National Mortgage News articles from April 2006

National Mortgage News archives from April 2006

Inside Track.
April 3, 2006... OPEN FORUM Fannie Reforms 4 STREET SMARTS Fed Funds Rate Is Nearing 5% 5 WHOLESALE Aames Cutting Costs To Get Profitable. 7 AFFORDABLE Asian-Americans Are...

Amid Allegations, QMAR Closes.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- QuoteMeARate.com, a Houston-based net branch operator, closed its doors this past week amid allegations of loan fraud, National Mortgage News has learned. Net branch operators who worked for the company have already set up a...

Top Residential Originators in 2005.
April 3, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 3 Washington Mutual 4 Chase Home Finance 5 Bank of America 6...

California Looms Large at Wells Fargo.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Wells Fargo may be the nation's second biggest mortgage lender, but about one-third of the residential home loans it holds in portfolio come from California. In a recent 10K filing, Wells Fargo revealed that 33% of its...

New RESPA on Deck?
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development is preparing to issue a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act reform proposal soon, according to secretary Alphonso Jackson. The HUD secretary told a congressional panel last...

Editorial: An Old-Time Newspaperman.(Editorial)
April 3, 2006... Donald J. Sorensen, the dean of National Mortgage News reporters, died March 20 at his home in Portland, Ore., after nearly three decades covering the local thrift and mortgage markets for this newspaper. He was 87, and had been a professional...

Iowa AG Warns Loan Officers.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- When the states agreed to a landmark $325 million legal settlement with subprime giant Ameriquest Mortgage, prosecutors did not single out individual loan officers but in the future they might. At a speech before the National...

Centex HE Finds a Buyer, GMAC Deal Appears to Move Forward.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- A unit of Fortress Investment Group has agreed to purchase Centex Home Equity Co., Dallas, in a deal valued at about $575 million. Late last week, Centex Homes, the homebuilder parent of CHEC, disclosed it had signed a...

Servicers Weigh No-Bid Options.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Residential servicers are beginning to review their Veteran Administration-insured loans in the Gulf Coast states, calculating how many will end up as "no-bids" due to hurricane damage. After factoring insurance payouts and...

Industry Groups Slam Regulatory Stance on 'Exotic' Home Loans.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Federal banking regulators need to calm down and rethink their "unwarranted" and "excessive" underwriting restrictions on interest-only and payment-option mortgages, according to industry comment letters. Remarks filed by the...

Open Forum: Fannie Reforms Underway.
April 3, 2006... Sen. Rudman's recent testimony before the House Financial Services Committee is presented as our Open Forum. He is a partner in the Washington law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. It is unusual for attorneys to come...

Latest Fed Rate Hike Signals Changing Market.
April 3, 2006... They say a lot changes after you have a child and in my case that includes the market. It seems not that long ago, for example, that I was able to get a long-term (15-year) mortgage with a 5% interest rate and the fed funds rate was...

PHH Hit by Shareholder Lawsuits, But Morgan Still Likes the Stock.
April 3, 2006... MOUNT LAUREL, NJ -- Private-label giant PHH Corp. here has been hit with several shareholder lawsuits of late, but that isn't stopping Morgan Stanley & Co. from recommending it to investors. Last week, Morgan initiated coverage of the...

DPS and Chicago Offer E-Closing.
April 3, 2006... NOVI, MI -- Document Processing Systems here is teaming up with Chicago Title to produce complete electronic closings in the mortgage industry. The partnership will give DPS exposure to lenders in the Chicago area linked with the title company....

Aames Closes Offices in Bid to Turn Profitable.
April 3, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- The management of Aames Investment Corp. here further elaborated on its plans to bring their wholesale mortgage operations back to profitability. In the company's year-end 2005 results press release, Aames said it is in the...

Delta's Earnings Turn Positive Despite Tough Environment in '05.
April 3, 2006... WOODBURY, NY -- Delta Financial Corp. here reported full year 2005 income of $18 million, or $0.84 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.3 million, or $0.51 per share, for 2004. But the company's results for 2004 were affected by a shift...

Asian-Americans Compete for Lenders' Attention.
April 3, 2006... SAN DIEGO -- In times when Hispanic and African-American markets are viewed as the primary, largely untapped new business sources, at least one organization is trying to ensure the underserved Asian-Pacific market is not overlooked by lenders....

Center Urges States to Get Tough.
April 3, 2006... COLUMBUS, OH -- The Center for Responsible Lending is challenging Ohio and other states to step up efforts to combat predatory lending. Ohio, a state with one of the highest levels of job losses and foreclosures in the country, has become a hot...

Study Finds Low-Income Families Face Acute Housing Shortage.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- There is considerable new business potential within a particular segment of the emerging markets: lower-income minority families with children, especially in urban areas, which are in dire need of affordable housing options,...

