REE Final
Suppose you have just purchased your first home for $300,000. At the time of purchase you could only afford to commit to a down-payment of $15,000. In order to make the loan, the lender requires you to obtain private mortgage insurance (PMI) on their behalf. Suppose over time you paid down the principal of the loan to $280,000 and at that point in time you can no longer make any mortgage payments (i.e., you default on the loan). If the lender were to foreclose on your property and sell it for $228,000, what would the lender's loss of principal be taking into consideration the protection of mortgage insurance? (Let's assume that the PMI in this case covers the top 30% of the loan)
$0
Suppose you are interested in taking a mortgage loan for $250,000 in order to purchase your principal residence. Your lender has suggested that you might be interested in taking an FHA loan. In order to do so, you must pay an additional up-front mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) of 1.0% of the mortgage balance. If the interest rate on the fully-amortizing mortgage loan is 5% and the term is 30 years, what is your monthly mortgage payment assuming the UFMIP is financed?
$1,355.47
Suppose an institution has purchased a $250,000 mortgage loan from the loan originator and wishes to create a mortgage pass-through security. In doing so, this institution will generate revenue by charging a servicing fee of 35 basis points. If the monthly mortgage payment on the loan is $1,250, how much income is passed through to the investor in the mortgage pass through each month (rounded to the nearest dollar)?
$1177
Suppose you have obtained a 6%, 30 year fully-amortizing FHA mortgage loan of $152,625 to finance the purchase of your primary residence. In so doing, you must pay an additional mortgage insurance premium (MIP) of 1.10%. If the first-year average loan balance is $151,775.25, determine the first-year monthly insurance premium payment.
$139.13
Suppose you are interested in taking an FHA mortgage loan for $350,000 in order to purchase your principal residence. In order to do so, you must pay an additional up-front mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) of 1.0% of the mortgage balance. If the interest rate on the fully-amortizing mortgage loan is 6% and the term is 30 years and the UFMIP is financed (i.e., it is included in the loan amount), what is the dollar portion of your monthly mortgage payment that is designated to cover the UFMIP?
$20.98
Assume that a veteran decides to purchase a house for $150,000 using a VA loan that amounts to $44,000. If the buyer were to defaults on the loan, what is the maximum amount that the VA guarantees the lender?
$22,000
Suppose you have just purchased your first home for $300,000. At the time of purchase you could afford to commit 20% of the purchase price to a down-payment. Suppose over time you paid down the principal of the loan to $220,000 and at that point in time you can no longer make any mortgage payments (i.e., you default on the loan). If the lender were to foreclose on your property and sell it for $190,000, determine the amount of the loan's principal that the lender was unable to recover due to the default.
$30,000
Considering the following information, what is the NPV if the borrower refinances the loan? Expected holding period: 15 years, Current loan balance: $100,000; Current loan interest: 7%; Current loan mortgage payment: $898.33; Remaining term on current mortgage: 15 years; New loan interest: 5.5%; New loan mortgage payment: $817.08; New loan term: 15 years; Cost of refinancing: $$5000. Assume that the opportunity cost is the interest rate on the new loan (5.5%).
$4,943.48
In a fixed-term, level-payment reverse mortgage, sometimes called a reverse annuity mortgage, or RAM, a lender agrees to pay the homeowner a monthly payment, or annuity, and expects to be repaid from the homeowner's equity when he or she sells the home or obtains other financing to pay off the RAM. Consider a household that owns a $150,000 home free and clear of mortgage debt. The RAM lender agrees to a $100,000 RAM for 10 years at 6 percent. Assume payments are made annually, at the beginning of each year to the homeowner. Calculate the annual payment on the RAM
$7,157.35
Loan servicing includes a number of responsibilities such as collecting monthly mortgage payments from the borrower, remitting principal and interest payments to investors, ensuring sufficient escrow payments are being made by the borrower, and managing default if it should arise. In exchange for these services, mortgage bankers receive a fee. If the outstanding loan balance is $250,000 and the annual servicing fee is 0.35%, what is the monthly fee for servicing the loan?
