Weekly Brief: BoA Sued; SCOTUS Shortlists; Fund Fights Argentina
On May 1, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced new policies that will allow borrowers to challenge property appraisals they believe to be inaccurate or biased....more
The CFPB published a blog discussing a few key takeaways from a series of public hearings addressing appraisal bias....more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently published another FHFA Insights blog post addressing the underutilization of appraisal time adjustments by appraisers that is a companion to an FHFA Insights blog post that...more
In July 2022, we wrote an alert describing the impact of rising interest rates on the real estate market. There were initial and embryonic signs of a slowdown. Now, we have collected data and surveyed clients and members of...more
The residential real estate market across the United States has slowed and the Oregon market is no exception. However, as always—location, location, location—plays a significant factor in determining the impact of a cooling...more
Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill Passes - On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (the “Act”), which includes numerous additional relief: ...more
Federal COVID Relief Bill Contains Significant Provisions for CRE and Multifamily Finance - On December 14, 2020, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators released a summary and draft text of the Bipartisan Emergency COVID...more
New Jersey Court Refuses to Dismiss Insurance Claim for Business Interruption Related to the Pandemic - A New Jersey state trial court denied an insurance company’s motion to dismiss an insured’s claim for coverage for its...more
On August 12, 2020, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that the cost to originate and to deliver single family limited cash out refinances and cash out refinance mortgage loans would increase by one half of one percent...more
Real Estate Lobbying Groups Pitch Expansion of Main Street Lending Program - In a letter this week to Representative Mike Crapo and Rep. Sherrod Brown, the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, the...more
Background of FHFA and the Scorecard - The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was established under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. FHFA has regulatory oversight of the Federal National Mortgage...more
A round of internal Facebook emails produced in response to an FTC probe appear to show that the company’s “potentially problematic privacy practices” had filtered their way up to the very top of the social networking...more
Although the CFPB’s leadership transition rightfully remains top of mind for many of our readers, we wanted to recap two developments related to serving consumers who are Limited English Proficient (LEP). ...more
On October 16, the SEC Division of Investment Management granted no-action relief in response to a request by Orrick on behalf of Redwood Trust. The Redwood request and the SEC staff response impact the way in which...more
Another tech-related disappointment for the Winklevii, this time with ramifications for an entire means of payment, as the SEC has rejected an application by the brothers to create an ETF tied to the price of bitcoin....more
The FHLB Boston’s $5.9 billion MBS case against Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Credit Suisse, is back in Massachusetts state court—a result of the Supreme Court’s Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage case that held that Fannie Mae’s...more
Effective January 1, 2017, the definition of lender under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act (RMLA) will be amended to include third-party processors and/or underwriters who do not solicit loan applicants,...more
President Obama signed the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (H.R. 3700) into law on July 29. Title III of the Act will significantly modify Federal Housing Administration (FHA) condominium mortgage insurance...more
On May 20, the FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are issuing new finalized operational and financial eligibility requirements for mortgage seller/servicers. The updated requirements will be communicated through...more
According to Freddie Mac, things are looking up for the South Florida housing market. The August Multi-Indicator Market Index (MIMI) ratings, released last Friday, awarded the Miami Metro Area a score of 69.2. While Miami is...more
Freddie Mac recently closed its first direct purchase of a tax-exempt loan. The loan financed the acquisition and rehabilitation of a 417-unit senior housing community in Dayton, Ohio known as The Lakewoods. The deal...more
European Parliament Committee Publishes Opinion on Money Laundering Directive 4 - On January 7, the European Parliament published an opinion, written by its Committee on Legal Affairs (or JURI) relating to the...more
Former North Carolina congressman and the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mel Watt, has given the public a sneak peek of how he will lead the FHFA. On December 20 he released a statement expressing his...more
On September 30, the federal government shut down or significantly reduced staffing for many of its programs because of Congress’ failure to pass a budget for this fiscal year. The shutdown appears set to affect the real...more