Daily Dose

Ocwen's servicing segment is set to acquire mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) on a $39 billion portfolio from Wells Fargo, the two companies announced Wednesday. The loans underlying the MSRs in the portfolio are primarily in private label securities, the companies said, and they were not originated by Wells Fargo. They represent about 2 percent of Wells Fargo's total residential servicing portfolio as of the end of 2013.

Mortgage document preparation vendor International Document Services, Inc. (IDS), in Salt Lake City, Utah, has hired Daniel Miller as VP of business development. With nearly 20 years’ experience in sales, Miller is responsible for overseeing IDS’ various partner integrations and new customer implementations, in addition to managing and growing sales in the western part of the United States.

After much anticipation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule for new integrated mortgage disclosures, combining the overlapping disclosures required by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The new rule will certainly change the landscape of the settlement services and mortgage lending industries as we know them.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the new lending rules that went into effect on January 10 are meant to take a back-to-basics approach to mortgage lending and lower the risk of default and foreclosure among borrowers. However, many industry veterans feel the rules may hurt those they are designed to protect, primarily low income borrowers.

A new report from Ellie Mae shows credit standards ended 2013 at their lowest level all year. The company found that by December, criteria for first-lien mortgages had relaxed considerably, with the average FICO score at 727, loan-to-value ratios averaging 82 percent, and debt-to-income ratios at a yearly high of 39 percent. The company also found that loans originated in December took an average of 43 days to close, down from 55 days a year earlier.

A 46-year-old Florida builder convicted of bank fraud, money laundering, and identity theft tied to three different banks and Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds was sentenced on January 16 to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay back more than $3.7 million. Lawrence Allen Wright, of Niceville, pleaded guilty to seven charges, among them, conspiracy to commit money laundering and making a false statement to a federally insured financial institution.

Single-family and condominium sales in California closed 2013 on a cautiously positive note, even though overall sales were down notably from the year prior, according to the latest quarterly market report from PropertyRadar. December sales in the Golden State's home and condo market grew 1.4 percent over November 2013 sales, but were down nearly 20 percent from December 2012. Overall, last year’s property sales finished the year at their lowest level since 2007.

In 1998, the top 10 mortgage lenders held around 40 percent of the market. By 2010, their share increased to nearly 80 percent; since then, it's dropped down to around 60 percent. Why the decrease? Because only five of the top 20 single-family mortgage originators in 2006 remain active today. So what's driving the big guys out--market cycles or market restructuring? And will the current trend of favoring smaller lenders and servicers last forever?

Despite recent gains, which some of us believe are more of a mirage than an oasis, the economy still isn't creating enough good-paying full-time jobs to drive a full recovery in the housing market. At the same time, stricter lending requirements--and a lending environment likely to get more challenging before it gets easier--are the other major headwinds that could slow down housing.

Looking at ongoing trends, Zillow made four major predictions about the course of housing over 2014, and while the company expects conditions next year to be a bit friendlier to homebuyers, that doesn't mean we'll necessarily see more owner-occupied housing. Zillow also combined data on unemployment, population growth, and its own Home Value Forecast to glimpse into what it believes will be the hottest markets in 2014.