$72.92
Mortgage originators often offer many types and forms of available residential loans as part of their mortgage menu. However, the predominant form of prime conventional mortgage remains the
(fixed-rate) level payment mortgage (LPM)
Considering the following information, what is the NPV if the borrower refinances the loan? Expected holding period: 3 years, Current loan balance: $100,000; Current loan interest: 7%; Current loan mortgage payment: $898.33; Remaining term on current mortgage: 15 years; New loan interest: 5.5%; New loan mortgage payment: $817.08; New loan term: 15 years; Cost of refinancing: $5,000. Assume that the opportunity cost is the interest rate on the new loan (5.5%).
-$1,155.27
Recently, 15-year mortgages have increased in popularity amongst both borrowers and lenders. Which of the following groups of borrowers would typically be the least interested in a 15-year mortgage?
. First-time homebuyers
Utilizing the following information, calculate the housing expense ratio. Monthly Principal and interest on mortgage loan: $635; Monthly Tax and insurance payments into escrow: $125; Gross monthly income: $2,500
0.4%
FHA mortgage insurance covers any lender loss after conveyance of title of the property to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). FHA mortgage insurance requires two premiums to be paid: the UFMIP (up-mortgage insurance premium) and the MIP (monthly insurance premium). Currently, the UFMIP is what percentage of the loan for normal loans used to purchase a personal residence?
1.0%
In addition to the UFMIP (up-front mortgage insurance premium), the owner-occupant borrower who decides to use an FHA mortgage loan will normally pay an additional annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) that depends on the loan-to-value ratio and the term of the loan. For loans with maturity longer than 15 years and a loan to value ratio that is greater than 95 percent, the MIP will be what percentage of the average annual loan balance?
1.15%
Most real estate loans have a definite term to maturity, stated in years. The majority of home loans will typically have a term to maturity between:
15-30 years
The hybrid ARM attempts to balance the fixed payment desire of a borrower with the lender's desire to increase interest rates if market rates rise in the future. In its most common orm, known as a 2-28, the hybrid ARM will have a fixed-interest rate for:
2 years
Added to the index of the adjustable rate is a margin, which is the lender's "markup." For standard Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) loans, the average industry margin has been stable at approximately:
275 basis points
While a variety of loan terms are available in a lender's mortgage menu, the most common loan term on a level-payment mortgage is:
30 years
Suppose that you are in the process of deciding whether or not to refinance your fixed rate mortgage at a lower rate and you are interested in using the payback period rule of thumb to help you in your decision. Your lender has informed you that the cost of refinancing would be $4,300. If your original monthly mortgage payment was $1,250 and your new monthly mortgage payment would be $1,150 after refinancing, determine the payback period.
43 months
The development of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac established the framework for a liquid secondary market for residential mortgages. In 2010, the share of all residential mortgage loans owned or securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac approached approximately
44%
In ascertaining whether a borrower has the ability to pay off his loan over time, a mortgage bank may rely on calculating a total debt ratio as part of its underwriting process. Utilizing the following information, calculate the total debt ratio. Monthly principal and interest on mortgage loan: $635, Monthly Tax and insurance payments into escrow: $125, Monthly Car lease payment (lease term is 3 years): $350, Gross monthly income: $2,500
44.4%
In contrast to conventional home loans, the interest-only balloon loan requires the borrower to pay off the loan with a "balloon" payment equal to the original balance after:
5-7 years
In analyzing a borrower's credit worthiness, the lender will typically examine the borrower's FICO score (a product developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation). High quality (prime) borrowers are those with a credit score above
660
A conventional mortgage loan is one that is not insured or guaranteed by an agency of the U.S. government. The lender, however, can still pursue a private mortgage insurance (PMI) policy to provide a guarantee for the fulfillment of the borrower's obligations. Typically PMI is required for all loans that have a loan to value (LTV) ratio greater than
80%
When a mortgage is used as collateral for the issuance of a mortgage-backed security (MBS), the underlying mortgage is said to be "securitized." As of the end of 2010, approximately what percentage of residential mortgage loans in the U.S. was being sold into the secondary market and being used as collateral for the issuance of MBS?
