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Understanding Mortgage-Backed Securities
A mortgage-backed security is essentially a bond. Investors purchase interests in the mortgage security and your monthly mortgage payment is the revenue earned from the security. Unlike a bond, however, the value of a mortgage fluctuates because it can be paid off early. A 10-year bond definitely matures in 10 years, but a similar mortgage may be paid off at any time with a refinance or outright cash payment.
Mortgage-backed securities are issued by retail lenders, i.e., the lender giving you a mortgage. They do this for a number of reasons. The primary reason is to create liquidity so they can use the money for other purposes. If you have a thirty-year mortgage, the lender is going to have to wait thirty years to recover its money and profit. That is a long time in the world of finances. To overcome this, the lender sells securities on the secondary market and your property acts as the collateral for the security. Essentially, the mortgage lender is obtaining a loan from investors by using your mortgage and home as the guarantee of payment.
Lenders will also use mortgage-backed securities to clean up their balance sheet. After the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s, new regulations were created that require lenders to maintain certain debt to equity ratios. By issuing mortgage securities, lenders can keep their books safely within the relevant standards set by the regulations.
At first glance, you might think mortgage-backed securities sound a little fishy and speculative. In reality, they have been around for some time and drive the market. Government entities such as Ginnie Mae [Government National Mortgage Association] are active in this secondary mortgage market, guaranteeing many types of mortgages which makes them easier to sell on the secondary market.
As recent as 2004, it was estimated that over 729 billion dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities existed on the secondary market. The size of this investment is what lets lenders keep issuing mortgage loans to you and me.
Ginnie Mae works with mortgage backed securities to help make housing affordable for millions of low and moderate income families in the United States. Ginnie Mae does this by putting global capital into the nation's housing markets.
The Ginnie Mae guaranty allows mortgage lenders to obtain a better price for the mortgage loans in the secondary market. This allows the mortgage lenders to take the money they make and put it towards more mortgage loans that are available to more people. It is a way to increasing the amount of cash flow so that more mortgages are available for more families. In turn, this allows more people and families to own homes, otherwise they may have never considered.
Ginnie Mae does not actually buy, sell, or issue mortgage-backed securities loans. Ginnie Mae is responsible for housing investors that use their money for guaranteeing mortgage loans to the mortgage lenders. Ginnie Mae securities are the only mortgage-backed securities that are completely carried in full faith and credit guaranty by the United States government. Ginnie Mae is one of the safest investments for investors because of this reason. No matter the current financial and economic environment, this investment is a solid one.
Ginnie Mae guarantees investors timely payments of both principal and interest on mortgage-backed securities that are supported by federally insured or guaranteed loans. This mainly includes loans that are insured by the Department of Veteran's Affairs and the Federal Housing Administration. Other guarantors or issuers of loans eligible as collateral for the mortgage-backed securities are The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Public and Indian Housing and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service.
Ginnie Mae simultaneously helps families into homes and assists investors in getting guaranteed returns. Ginnie Mae investors get a share of all resulting cash flows, after of course the servicing and guaranty fees have been taken out.
So what exactly are mortgage-backed securities? Mortgage-backed securities are pools of mortgages used as collateral for the issuance of securities in the secondary market. MBS are commonly referred to as "pass-through" certificates because the principal and interest of the underlying loans is "passed through" to investors. The interest rate of the security is lower than the interest rate of the underlying loan to allow for payment of servicing and guaranty fees. Ginnie Mae MBS are fully modified pass-through securities guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. Regardless of whether the mortgage payment is made, investors in Ginnie Mae MBS will receive full and timely payment of principal as well as interest.
Ginnie Mae's mission is to expand affordable housing in America by linking global capital markets to the nation's housing markets. If you feel you can either benefit from their services, or would like to be an investor, contact the nearest location or check them out online. It could be just what you are looking for to get into a home or invest your money with other smart investors in large portfolios.