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4/21/2021
FHFA Announces Extension of COVID-Related Loan Flexibilities
??Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will extend some temporary loan origination flexibilities until May 31, 2021. All temporary flexibilities were originally set to expire on April 30, 2021.
Alternative appraisals on purchase and rate-term refinance loans are among the flexibilities that will now be extended through May 31, 2021.
Those temporary flexibilities related to employment verification, condominium project reviews, and expanded power of attorney are being allowed to expire as scheduled on April 30, 2021.
Due to low usage of the temporary flexibilities, FHFA expects to retire all temporary selling flexibilities on May 31, 2021.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, FHFA has actively monitored the pandemic's impact on mortgage market participants' use of the temporary selling policies. Low usage of the flexibilities make the temporary flexibilities no longer mandatory to ensure efficient market function.
Today's actions are just the latest steps FHFA has taken to benefit renters, property owners and the mortgage market during the pandemic. FHFA will continue to monitor the coronavirus' impact on tenants, borrowers, and the mortgage market and update policies as needed. Homeowners and renters can visit consumerfinance.gov/housing for up-to-date information on their relief options, protections, and key deadlines.
Ano is telling it like it is! Very vocal, I'll bet the SCOTUS will have something to say within the next 70 days, possibly Thursday!
That's right! The SCOTUS will continue to encourage the US Congress to experiment on the American people with novel forms and strucures of government that violate the citizens liberty (In HERA, by creating a powerful czar like regulator ACCOUNTABLE TO NO ONE!) since the Legislative Branch knows that the Judicial Branch will edit out AND REWRITE ANY LAWS FOUND UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
SEND THE MESSAGE TO YOUR COEQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT SO THEY WILL HAVE AN INCENTIVE NOT TO EXPERIMENT ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND GET OUT THE BULLDOZER IN COLLINS!
Seems most likely that the highest court in the land will use a scalpel versus a bulldozer in Collins (and probably CA v TX, the ACA Case that has the D's panties in a twist and their progressives are advocating packing the SCOTUS). But this Law Professor argues that the bulldozer (I believe Thomas and Gorsuch believe in this approach as well) is the appropriate tool for the coequal Judiciary Branch to utilize whenever it is faced with an unconstitionally drafted piece of Legislation (e.g., HERA):
Abstract
Courts legislate when they engage in “severability analysis,” allowing part of a law to continue in force after having struck down other parts as unconstitutional. This is flawed for the same reason that the legislative veto and the executive line-item veto are flawed. All involve creating a legislative outcome without the joint approval of both houses and the executive. The practice derives from an analogy to contract enforcement, where a court will try to preserve part of a contract when the rest is unenforceable. However, the analogy is imperfect because Congress or the state legislature remains in a position to pass a new law, unlike the parties to a contract who might not be in a position to create a new bargain. No appeal to convenience should allow severability practice to continue, any more than it would have allowed the legislative veto to continue after INS v. Chadha. It is more respectful of a co-equal branch to invalidate an entire act than to create a result that was not passed by the legislature or signed by the executive. Even in the presence of a severability clause, it is not reasonable to infer that the legislature considered all possible permutations of a bill and approved them all, accepting that a court might strike down some clauses while allowing others to stand. Severability analysis has created systems the legislature never intended. The examples of campaign finance in Buckley v. Valeo and Sarbanes-Oxley last term in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, are used to illustrate. Accordingly, when holding a provision of an act unconstitutional a reviewing court should strike down the entire act and allow the legislative and executive branches to craft whatever alternative they wish to adopt. This Article is the first commentary to call for the entire abolition, rather than some modification, of the severability process.
Recommended Citation
Tom Campbell, Severability of Statutes, 62 Hastings L.J. 1495 (2011).
Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol62/iss6/2
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/cfpb-begins-cracking-down-on-mortgage-servicers/
“I think the math speaks for itself how well the forbearance program has worked, and it’s one of the few times in my career that I have seen a government-initiated program adopted as well and executed as well by the industry as this one,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of RealtyTrac.
