning and barely surpassed $1 billion area as prices moved begrudgingly with few sparks to the pipeline." And the demand was good, so prices moved up slightly and rates moved down a little with the 10-yr T-note ending at 2.30%.

Unlike yesterday with no scheduled news, this morning we've had the preliminary Q314 Real GDP, seen lower from the prior headline print (+4.6%) it was +3.9% - higher than expected, as well as deflator results (+2.1%, it was +2.2%). Up ahead is the September FHFA house price indexes (+0.5% last), S&P/Case Shiller reporting as well with their two month lag, and November's Consumer Confidence (94.5 prior) and Richmond Fed PMI (+20 previously). In the early going the 10-yr is at 2.31% and agency MBS prices are worse a few ticks.

Jobs and Announcements

For correspondent business, AmeriHome Mortgage Correspondent continues to make inroads in the correspondent space. I just heard October was a record month for locks, fundings and new client activations. "It's recipe for success is pretty straightforward: deliver consistent and competitive pricing, continually expand product offerings to meet the needs of the market (both agency and non-agency) and establish a culture of outstanding client service; committing to industry leading operations, turn times and ease of doing business. Additionally, with AmeriHome there is no risk of channel conflict or blurred priorities as management is singularly focused on the correspondent side of the business. If you are looking to expand your sales team's product offerings and/or desire improved speed and ease of operations for your back office, you may want to reach out to AmeriHome's sales executives at sales@amerihomemortgage. com.

Who says the week leading up to Thanksgiving is slow in MSR land? MountainView Servicing has two deals I have seen. The first is a $246 Million FNMA Bulk Servicing Offering with 99.8% FRM and 100% 1st lien product, WaFICO of 732, WaLTV of 77%, WAC of 4.49%, low delinquencies, average loan amount of $217k, with top states: Florida (17.4%), California (15.9%), Kansas (10.8%), and New Jersey (9.7%). (Bids are due today noon EST on that one.) MountainView is also offering up a $1.2 billion FHLMC/FNMA non-recourse servicing portfolio, quality features of this portfolio include: 100% FRM 1st lien product, WaFICO of 752, WaLTV of 74% , WAC of 4.24%, average loan amount of $267k, no delinquencies, with top states of: California (44.2%), New York (9%), Hawaii (5.6%), and Oregon (5.2%).

Myrtle the cat gives a "claws up" to MIAC's is offering of a $908 Million FNMA/FHLMC mortgage servicing portfolio. The portfolio is being offered by a mortgage company that originates loans with a geographic concentration in California. The Seller will be providing full representations and warranties for the loans included in this offering. The portfolio has a $268k Average Loan Size, 98.73% Fixed loans, WAC of 4.489%, Weighted average loan Age of 3 months, is 100% Retail, with a geographic concentration in California.

And Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA) is offering a $3.2B package of FNMA/FHLMC; average loan size of $211k, WAC of 3.984%, zero Delinquencies with 17 months of seasoning, WaFICO greater than 750, currently sub-serviced by Cenlar.