Secondary Market

Enough is enough, the Appraisal Institute said Tuesday, defending the role of appraisers in a statement and two separate guidelines. The trade group came out swinging on behalf of appraisers and appraisal management companies, arguing their independence and professionalism in a down market that consistently sees analysts, Realtors, and bankers on the offensive. The statements and guidelines pointed to appraisers as independent observers hard at work for lenders, not buyers or sellers, reaffirming their sense of judgment, market analysis, and roles in the housing industry.

The FDIC finalized one rule and proposed another Tuesday that requires systemically large financial institutions to submit resolution plans and undergo annual stress tests, respectively. Under the finalized rule, financial institutions with more than $50 billion in assets will need to craft so-called living wills, or resolution plans, for the FDIC and regulators to follow in the event of collapse. The agency also proposed another rule Tuesday for public commentary on capital adequacy tests, or stress tests, for financial institutions with $10 billion or more in assets, including 23 state non-member banks.

Adding to its legal lineup, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP has announced the promotion of three new partners. The law firm revealed recently that Joseph Bial, Andrew Forman, and Peter Isajiw were made partners at Cadawalader as of January 1.

Ending last year on a high note, United Wholesale Mortgage has released its 2011 scorecard. THe company showed demonstrable growth during the year, and UWM is preparing to continue its expansion in 2012.

Although Freddie Mac did away with minimum credit scores for refinancing borrowers in early January, a small amount of equity on a home with scores below a certain level can still make it difficult for homeowners to secure mortgages, FreeScore.com said Monday. In a statement, the Web site said that borrowers with credit scores below the mid-600s could pay higher interest rates or larger down payments, if their home equity averages anywhere around 20 percent. FreeScore.com said that Freddie Mac sees scores between 770 and 850 as very good.

Home sales helped end the year on an upswing by rising 5.7 percent in November, real estate company RE/MAX said in a report Monday. The company also found that sales ticked up by 1.1 percent year-over-year in December, the sixth straight month to post an increase. Homes for sale declined for the eighteenth consecutive month, with a 25.7-percent loss year-over-year. Home prices aligned with figures for the same in November, down 0.35 percent month-over-month and year-over-year.

And then there were five. Republican presidential hopeful and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman threw his support Monday behind frontrunner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Not unlike his fellow candidates ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô or the incumbent himself ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô Huntsman left out any mention of housing finance reform and homeowners as issues for voters in the 2012 general election. Recent polls suggest that the political will exists to make housing finance policy a platform issue. MReport speaks with the experts to better understand housing finance policy and politics.

Federal Reserve Gov. Elizabeth Duke offered to reassure bank executives Friday that the central bank wants to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation and work with smaller financial institutions to ensure that new mortgage banking rules work effectively. Speaking before the California Bankers Association in Santa Barbara, the official, a former banker-turned-regulator, said that the Fed will strive to prepare examiners and work with banks ahead of stress tests and final rules. She said regulators will include statements before every rule for bankers.

A new president has been appointed at Redwood Trust, with the company's announcement that Brett Nicholas would take on the executive role. Replacing CEO Martin Hughes in the position, Nicholas was previously Redwood's chief investment and chief operating officer.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index polls an estimated 500 households per month to calculate the consumer sentiment values, and the U.S. is rebounding off of low recordings seen as recently as August 2011, at which time consumer sentiment sat at only 55.