CA Home Construction Is Strong.
April 3, 2006... SACRAMENTO, CA -- Led by a strong surge in new condos and apartments in Southern California, housing production in California rebounded in February, climbing nearly 27% from January, according to the California Building Industry Association....

Regulation 'AB' IssuesVex Industry.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Private-label issuers, servicers and their auditors are still grappling with the testing and reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission's new asset-backed securities regulation and need more time to adjust,...

Florida Market Losing Steam.
April 3, 2006... ORLANDO, FL -- Rising inventory levels and still-low mortgage rates have continued to affect Florida's housing market, which is adjusting to a better balance between buyers and sellers following a five-year run of record sales. Statewide, sales...

United Companies' Manufactured Housing Deals Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Nine classes of United Companies Financial Corp.'s manufactured housing deals have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades are as follows: series 1997-3, class A-4, from BBB to BB-plus; series 1997-4, class A-4, from...

Levitt's Net Fell in 2005.
April 3, 2006... FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- For the year ended Dec. 31, 2005, net income was $54.9 million for Levitt Corp., compared to $57.4 million reported in 2004. In the fourth quarter of 2005, net income was $8.3 million, compared with $17 million earned in...

Roundup: Foreclosure Firm Sees Prices Slipping in the West.
April 3, 2006... Flattening home price appreciation, slowing home sales and rising interest rates could lead home prices in the Western U.S. to slip, causing a rise in foreclosure activity, according to ForeclosureS.com. The distressed property investment...

Clayton Holdings' Public Offering Raises More Than $127.5 Million.
April 3, 2006... SHELTON, CT -- Clayton Holdings has sold 7.5 million shares of common stock in an initial public offering at $17 per share, and early trading revealed a solid market reaction to the offering. On March 23, Clayton Holdings raised $127.5...

Calvary Seeking Investment Ideas.
April 3, 2006... HAWTHORNE, NY -- Calvary Investments, a buyer of debt, is looking for opportunities to invest in early-stage and seed-stage firms in the specialty finance arena, Andrew Zaro, the company's CEO, said in a news release. Calvary is targeting...

Fleetwood Sees Higher Earnings.
April 3, 2006... RIVERSIDE, CA -- Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., a national producer of manufactured housing here, reported earnings for the fiscal 2006 third quarter of $583.9 million, up 15% from $509.2 million in the year-earlier quarter. Net income, which...

REIT Debt Called Attractive.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- A recent surge in merger and acquisition activity in the REIT sector may be a harbinger that REIT debt will outperform other debt instruments, according to analysts at CreditSights. "In our opinion, REIT bonds hold an edge over...

Fundamentals Soften at Banks.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- With the first quarter of 2006 coming toward a close, analysts at Merrill Lynch think that medium-sized banks may find it difficult to continue posting strong stock price gains. In a recent report, the investment banking firm...

Citizens Will Use PHH to Manage Mortgage Business.
April 3, 2006... DETROIT -- In an effort to boost the quality of its loan products, Flint, Mich.-based Citizens Banking Corp. is teaming up with PHH Mortgage Corp. to handle its mortgage loan business. As a part of the deal, Citizens will gain technology, use...

Offshoring Gaining Momentum.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- About a quarter of mortgage servicers rated by Moody's Investors Service outsource some loan administration functions overseas, and many of these are even sending some customer contact work abroad. "Currently, nine of the 35...

Carolina Lender Implements FICS.
April 3, 2006... SAN DIEGO -- Financial Industry Computer Systems, a mortgage technology specialist that provides in-house commercial servicing technology to the mortgage industry, launched at the MBA technology conference here the implementation of its...

SBA Aids Mississippi Homeowners Devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
April 3, 2006... JACKSON, MS -- Federal disaster loans are now available from the Small Business Administration to small, non-farm, agriculture-dependent businesses located in the entire state of Mississippi as the result of damages and losses to crops caused...

Velocity Grows Debt Purchases.
April 3, 2006... New York -- If one company is anything to go by, the business of collecting distressed debt is doing A-OK in 2006. In the first month of this year, a consumer receivables asset management and liquidation company has seen the amount of...

Freddie to End Custom Building.
April 3, 2006... SAN DIEGO -- Gone are the days that Freddie Mac will look to build all of its technology in-house. The GSE said at the MBA tech show here that it will look to the market to buy technology and integrate it within its enterprise. In the...

Calyx Opens Point up to the Industry.
April 3, 2006... SAN DIEGO -- Calyx Software held a press conference at the MBA tech show here stating that it will launch new products to support seamless integration to its core Point LOS using the MISMO standard as a foundation. In the past, Calyx Point...

No Red Tape Reaches Out to Brokers.
April 3, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Jumbo lender No Red Tape Mortgage has launched two new products to make it easier and more seamless for brokers to deal with them. In this competitive market it is increasingly important to stand out and get more brokers to...

