[Adam] Hi, I'm Adam DeSanctis. This is the Mortgage Minute, the latest news from the Mortgage Bankers Association. FHFA late Friday announced the conditional approval of a new product proposal that would allow Freddie Mac to purchase certain closed end second mortgages. At first glance, MBA appreciates FHFA's detailed responsiveness to the key questions we outlined in our comment letter regarding the program's scope, mission, and secondary market implications. FHFA's reception to feedback through the new products and activities final rule has produced a pilot rollout that is limited in size and duration, mitigates the impact on the private label securitization market for second liens, focuses on borrowers with lower loan balances, and will encourage participation by smaller lenders that do not have easy access to liquidity for closed end seconds. You may recall that our May, 2024 comment letter did not oppose nor support this proposal, instead stressing the need for additional information to effectively evaluate the new product's impact, such as pricing details, information on expected volume or plans for volume caps, and any implications for the UMBS prepayment speeds. MBA will remain engaged with FHFA and Freddie Mac to monitor the results of the pilot and ensure that it remains available to lenders of all sizes and business models and avoids disrupting the developing private label securitization market for second liens. That's it for this week. Thank you for listening.
Adam DeSanctis, Director of Public Affairs at Mortgage Bankers Association
As a strategic public affairs and communications executive with nearly two decades of experience, Adam has deep expertise in strategy, management, and media relations.
He is widely considered to be an expert in a variety of communications, including advocacy, brand, executive, crisis, grassroots, and social media.
In his career, he has been the MBA spokesperson on a wide variety of real estate research and advocacy-related issues, promoted MBA research and advocacy efforts to financial, political, and trade industry media and on MBA’s social media channels, and secured media opportunities for MBA leadership on key real estate trends and issues, generated media coverage for MBA’s research and data on mortgage applications, credit availability, homebuilder applications, mortgage forbearance/delinquencies, commercial real estate originations, and forecasts, and other industry analysis, developed key strategic initiatives for MBA’s organizational public affairs plan, media relations and member communications support for mPower, MBA’s Opens Doors Foundation and MBA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