85%
Violations of the requirements of a note that do not disrupt the payments on the loan tend to be viewed as "technical" defaults. In practice, how many days must a payment be overdue in order for lenders to treat a default as serious (i.e., a substantive default)?
90 days
Mortgage insurance rates vary with the perceived riskiness of the loan. Which of the following scenarios would result in a higher mortgage insurance premium?
A "cash-out" refinancing loan
If a homeowner in mortgage distress owes more than the value of the home, and is unable make the loan manageable by refinancing or modifying the mortgage, the next recourse often is a short sale of the property. All of the following statements are true regarding a short sale EXCEPT:
A short sale relieves the seller of any other outstanding obligations on the home, such as owner association fees or a second mortgage
In a mortgage loan, the borrower always creates two documents: a note and a mortgage. Which of the following pieces of information is provided in the mortgage?
An unambiguous description of the property that is being pledged as collateral for the loan.
Since mortgages typically have multiple costs associated with them, a borrower may attempt to reduce these costs into a single measure in order to compare two or more mortgages. Which of the following measures is a popular tool for comparing the cost of several mortgages?
Annual percentage rate
. Required by the Truth-in-Lending Act, the annual percentage rate (APR) is reported by the lender to the borrower on virtually all U.S. home mortgage loans. The APR accounts for all of the following EXCEPT:
Any prepayment of principal to be made on the loan
For the purposes of estimating the effective borrowing cost (EBC), only those up-front expenses associated with obtaining the mortgage should be included, not the settlement costs associated with obtaining ownership of the property. With this in mind, which of the following costs should not be included in one's calculation of EBC?
Buyer's title insurance
Traditional home mortgage underwriting is said to rest on three elements, the "three C's." The housing expense ratio is one tool that lenders will use to address concerns associated with which of the "three C's?"
Capacity
The risk of bankruptcy tends to travel with the risk of foreclosure since both can result from financial distress. Known popularly by its section in the Federal Bankruptcy Code, which of the following types of bankruptcy is a court-supervised workout for a troubled business?
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Traditional home mortgage underwriting is said to rest on three elements, the "three C's." Recent research (e.g., Archer and Smith, 2011) has confirmed that the underwriting characteristic most strongly associated with default is:
Collateral
Certain mortgage loans contain a due-on-sale clause, which gives the lender the right to terminate the loan at sale of the property. Which of the following types of loans is the most likely to contain a due-on-sale clause?
Conventional home loan
Considered the most common type of home loan, which of the following refers to any standard home loan that is not insured or guaranteed by an agency of the U.S. government?
Conventional home loan
When a borrower defaults on the payment requirements of a loan, there are several options that the lender has at its disposal. When the lender allows the borrower simply to convey the property to the lender rather than pursuing a court supervised process of terminating all of the borrower's claims of ownership of the property, this is commonly referred to as:
Deed in lieu of foreclosure
For most mortgage loans on commercial real estate, the right of prepayment is constrained through a prepayment penalty. Which of the following types of prepayment penalties requires a borrower to provide the lender with some combination of U.S. Treasury securities that will serve to replace the cash flows of the loan being paid off?
Defeasance prepayment penalty
In the early 1970's, home mortgage lenders were predominantly depository institutions. By the end of the decade, the growth of deposits at these institutions became negative due to the emergence of more attractive investment opportunities such as money market funds. This change in the distribution chain of funds is more commonly referred to as
Disintermediation
in an attempt to regulate home mortgage lending after the mortgage crisis of 2007, which of the following acts created an independent oversight agency tasked with the responsibility of overseeing and enforcing Federal consumer financial protection laws, enforcing anti-discrimination laws in consumer finance, restricting unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, receiving consumer complaints, promoting financial education, and watching for emerging financial risks for consumers?
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
From the borrower's perspective, the effective borrowing cost is often viewed as the implied internal rate of return (IRR), since it takes into consideration costs that the borrower faces, but which are not passed on as income to the lender. Included in this calculation are certain closing costs, which may consist of all of the following EXCEPT:
Earnest money
Because the mortgage conveys a complex claim for a long period of time, clauses are included in anticipation of possible future complications. Which of the following clauses requires a borrower to make monthly deposits into an account in order to pay obligations such as property taxes, community association fees, or causality insurance premiums?
