James A. Brodsky
Contacts
Jim is a founding member of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC and focuses on residential mortgage finance legal and business issues. He advises clients on strategic business initiatives, federal compliance and regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, asset purchases and sales, and secondary mortgage market transactions. As a former HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary, Jim has deep experience in FHA and Ginnie Mae (as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) requirements, issues and opportunities. Jim also has had a pivotal role in advising the reverse mortgage industry since its inception and is Co-General Counsel of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.
Jim also is a Director (and formerly Lead Director) of MFA Financial, Inc., a multi-billion dollar NYSE-listed REIT that invests, on a leveraged basis, in residential mortgage assets including Agency MBS, Non-Agency MBS, residential whole loans and CRT securities.
Jim also is active in a variety of affordable housing initiatives. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. (ECI), the investment subsidiary of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. ECI invests in affordable housing and community development projects nationwide through public-private investments like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), as well as raises and invests private investor capital, develops affordable housing, and provides lending products through its commercial real estate and multifamily mortgage banking company, Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, LLC. In 2017, ECI invested approximately $897 million in LIHTC equity; $68.5 million in NMTC equity; and provided $6 billion in loans through Bellwether Enterprise. Over 35 years, Enterprise has invested $28.9 billion and created nearly 470,000 homes.
Jim formerly served as Chairman of the Housing Opportunities Commission, a county public housing and housing finance agency and the issuer of over a billion dollars of mortgage revenue bonds.
Practice Areas
- Investigation and Enforcement
- Licensing & Approvals
- Regulatory Compliance
- Federal Regulatory Compliance
- State Regulatory Compliance
- Transactional and Corporate
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Corporate Governance
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1972
- Columbia University, M.S.E.E., 1968
- Cornell University, B.S., 1967
Admissions
- District of Columbia
Representative Matters
- Structured, negotiated, documented, and secured regulatory approvals in connection with complex residential mortgage company mergers and acquisitions
- Resolved regulatory and compliance issues with multiple state and federal mortgage and banking regulators
- Developed sophisticated arrangements among real estate settlement service providers, including but not limited to residential mortgage lenders, servicers, sub-servicers, and investors (public and private), in compliance with applicable federal and state regulatory requirements
- Structured flow and whole loan purchase and sale, and investment and loan, transactions
- Advised national industry trade associations on full range of activities, including participating in regulatory, legislative, and public affairs initiatives, developing and guiding complex industry ethics and compliance programs, and fashioning modern membership requirements
- Led multiple Boards (for profit and non-profit) in the residential real estate development and community building and mortgage finance arenas, particularly with respect to strategic and succession planning, risk and opportunity assessments, and governance matters
Publications
- Co-Author, The Reverse Mortgage Practical Guide (AllRegs 2007)
- Contributing Author, Secondary Market Residential Mortgage Transactions (A.S. Pratt & Sons)
- Consulting Editor, Mortgage Lending Compliance Alert (Eli Research)