Following the news that the CFPB is already cracking down, a spokesperson told Reuters that the CFPB’s main focus is to protect consumer financially harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Part of that work is using our supervisory authority to ensure mortgage servicers are treating borrowers fairly and meeting their responsibilities under federal law,” the spokesperson said.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/forbearance-volume-dips-down-to-4-5/
"Interestingly, Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae loans saw a decrease in the number of forbearance exits last week – more than 36% of borrowers in forbearance extensions have now exceeded the 12-month mark. Borrowers backed by government entities have the option to extend their forbearance up to 18 months thanks to continued legislation by the FHFA and FHA."
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/2-million-refi-candidates-eligible-after-mortgage-rate-drop/
Do you believe that taking EVERY PENNY of their quarterly profits in the form of a Liquidation Preference until they reach a FHFA determined level and SO LONG AS THEIR IS NO REVERSION OR 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, etc. Amendment back to sweeping their quarterly profits in cash payments to the US Treasury that it's okay and NOT NATIONALIZATION OF TWO PRIVATE CORPORATIONS? Is that okay under the HERA mandate to preserve and conserve the assets of its wards and has a rehabilitative purpose? Do you think that the federal government should ever be in the profit maximization business and if this is an exception to the rule, do you believe that the federal government acted properly when they forced the gses'to write down their $50B DTA, artificially inflated loan loss reserves, and then took a $130B payday in 2013 from their August 17, 2012 implementation of the nws?
There's likely a recognition with the 9 Justices, that nationalizing private corporations by the federal government will create a horrible precedent with the obvious negative outcomes associated with such an endorsement by the highest court in the US. They also are aware of the multitude of litigation throughout the federal courts and circuits working their way up the system and that they will likely see the twins shareholders again at a later date if they don't give the Collins Plaintiffs meaningful relief. We will know what they are thinking shortly...
The Government has unclean hands here and if the SCOTUS opens up a new litigation avenue, they will finally have to answer to the shareholders for their numerous misdeeds. The almost 6 years of Document Discovery has resulted in so many smoking guns that it won't be hard to convince judges of the over 12.5 years of the federal governments abusive and unlawful conduct.
He didn't lie to a USSCT Justice, this very issue was brought up in the 5th Circuit EnBanc Panel orals. The SCOTUS can still use a scalpel here and craft a remedy that does more than just reverse the nws and deem the Liquidation Preference paid in full.
JUSTICE KAGAN: Does that mean,
Mr. Thompson, that we have to do a great deal
more than invalidate the -- the -- the Third
Amendment and everything that follows from it?
I mean, why shouldn't we go back to the -- the
-- the -- the -- the First or the Second?
MR. THOMPSON: Well, Your Honor, we
focused on the Third Amendment because that's
the -- the feature of this that rearranged the
capital structure, but, as we made clear to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, we are perfectly
content with all of these arrangements, which,
as we say in the complaint, were a concrete
life-preserver. It's like getting a credit card
with a double-digit interest rate that you can't
repay the debt on. It's not debt, but you can't
pay the money back, and so --
JUSTICE KAGAN: Thank you,
Mr. Thompson.
MR. THOMPSON: -- we would be
perfectly content with it being thrown out.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Justice
Gorsuch.
Alex J. Pollock, one of the original "fellow travelers"? Seems like yet another conservative and free market Libertarian that just plainly rejects the "race to the bottom" problem that created the birth of Fannie Mae in 1938. Like MC, his interests clearly align with the tbtf banks gunning for a piece of the business from the gses!
The NAR spends MORE MONEY than ANY OTHER Association on DC Politics:
"Our protagonist in this tale, the N.A.R., spends more money on federal lobbying than any other entity, according to the Center for Responsive for Politics. To puzzle out its actions and advocacy, let's first be crystal clear about what the N.A.R. is and whose interests it serves. As its own chief executive boasted to members in 2017, it's really the National Association for Realtors, not just of them. It's a guild, and that's no sin.
We could just as easily call it the National Association for Landlords.
Not all members are thrilled with the organization's stance. Many, including upstart real estate companies like Redfin and Zillow, join up by necessity. This is because N.A.R. affiliates keep tight control of the information in the various Multiple Listing Service databases where members post homes for sale, and most start-ups that aim to provide comprehensive data to consumers end up having to do business with the N.A.R. somehow.
"Redfin has consistently been in favor of moratoriums," said its chief executive, Glenn Kelman. "History will judge us."
Side Note, I believe that the DJT Administration tried to have DOJ sue the NAR because its MLS is exclusively available to members only. Info from todays NYT.
