The city of Miami recently sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Florida federal court alleging that JPMorgan violated the Federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) by engaging in a “continuing pattern” of discriminatory mortgage lending...more
Good news for the homebuilding industry came earlier this week when the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo released the housing market index. Its numbers showed that homebuilders’ confidence rose to 49 points...more
On Friday, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its 2013 Report to Congress, revealing recent GSE milestones but anticipating future problems. The annual report is statutorily-required under the Federal Housing...more
Earlier this month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley initiated an action against Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency for allegedly illegally impeding non-profit foreclosure buyback...more
As we continue to distance ourselves from the advent of the real estate downturn, residential mortgage loan lenders seem to be increasingly willing to explore ways to loan money outside of the “qualified mortgage” arena. For...more
On Friday, May 30, 2014, asserting that “[i]t is axiomatic that banks should not make discriminatory loans”, the City of Los Angeles filed a two-count complaint against JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Federal Court for the Central...more
6/4/2014
/ Banks ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Discrimination ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Predatory Lending ,
Property Tax ,
Restitution
Early last week, recently-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Melvin L. Watt, announced plans to keep GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going strong. This new strategy is in stark contrast to the...more
Blocked streets, noisy construction and unwelcome trash can be just a few of the inconveniences that come along with a neighbor’s new home construction or home remodeling. However, a report released in early May by the...more
Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put Freddie and Fannie to the test, and the results were grim. Dodd-Frank mandated “stress tests,” designed to evaluate a financial institution’s ability to withstand an...more
On April 15th, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), a widely followed gauge of the outlook for the U.S. housing sector. ...more
Eastern Pompano Beach has quickly positioned itself to become the next hot spot for development in South Florida. Investors are betting that recent public sector efforts will translate into a thriving community....more
Last week, Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina denied Bank of America’s motion to dismiss the Security and Exchange Commission’s claims against it in SEC v....more
Imagine driving down the paved street of a suburban community. Children are riding their bikes toward a neighborhood playground. Couples are walking on the sidewalk with tennis gear headed toward the local tennis courts....more
Last Friday, a former Wells Fargo branch manager, sales manager and loan officer, Robert Serao, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge stems from Serao’s involvement in a $40.8 million mortgage fraud...more
As the post-war babies of the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s move past middle age and into their golden years, marketing to Baby Boomers is becoming a booming business....more
On March 6th, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its Leading Market Index (LMI). The report indicates that out of 350 metro areas evaluated across the country, 59 housing markets have returned to or...more
Late last month, a New York state judge denied AIG’s request to delay approval of Bank of America’s $8.5 billion settlement with private investors in connection with certain mortgage-backed securities that had soured. Bank of...more
Earlier this week, Japan’s biggest homebuilder by market value, Daiwa House Industry Co., announced its plan to invest ¥ 150 billion ($1.5 billion) in the U.S. rental housing market by 2016. The amount of this new investment...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau released figures showing that in January 2014, housing starts fell 16 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 880,000 units....more
Wells Fargo has announced that it plans to begin originating FHA-backed loans for borrowers with credit scores as low as 600. This new cut-off is 40 points below Wells Fargo’s current floor, and 20 points below what has...more
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have continued to spend billions of dollars on questionable mortgage loans despite previous alerts to potential issues with their appraisals, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector...more
According to the National Association of Homebuilders NAHB, the year-end housing numbers for 2013 indicate a strong performance for home building. Census data for December indicate that for the year 2013, on a three-month...more
Adding to JPMorgan Chase’s widely publicized recent legal woes, shareholder Bradley P. Miller filed a derivative suit against the bank and its directors in California federal court on January 23, 2014, as a result of the $20...more
2/10/2014
/ Banking Sector ,
Bernie Madoff ,
Derivative Suit ,
Federal Reserve ,
GSE ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
London Whale ,
Mortgage-Backed Securities ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities Fraud ,
Subprime Mortgages ,
Unjust Enrichment
The Farm Bill, which was approved by the Senate on Monday and the House last week, contains a provision that was supported by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) that will enable millions of Americans to maintain...more
From my work defending mortgage loan originators, including many homebuilder captives, against mortgage repurchase and indemnification claims, as well in my role as an editor of Bilzin Sumberg’s Mortgage Crisis Watch, I have...more