Ahead of Groundhog Day tomorrow, one realizes that our industry certainly has its share of unexpected ups and downs. The latest example of a “down” is Mike Gill, a SVP of Capital Markets at the Housing Policy Council, who is fighting for his life after a shooting during a car-jack. Let’s all think positive thoughts! In other “people who make a difference” news, Brian Levy has some nice words to say about ex-MBA president and FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens in his most recent Mortgage Musings. Levy highlighted how Stevens’ death is a big loss for housing finance thought leadership, especially for an industry already quite low on the supply of independent thought leaders. (Dave’s Life Celebration will be held tomorrow, February 2nd from 2-5:30 at Capitol One Hall, Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.) Today’s Commentary podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Calque. With The Trade-In Mortgage powered by Calque, l
Today is about the day when you have to think twice about wishing anyone, “Happy New Year.” Okay, maybe tomorrow. There’s a lot of news out there to start 2022, including mortgage news. Moves by Freddie, Fannie, FHA, and VA have a ripple effect on the jumbo and non-Agency market as well. We were reminded of this yesterday when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, via their conservator FHFA, publicized April changes to their loan level price adjustments. Freddie announced “…changes to our Credit Fees in Price for super conforming mortgages and mortgages secured by second homes. We are making these updates in light of the significant increase in the 2022 loan limits and under the guidance of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). These updated fees are effective for mortgages with settlement dates on and after April 1, 2022.” Freddie & Fannie’s change, although the industry has nearly three months to adapt pricing, is a huge adjustm