A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues: The Obama administration plans to introduce a pilot program Monday that aims to reduce regulatory burdens for affordable housing developers. The plan will be introduced by the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Agriculture. The goal of the plan is to cut down on regulatory burdens that prevent developers from putting up federally subsidized affordable rental housing. Pilot programs are currently being conducted in Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, Minnesota, Oregon and Ohio. More details will be available on Monday. Home Loan Servicing Solutions, a recently formed company planning to acquire the mortgage servicing rights to Ocwen Financial (OCN), revised terms for its initial public offering. The company cut 5 million shares from their initially planned 18.3 million share offering and is now planning to raise $200 million at a price of $15 per share, according to Renaissance Capital. At the proposed price, Home Loan Servicing Solutions will command a market value of $210 million. The original IPO hoped to raise $275 million. William Erbey, chairman of Ocwen and founder of Home Loan Servicing Solutions, originally planned to acquire $10 million worth of common shares, according to filings the with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wells Fargo Securities (WFC), Barclays Capital (BCS), and Citi (C) are the lead underwriters on the deal. HARP 2.0 may fall short of its goal to motivate banks to refinance more mortgages, according to new analysis from Barclays. In its latest securitization report, Barclays analysts wrote, “while Bank of America has the potential, it is unclear why it would dramatically change its policy under HARP 2.0.” Its recent experience, such as shedding third-party mortgage originations and increased put-back claims from private investors and the GSEs, suggests that the lender is still primarily focused on managing credit risks (including put-backs), rather than increasing production.” Returns on U.S. property increased in the third quarter with returns hitting 3.5%. That jump consisted of a 2.1% increase in appreciation and 1.4% jump in income. “This marked the seventh consecutive quarter of positive performance for the sector, after bottoming in the fourth quarter of 2009,” the IPD U.S. Quarterly Property Index said. On Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and state regulators closed two banks. The first was SunFirst Bank in Saint George, Utah. The FDIC was named receiver. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $49.7 million. As of Sept. 30, SunFirst Bank had approximately $198.1 million in total assets and $169.1 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming deposits of the failed bank, Cache Valley Bank agreed to purchase approximately $177.3 million of the failed bank’s assets.The FDIC and Cache Valley Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $128.9 million of SunFirst Bank’s assets. And in Omaha, Neb., regulators closed Mid City Bank Inc. All of the bank’s deposits and assets were transferred to Purdum State Bank in Purdum, Neb. Beginning Saturday, Purdum State Bank changed its name to Premier Bank. As of Sept. 30, Mid City Bank had approximately $106.1 million in total assets and $105.5 million in total deposits. Purdum agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets and deposits. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF will be $12.7 million. Write to Kerri Panchuk.
Kerri Ann Panchuk was the Online Editor of HousingWire.com, and regular contributor to HousingWire magazine. Kerri joined HousingWire as a Reporter in early 2011 and since earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University. She previously worked at the Dallas Business Journal.see full bio
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Kerri Ann Panchuk was the Online Editor of HousingWire.com, and regular contributor to HousingWire magazine. Kerri joined HousingWire as a Reporter in early 2011 and since earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University. She previously worked at the Dallas Business Journal.see full bio
