REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Cornell Law School

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September 9, 2015

Better to Be a Banker or a Non-Banker?

By David Reiss

 

The Community Home Lenders Association (CHLA) has prepared an interesting chart, Comparison of Consumer and Financial Regulation of Non-bank Mortgage Lenders vs. Banks.  The CHLA is a trade association that represents non-bank lenders, so the chart has to be read in that context. The side-by side-chart compares the regulation of non-banks to banks under a variety of statutes and regulations.  By way of example, the chart leads off with the following (click on the chart to see it better):

CLHA Chart

The chart emphasizes all the ways that non-banks are regulated where banks are exempt as well as all of the ways that they are regulated in the identical manner. Given that this is an advocacy document, it only mentions in passing the ways that banks are governed by various little things like “generic bank capital standards” and safety and soundness regulators. That being said, it is still good to look through the chart to see how non-bank regulation has been increasing since the passage of Dodd-Frank.

September 9, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

Wednesday’s Academic Roundup

By Shea Cunningham

September 9, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

September 8, 2015

Home Purchase Sentiment Index

By David Reiss

Diana Parkhouse

Home Sweet Home takes on a whole new meaning with Fannie Mae’s new Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The index

distills results from its consumer-focused National Housing Survey™ (NHS) into a single, monthly, predictive indicator. Reflecting more than four years of data, the HPSI is designed to provide distinct signals about the direction of the housing market, helping industry participants to make better informed business decisions.

The press release continues,

Unlike existing general indices of consumer economic sentiment, the HPSI is devoted entirely to housing. The index is constructed from answers to six key NHS questions that solicit Americans’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics related to their home purchase decisions. These questions ask consumers whether they think it is a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, the direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs, and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier.

The six questions incorporated in the Home Purchase Sentiment Index are

  • In general, do you think this is a very good time to buy a house, a somewhat good time, a somewhat bad time, or a very bad time to buy a house?
  • In general, do you think this is a very good time to sell a house, a somewhat good time, a somewhat bad time, or a very bad time to buy a house?
  • During the next 12 months, do you think home prices in general will go up, go down, or stay the same as where they are now?
  • During the next 12 months, do you think home mortgage interest rates will go up, go down, or stay the same as where they are now?
  • How concerned are you that you will lose your job in the next twelve months? Are you very concerned, somewhat concerned, not very concerned, or not at all concerned that you will lose your job in the next twelve months?
  • How does your current monthly household income compare to what it was twelve months ago?

I am not familiar with the research regarding the validity of consumer economic sentiment indices, but it seems helpful to add a specific home purchase sentiment tool to the toolbox. Future research should determine how this index tracks relevant economic measures and the extent to which it lags or leads those measures. Researchers can find more about the index on the Fannie Mae Consumer Attitude Measures page.

September 8, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up

By Serenna McCloud

  • The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking public comment on its revised system of records for the National Mortgage Database Project. The FHFA collects information on all outstanding U.S. mortgages in keeping with its mandate to ensure the creditworthiness of borrowers. Mortgages remain in the NMDB until they terminate through prepayment (including refinancing), foreclosure or maturity. Information from credit repository files on each borrower associated with the mortgages in the NMDB will be collected from one year prior to origination to one year after termination of the mortgage.

September 8, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

September 7, 2015

John Henry on Labor Day

By David Reiss

John Henry by Ken Thomas

In honor of Labor Day, here are the lyrics to John Henry, along with a link to Springsteen’s version of the song:

John Henry

Well John Henry was a little baby
Sittin’ on his daddy’s knee
He picked up a hammer and
a little piece of steel
And cried, “Hammer’s gonna
be death of me, Lord, Lord
Hammer’s gonna be the death of me”Now the captain he
said to John Henry
“I’m gonna bring that
steam drill around
I’m gonna bring that
steam drill out on these tracks
I’m gonna knock that
steel on down, God, God
I’m gonna knock that
steel on down”John Henry told his captain
“Lord a man ain’t noth’ but a man
But before I let that steam drill
beat me down
I’m gonna die with a hammer
in my hand, Lord, Lord
I’ll die with a hammer in my hand”John Henry driving
on the right side
That steam drill driving
on the left
Says, “Fore I let your
steam drill beat me down
I’m gonna hammer
myself to death, Lord, Lord,
I’ll hammer my fool self to death”

Well captain said to John Henry
“What is that storm I hear?”
John Henry said, “That
ain’t no storm captain
That’s just my hammer
in the air, Lord, Lord
That’s just my hammer in the air”

John Henry said to his shaker
“Shaker, why don’t you sing?
Cause I’m swingin’ thirty pounds
from my hips on down
Yeah, listen to my cold steel
ring, Lord Lord

Listen to my cold steel ring”

John Henry he hammered
in the mountains
His hammer was striking fire
But he worked so hard;
it broke his heart
John Henry laid down his hammer
and died, Lord, Lord

John Henry laid down his hammer and died

Well, now John Henry
he had him a woman
By the name of Polly Ann
She walked out to those tracks
Picked up John Henry’s hammer
Polly drove steel like a man, Lord, Lord
Polly drove that steel like a man

Well every, every Monday morning
When a blue bird he began to sing
You could hear John Henry
from a mile or more
You could hear John Henry’s hammer
ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry’s hammer ring
I say, You can John Henry’s
hammer ring, Lord, Lord
You can John Henry’s
hammer ring

September 7, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

Happy Labor Day!

By Shea Cunningham

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson.

 

September 7, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

September 4, 2015

REFinBlog Nominated As Best Legal Blog

By David Reiss

REFinBlog has been nominated for The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Competition in the Education Category.  From a field of more than 2,000 potential nominees, REFinBlog joins 250 legal blogs in this competition.

Please vote for REFinBlog by clicking on the picture above.

Each blog will compete for rank within its category, while the three blogs that receive the most votes in any category will be crowned overall winners.

Some of the other lawprof blogs that have been nominated are

 The competition runs from August 27th until the close of voting at 12:00 AM on October 9th, at which point the votes will be tallied and the winners announced.

The competition can be found at https://www.theexpertinstitute.com/blog-contest/.

September 4, 2015 | Permalink | No Comments

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