Year two of the mortgage meltdown, and the proverbial landscape has definitely changed. Countrywide is just a memory. Freddie and Fannie spend more time salvaging loans than buying them now. The Fed has become (or revealed itself as) the very hand of God, as we await the results of the end of its MBS program. Mortgage lenders and title agencies alike are grappling with yet another mangled, HUD-created mess. The appraisers are at the throats of the AMCs like never before. The underwriters are sharpening their litigation skills. And the abstractors are just waiting for the phone to ring. (more…)