Escrow clause
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans differ from conventional loans in a number of ways. All of the following statements regarding FHA loans are true EXCEPT:
FHA loans require higher credit scores than are needed for prime conventional loans.
The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was originally established to provide a secondary market for FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed loans. All of the following statements regarding Fannie Mae are true EXCEPT:
Fannie Mae lends money directly to homebuyers
In 1989, Congress took major steps to establish depository institution accountability by requiring these institutions to hold more capital as they take on riskier assets. Which of the following Congressional acts imposed these capital standards on depository institutions?
Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act
In the late 1960's, Congress created a number of agencies designed to address a struggling secondary market for residential mortgages. Which of the following organizations was developed primarily to guarantee mortgage-backed securities based on pools of FHA, VA and Rural Housing Service loans, rather than issue, buy or sell mortgages?
Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Which of the following types of institutions has historically been the largest purchaser of residential mortgages?
Government sponsored enterprises
The refinancing decision is sometimes oversimplified into a few "rules of thumb" that a borrower uses in order to gauge its potential benefits. Which of the following methodologies is criticized for its inability to account for a variation in refinancing benefits due to cost or holding period differences?
Interest rate spread
It would be hard to overstate the importance of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in the history of housing finance. Which of the following instruments created by the FHA is considered the single most important financial instrument in modern housing finance?
Level-payment, fully amortizing loan
. Recently, mortgage banking has become the natural method for doing mortgage lending. Within the mortgage lending process, which of the following roles serves as the primary revenue source for mortgage banks?
Loan servicing
The ability of homeowners to prepay the principal on their outstanding mortgage balance creates cash flow uncertainty for the lender. As a result, the lender may wish to prohibit prepayment on a mortgage loan for a specified period of time after its origination. This is accomplished through which of the following?
Lockout Provision
A significant number of mortgage loans use adjustable interest rates, in which the interest rate of the loan is tied to an index rate that fluctuates over time. For income-producing property, the most common index rate is the:
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
Lenders generally require private mortgage insurance (PMI) for conventional loans over 80 percent of the value of the security property. PMI protects a lender against which of the following?
Losses due to default on the loan
To put into perspective the amount of residential mortgage debt outstanding, it is useful to compare this market to other prominent sources of available debt. Listing the issuer with the largest amount of debt outstanding first, which of the following choices best depicts the relative rank ordering amongst the major sources of outstanding debt in the U.S. as of the end of 2011?
Marketable U.S. government bonds, residential mortgage debt, corporate bonds, consumer debt
The monthly mortgage payment divided by the loan amount is commonly referred to as the:
Monthly loan constant
A special contract in which the borrower pledges the mortgaged property as security to the lender is commonly referred to as the:
Mortgage (Deed of Trust)
The emergence of mortgage securities propelled the development of mortgage companies, an entity significantly different from the thrifts and banks that previously dominated the mortgage landscape. Which of the following parties is responsible for providing mortgage origination services and initial funding within this new framework?
Mortgage banker
With the arrival of subprime mortgages in recent years, a new kind of "trigger" event became apparent in leading households to default. Which of the following trigger events is primarily associated with most defaults that have occurred during the most recent subprime mortgage crisis?
Mortgage payment spikes
In the modern framework of home mortgage lending, there are four channels by which first mortgage home loans are created. Within which of the following channels would you typically find a Wall Street investment bank obtaining loans, pooling loans, and creating a senior-subordinate security structure?
Nonconforming Conventional loan securitization
Suppose a homeowner is reluctant to refinance until he is reasonably sure that interest rates are not going to fall appreciably from where they currently are. In this case, the homeowner appears to be concerned about which of the following costs associated with refinancing?
