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Yesterday, Moody’s issued a Sector Comment expressing concerns with respect to proposed REO-To-Rental deals structured to utilize a collateral package comprised of equity-pledges in the SPV property owners in lieu of individual mortgage liens. Moody’s indicated that such equity-pledge structures may need to have strong third-party oversight (including regular monitoring of the ownership of individual assets) and strong financial sponsorship to achieve the agency’s Baa rating. Issuers were hoping to use such structures as an answer to high transaction costs present in deals comprised of large numbers of low-value individual properties.Continue Reading REO-To-Rental Update: Moody’s Issues Guidance on Structuring Risks

After a night of fun at Dechert’s party at the SLS Hotel, many of us needed a pick-me-up on Tuesday morning. Those of us that dragged ourselves out of bed and into the roundtable discussion on market issues and opportunities were not disappointed. The quick hitting discussion by over two dozen industry insiders, including Crunched Credit’s own Rick Jones, provided no lack of entertainment or insight into the current state of the industry.Continue Reading CREFC Day 2: Riding the Wave

The Loews Hotel buzzed with optimism on the first day of the CREFC January conference, as over 1,300 attendees descended on South Beach.  After catching up with many friends, the Monday morning session began with lively meetings of the Agency Investors Forum, the High Yield and Investment Forum, the Issuers Forum and the Portfolio Lenders Forum.  Panelists at the forums expressed a general sense of optimism for 2013 and expect the general market trends of 2012 to continue into 2013.Continue Reading Day 1: CREFC Sizzles on South Beach

South Beach will welcome over 1200 lenders, borrowers, servicers, lawyers and other service providers to the January 2013 CREFC Conference for another party in the city where the heat is on. The conference kicks off on Monday with a series of forums for agency investors, high yield debt investors, issuers, portfolio lenders, servicers, B-Piece buyers and IG bondholders. The featured speaker Monday afternoon will be David Malpass, the president of Encima Global, an economic research and consulting firm serving institutional investors and corporate clients.Continue Reading January Conference 2013: CREFC’s Going to Miami

As Philadelphians, it’s easy to think that 2012 has been a disappointment.  Our beloved Eagles are 4-9, the Phillies had the most disappointing season in recent history and the Sixers traded last year’s best player for someone who has not yet set foot on the court this season (to avoid any rage from hockey fans, we will omit any discussion of the state of the Flyers).Continue Reading Optimism Abounds at the CREFC After-Work Seminar: “Lender Perspective: Current State of the Debt Markets & Trends for 2013”

One of this year’s most discussed investment ideas is the conversion of distressed or foreclosed single family homes into rental properties on a mass scale.  With the FHFA’s Real Estate Owned Initiative offering product in bulk sales and major institutions stepping up to develop programs to finance the acquisition of the pools, REO-to-Rental strategies are …

Last Thursday, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) responded to ASF’s and SIFMA’s requests for relief from the new CFTC rules which implemented certain Dodd-Frank amendments that brought swaps within the purview of the CFTC.  The new rules, which took effect on October 12, 2012, threatened to regulate many securitization vehicles as commodity pools even though these vehicles typically only use swaps for hedging or risk management purposes.  The crux of the issue, and possibly the unintended consequence of the new CFTC rules, is that, without relief, sponsors and advisors (such as depositors, trustees, collateral managers and servicers) would be subject to CFTC registration and regulation as commodity pool operators and/or commodity trading advisors. Continue Reading Unintended Consequences Avoided? CFTC Provides Relief for Certain Securitization Vehicles

Last month, Federal District Court Judge Milton I. Shadur (a long-time Federal Judge and something of a legal legend in Illinois) held a guarantor liable for a deficiency claim brought in connection with a Georgia foreclosure – notwithstanding the fact that the deficiency could not be pursued under Georgia law. The case – Inland Mortgage Capital Corporation v. Chivas Retail Partners, LLC, et. al., Case No. 1:11-CV-06482 (N.D. Ill. 2012) – arose in connection with a defaulted construction loan relating to a retail shopping center outside of Atlanta and is the latest in a series of decisions shaping the legal landscape for guarantors of real estate loans.Continue Reading Caught up in a Waive: Federal Judge Holds Guarantor Liable for Disputed Deficiency

Federal fair lending laws prohibit discrimination in credit transactions. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) and the Fair Housing Act prohibit discrimination in mortgage lending on the basis of certain factors including race or color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, handicap or an applicant’s receipt of public assistance funds.

The spotlight in this blog post is on the tension between the potential requirements of fair lending laws and the regulatory pressure to originate relatively standardized mortgage products under relatively stringent underwriting guidelines. To the extent that tighter lending policies and a menu of plain vanilla mortgage products restrict access to credit in a way that disproportionately affects a protected class of borrowers, an increase in the number of disparate impact challenges by regulators and the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) may result — regardless of intent to discriminate and regardless of whether lending policies appear neutral on their face. Disparate impact theory may also be a basis for liability under the Fair Housing Act and the ECOA.Continue Reading Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t: Origination of “Qualified” Residential Mortgages May Trigger Disparate Impact Fair Lending Claims

Earlier this summer, the New York State Assembly passed the “Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Act of 2012” which imposes criminal liability on those in the residential mortgage business who use allegedly fraudulent and deceptive practices in connection with a foreclosure action, and the Managers who “recklessly tolerate” any such practices. Despite the swift passage in the Assembly, it is unlikely that the proposed legislation will be taken up by the New York Senate before the 2012 legislative session formally adjourns in January. If this bill is to move forward, the most likely course will be for the Assembly to re-enact it in 2013 and then send it to the Senate for consideration. But because of the committed support of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, it is likely that this bill will be kicking around Albany for several more months – so let’s take a closer look at what might end up on the books.Continue Reading A Closer Look at New York’s “Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Act”