"According to the N.A.R., landlords may not in fact be the scrappiest among us. The "moratorium continues to devastate millions of housing providers," the trade group said in a statement that a spokesman asked me to attribute to Christie DeSanctis, its director of federal banking, lending and housing finance policy. Also "nearly half of all rental units are mom-and-pop operations," which the N.A.R. defines as entities that own four units or fewer.
"Broad, nationwide, blanket eviction moratoriums do not serve the purpose they did when first enacted last year," the spokesman, Wes Shaw, said in another emailed statement. "If these property owners are put in a position where they can no longer justify or properly maintain operations, every tenant in the property would be left without a proper home and the supply of affordable housing would shrink as more and more units went off the market.""
Latest from Tim H., ROLG, and Midas/KT/LuLeVan:
TH: "While it is possible that the Supreme Court will rule that the net worth sweep is void ab initio and require it to be reversed, it is more probable that it will remand the Collins case to the Southern District of Texas for trial on the facts (or a motion to dismiss). A successful outcome for plaintiffs in either event likely will lead to a retroactive unwinding of the sweep, which for both Fannie and Freddie would result in the complete retirement of Treasury’s senior preferred stock (and the elimination of its liquidation preference), and leave Treasury owing somewhere between $12.5 and $15.0 billion to each company, which it most likely would pay as credits against future federal income taxes. This overpayment range has the estimate I calculated at the time the net worth was suspended (and the “overpayment clock” was stopped) of $12.5 billion at the low end, and the $15 billion number I’ve heard David Thompson cite at the high end. If you had to pick one number, I’d go with David’s."
ROLG: "this overpayment amount should bear prejudgment interest from date the NWS distributions exceeded the amount needed to pay off senior stock through the date of payment, so even David’s number might grow over time."
Tim H.: "My experience with prejudgment interest is that it’s something plaintiffs ask for but the court doesn’t always grant. It’s also possible that the difference between my $12.5 billion and David’s $15 billion IS prejudgment interest, which I didn’t include in my calculation. If so, that means David’s number WOULD grow over time."
MIDAS: "For some color here, I made a spreadsheet that calculates what the senior pref balance would have been for each company had they paid down the seniors (and had the ability to do so) with every penny available past the 2.5% quarterly dividend.
I got a total overpayment of $14.2B for Fannie, with the 10% moment hit in Q3 2018, and a total overpayment of $14.7B for Freddie, with the 10% moment hit in Q2 2017. My numbers don’t quite agree with FHFA’s published tables so they aren’t exact, but they do evidently agree with David Thompson by what Tim said."
The problem we and other people have is: (1) A majority of Americans believe Fannie Mae is a candy company (when you refinanced at NFCU, I bet they never even mentioned Fannie Mae) (2) Most people know someone who lost their home or was financially wounded from the GFC and their seems to be a general incorrect belief that the twins were somehow culpable (3) People rarely send their Mortgage banker a Christmas card (4) People have heard that the twins received $187B in "bailout funds" and really don't understand that Hank Paulson and the UST had really orchestrated a Nationalization. Remember, Chief Justice Roberts, "Seems to me the government threw you're clients a lifeline.."
So when Tim Pagliara does these 30 or 60 minute interviews, he spends quite a bit of it simply educating everyone about what it is exactly that the twins do, how the MBS market works, and why it is necessary and how it benefits the average Jane and Joe American homebuyers.
But slowly and surely the truth eventually prevails!
Another great interview from Tim Pagliara! I wasn't aware Senator Bob Corker had a $40 million NONRECOURSE LOAN from Wells Fargo while he was on the Senate Banking Committee and voted on Legislation that impacted Wells Fargo directly! Nor was I aware that Corker, after briefings from the US Treasury liquidated his equity positions and shorted MBS and other US Financial Markets! Not surprising he and Virginia Senator Mark Warner cosponsored a bill to allow the tbtf banks the spoils of the obliteration of the twins.
These financial juggernauts are not going away! They make billions per year in profits and had the "conservator" just followed HERA instead of nationalizing the twins, we would have been freed along time ago! A favorable ruling in the Collins case will force the government to get back on track and follow the legal mandate in HERA versus using the shareholders private property for its own financial purposes. Had this been a non governmental actor, the "conservator" would be sitting in a jail cell for stealing its wards profits for all these years. If the government doesn't want to play ball then we will have a trial, where the American Public will get to see the true story here, with all its abusive and coercive uses of governmental power by renegade governmental actors abusing the shareholders property rights.