Opportunity cost
In recent years, mortgage lenders responded to the demand from home buyers who were unable to put 20 percent down on their purchase and were looking to avoid the private mortgage insurance (PMI) requirement that would typically accompany such a loan by developing a second mortgage that is created simultaneously with the first mortgage in an amount of ten percent of the value of the home. This enabled the borrower to obtain 90 percent financing while avoiding the additional cost of PMI. These loans are more commonly referred to as
Piggyback mortgage loans
Suppose that a mortgage bank "locked in" an interest rate for a prospective borrower at 8.5%. However, prior to the loan closing, the market mortgage rate falls to 7.5 %. In this scenario, the mortgage banker would be most concerned with which of the following risks?
Pipeline fallout risk
Total mortgage debt outstanding as of the third quarter of 2011 approached $13.6 trillion. Which of the following types of mortgage loans accounts for the greatest percentage of mortgage debt outstanding?
Residential (1-4 family)
Many older, retired households are considered "house poor." Which of the following forms of loans has been designed to help mitigate this problem by offering additional monthly income to these homeowners in exchange for a portion of their housing equity?
Reverse mortgage
In recent years, home equity loans have become a popular form of second mortgage. Their popularity has been a result of all of the following EXCEPT:
Shorter terms than other consumer debt
Despite the risks that are inherent in the mortgage lending process, mortgage bankers have various tools at their disposal to hedge risk exposure. For example, since mortgage bankers know that only part of the loan commitments that they issue will be taken down by borrowers, they can purchase the right to sell a certain dollar amount of a certain loan type in the secondary market through what is commonly referred to as a:
Standby forward commitment
Even after a property goes into foreclosure, it is still possible for the borrower to reclaim the property as long as they produce the outstanding mortgage balance and all foreclosure costs incurred to that point. In a state such as Florida, this right may even extend beyond the date of the foreclosure sale. When this occurs, this right is more commonly referred to as:
Statutory redemption
When a borrower decides to stop making payments on an existing mortgage loan despite having the ability to make payments (typically when the home has lost value), this is more commonly referred to as a(n):
Strategic default
Despite many innovations in the lending process that made mortgage loans more accessible and affordable to the general public, many potential borrowers faced considerable barriers in qualifying for a loan and making a down payment. Which of the following types of loans was designed for a borrower with weak credit, those who seek 100 percent financing, or who cannot document their income?
Subprime mortgage loa
Assume that a borrower has a choice between two comparable fixed-rate mortgage loans with the same interest rate, but different mortgage terms, one being a 30-year mortgage and the other a 15-year mortgage. Under financially unconstrained circumstances, which of the following statements best describes the borrower's preference?
The borrower would be indifferent between the two mortgages
The difference between judicial foreclosure and power of sale in the treatment of defaulted mortgages can be significant. All of the following statements regarding power of sale are true EXCEPT:
The foreclosed property is typically sold through a public auction administered by the court.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures loans made by private lenders that meet FHA's property and credit-risk standards. Which of the following statements concerning FHA insurance is true?
The insurance is paid by the borrower and protects the lender against loss due to borrower default.
The traditional approach to loan underwriting has virtually been replaced by an automated underwriting process that involves a statistically derived equation to determine the level of default risk associated with a loan application. All of the following statements regarding the automated underwriting process are true EXCEPT:
The marginal cost per loan underwritten using the automated process is greater than the case of traditional underwriting.
When lenders charge discount points (prepaid interest) on a loan, what impact does this have on the loan's yield?
The yield on the loan will increase
In certain states, such as the state of Georgia, there is a temporary transfer of title to the lender at the time the mortgage loan is made. The borrower then would obtain the rights to the title once the loan has been repaid. These states are referred to as:
Title theory states
It is possible to have a secured real estate loan without a mortgage through the use of a contract for deed. In contrast to the standard real estate sale, which of the following events occurs after the closing when dealing with a contract for deed?
Title to the property passes to the buyer
Congress has enacted a number of regulations that have established criteria for evaluating home loan applicants and mandating disclosures in the origination of home loans. Which of the following congressional acts requires important disclosures concerning the cost of consumer credit, including the computation of the annual percentage rate (APR)?
Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA)
In addition to providing home mortgages, large commercial banks have specialized in providing short-term funds to mortgage banking companies in order to enable them to originate mortgage loans and hold the loans until the mortgage banking company can sell them in the secondary market. This type of financing is commonly referred to as:
Warehousing
Foreclosure is considered the ultimate recourse of the lender because it allows the lender to bring about sale of the property to recover the outstanding indebtedness. All of the following statements regarding foreclosure are true EXCEPT:
When a lender forecloses on a property, it extinguishes all superior liens, bringing about a free and clear sale of the property
Mortgage loans made to borrowers with normal credit quality, but who lack the necessary documentation of their financial circumstances typically needed to meet conforming mortgage standards would most likely be considered:
alt-A loans
Partially amortizing mortgage loans require periodic payments of principal, but are not paid off completely over the loan's term to maturity. Instead, the balance of the principal amount is paid at maturity in what is commonly referred to as a:
balloon payment
in the securitization process, mortgages are pooled together and cash flows are packaged into securities to be sold in the secondary market. Agencies and private companies that pool mortgages and sell mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are often referred to as:
conduits
Created by Congress to promote an active secondary market for home mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase loans that meet specific underwriting standards such as loan size, documentation, and payment to income ratio. The loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are eligible to purchase are commonly referred to as:
conforming conventional loans
Assume that an individual has just lost his job and has been consistently late paying his bills. The bank recognizes deterioration in the individual's credit score and has notified him that he must pay his home equity line of credit in full. The mortgage clause that makes this possible is known as the:
demand clause
When fully amortizing loans call for equal periodic payments over the life of the loan they are known as
level-payment mortgages
Throughout the process of originating and selling mortgages, mortgage companies face a number of risks. Therefore, it is important for a lending institution to evaluate the risks of mortgage loan default through a process commonly referred to as:
loan underwriting
Since conforming loans can be much more readily bought and sold in the secondary mortgage market, they carry a(n) _______ interest rate than comparable nonconforming loans.
lower
Mortgage banks typically will attempt to sell loans as quickly as possible after they are originated by either issuing mortgage securities or selling the loan to an intermediary that will subsequently sell the loan in the secondary market. The period between loan commitment and loan sale is referred to as the
mortgage pipeline
In a mortgage agreement, the borrower conveys to the lender a security interest in the mortgage property. The lender, i.e. the individual who receives the mortgage claim, is known as the:
mortgagee
Standard mortgage loans require monthly payments typically composed of two components: interest and principal repayments. When scheduled mortgage payments are insufficient to pay all of the accumulating interest, causing some interest to be added to the outstanding balance after each payment shortfall, the loan is said to be:
negatively amortizing
. Suppose a buyer agrees to purchase a tract of land for $40,000. The buyer is only able to obtain a mortgage for $32,000. Rather than let the deal fall through, the seller agrees to accept $4,000 in cash and a note from the buyer for the remaining $4,000. This type of transaction is commonly referred to as a:
purchase money mortgage
When a buyer acquires a property having an existing mortgage loan, a decision must be made as to whether or not the subsequent owner of the property can preserve the loan. If the buyer does not add his or her signature to the note, the buyer does not take on any personal liability. In this case, the buyer is said to:
purchase the property subject to the existing loan
With most standard home loans, the lender can hold the borrower personally liable in the event of a default. Such loans are commonly referred to as:
recourse loans
In addition to numerous congressional acts that focus more on national regulation, laws have been created that affect the practice of home mortgage lending at a community or neighborhood level. For example, laws have been enacted to prevent lenders from avoiding certain neighborhoods without regard to the merits of the individual loan applications, a practice more commonly referred to as:
redlining
Mortgage originators can either hold loans in their portfolios or sell them to investors. When a mortgage originator decides to sell mortgages to another institution, this transaction occurs in what is commonly referred to as the:
secondary mortgage market
Most Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) loans have been marketed with a temporarily reduced interest rate commonly referred to as a:
teaser rate
A common criticism of the annual percentage rate (APR) is that it usually understates the true cost of borrowing. The APR may understate the cost of borrowing because it assumes:
the loan always goes to maturity