That's right! The exit from conservatorship will happen and like BA said, buying shares is simply a perpetual option on something that is coming in the future, perhaps as early as next week we will have some more clarity from the SCOTUS.
Why does the sp keep going up, I'm still accumulating!
This place must have the best pastrami in the world! https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/theres-a-single-new-jersey-deli-doing-35000-in-sales-valued-at-100-million-in-the-stock-market.html
Thanks Rick! Only through years and years of Discovery Documents from our reluctant "government of the people by the people" have the citizens and steam rolled shareholders been able to see with absolute transparency, just how badly the federal government has acted!
That actually could be a brilliant idea, let the 1031 investor do a LIKE KIND EXCHANGE to sell their residential housing into a REIT to do a tax deferred exchange!
No question, this is the hottest I have ever seen the Residential Housing Market! 2 months supply, prospective sellers already locked in at rates in the 2's and 3's and worried if they sell if they will even be able to find a suitable replacement home, over 10 YEARS of annual housing supply under shooting annual demand and obsolescence, 72.1 MILLION Millennials (28 to 38 years old) finally starting families (they just surpassed the baby boomers in size!) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/ many with financial assistance from their well off financially boomer parents, MORTGAGE RATES AT 50 YEAR LOWS, a loss of construction labor post 08 and 09 coupled with a loss of migrants from Mexico and Central America, AND DA GUBMINT NOT FREEING THE TWINS TO HELP PEOPLE BUY HOMES!
Higher prices will spur new construction and as the Cov subsides more supply will likely hit the market.
Don't get me started EP! It's been a real problem getting the Financial Press to dig up the facts here and write about the largest corporate theft by the government in US history!
Rick, how about Tim Howards, former CFO of Fannie Mae, Amicus Brief in the USSCT Collins case! This reporter could get a jump start on all the other major outlets on what was truly going on here and could become a star scoop reporter!
https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19-422.html
Nice! I used a flat bone white color below the semi gloss bright white moulding going up the staircase, it's nicer than standard white. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint to brighten up any room, enjoy the space!
I thought it was GREAT that Tim P. ACTUALLY SENT 9 COPIES OF HIS BOOK TO THE CLERK TO DISTRIBUTE TO THE JUSTICES! Fact is that they are probably way too busy prepping for the next 7 to 10 cases to hear oral arguments on plus trying to write all these decisions! But just glancing at the cover illustration is enough to get the gist of what is going on here!
"Home Lending originations were very strong, up 40%, with almost 75% of consumer mortgage applications completed digitally, but we expect this to slow with the recent rise in interest rates."
JP Morgan 1Q21 earnings release. https://jpmorganchaseco.gcs-web.com/node/376206/html
"and a $625 million reserve release in Home Lending primarily due to improvements in house price index (HPI) expectations and to a lesser extent portfolio run-off. "
Year over year, "Home Lending net revenue was $1.5 billion, up 26%, driven by higher production revenue, "
I think the 9 Justices see exactly what's going on here and they have the power to provide the Collins Plaintiffs with a meaningful remedy. No matter what your political stripes are, after years and years of Discovery Documents the case against the Government is beyond a preponderance of the evidence, we'll see what happens!
So what color did you choose for the office space?
I listened to his 2 hour speech at Harvard Law School the other day and Justice Breyer is right, the public's perception and respect for Government is at some all time lows! Just read Tim Pagliaras book, THE BIG LIE and it's no wonder very few trust the government anymore!
The SCOTUS can regain some of the public's perception of trust in the government with a ruling in Collins with a meaningful remedy! We'll see what happens!
That was an application for injunctive relief, where a religious service provider did an emergency petition to prevent a state or local government from prohibiting their citizens from congregating at their local place of religious worship.
"EMERGENCY DOCKET
Court blocks restrictions on in-home religious gatherings
By Amy Howe on April 10 at 1:30 a.m.
In a late-night 5-4 ruling, the court barred California from enforcing COVID-related limits on prayer meetings."
Just go to scotusblog.com