Roundup: Deterioration of Credit Enhancement Hurts LB Deal.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Eighteen classes from four Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust transactions and one Long Beach Home Equity Loan Trust deal have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings and seven classes from four other deals have been placed on Rating Watch...

Amresco Deal Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes from three Amresco Residential Securities Corp. transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: series 1998-1 group 1, class M-2F, from A to BBB; series 1998-3 group 1, class...

MKP DEAL Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Four classes of notes issued by MKP CBO I Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation partly composed of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows:...

MS Deal Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Eleven classes from seven Morgan Stanley mortgage-backed security transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings and one class has been placed on Rating Watch Negative. The downgrades were as follows: series 2001-AM1, class...

NYMT Reveals Tax Treatment.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- New York Mortgage Trust, a residential mortgage lender organized as a real estate investment trust, has delineated the tax treatment for dividends paid last year. During 2005, taxable dividends for NYMT's common stock were...

SASC Losses Exceed Expectation.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M-3 of Structured Asset Securities Corp. residential mortgage-backed certificates, series 2002-BC1, has been downgraded from BBB to BB by Fitch Ratings. In addition, Fitch upgraded four classes from two other SASCO issues...

SFA Deal Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of Structured Finance Advisors Collateralized Asset Backed Securities Trust II CDO Ltd. have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The class notes were downgraded from BB to B, and the class C notes were downgraded from...

Solstice Deal Downgraded.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of Solstice ABS CDO Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation that includes residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The class B notes were downgraded from BB-plus to...

Bridger Says Higher Rates Won't Be a Big Drag on Real Estate.
April 3, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- A higher interest rate environment is not likely to negatively impact demand for commercial real estate investment, according to a survey of bank real estate loan officers by Bridger Commercial Funding here. The company, a...

Study Disputes Claims on Mold.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- The steady growth of mold litigation has not slowed in the commercial and resident real estate industries, according to the Greenguard Environmental Institute, which says this expanding legal gray area has compelled lenders to...

Two REITS Join S&P 500 Index.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's is adding Boston Properties and Kimco Realty Corp. to its S&P 500 index. The financial information company reports that Boston Properties will be added to the index on April 3, before the open of trading, and...

Schnitzer Named CharterMac CEO.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- Marc D. Schnitzer has been named chief executive officer of CharterMac, replacing Stephen M. Ross, who has served as interim CEO of the company since last November. Mr. Ross will continue to be chairman of CharterMac, the...

Commercial Transactions.
April 3, 2006... * Duke Realty has acquired a Washington, D.C.-area portfolio, including 2.9 million square feet of office and industrial space, for about $855 million, financing the acquisition with a $700 million bridge loan, at LIBOR plus 0.525%, and the...

Spring Season Brings Annual Rise in Housing Market Activity.
April 3, 2006... SILVER SPRING, MD -- In addition to longer daylight hours and blooming flowers, springtime often signals an increase in activity for potential homebuyers. For most Americans, it's not enough to know what neighborhood, style of house or...

Loan Originators also Can Be Frustrated by Difficult Borrowers.
April 3, 2006... Kathy88: Just had to share. At the end of the day yesterday I got a call from this lady: Caller: Hi, I'm calling to see about a mortgage. Me: OK, great, how can I help you? Caller: Well, they are going to foreclose on my trailer,...

NAMB Promotes Financial Awareness.
April 3, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Preparing for the next generation of mortgage brokers, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers is embracing a long-term strategy based on education and promotion. The goal is to attract students to the financial services...

Association Puts Focus on Records Management Challenges.
April 3, 2006... LENEXA, KS -- Increased regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, high-profile SEC investigations, embarrassing e-mail discoveries and increasingly costly class-action litigation continue to illustrate corporate America's inability to effectively...

Brokers Questioned on Appraisals.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The National Community Reinvestment Coalition is attacking industry practices that allow mortgage brokers to select appraisers, claiming it leads to fraudulent and overinflated appraisals. The consumer group believes best...

People.
April 3, 2006... CALIFORNIA San Diego-SCME Mortgage Bankers said that Mark E. Solomon has joined the company as the compliance manager. In his new role, Mr. Solomon will oversee the company's risk mitigation initiatives and will be responsible for...

MortgageBrokers.com in Deal.
April 3, 2006... TORONTO -- MortgageBrokers.com Holdings Inc., a consolidator of mortgage broker companies on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, has signed a letter of intent to acquire its first U.S.-based company. The deal to acquire an unnamed New...

Wholesaler MILA Trimming Staff.
April 3, 2006... MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, WA -- Nonprime wholesaler MILA Inc. here has been quietly trimming its staff through attrition and layoffs. Since year-end, about 100 jobs have disappeared. It now employs about 500. A spokeswoman for the company...

Countrywide Is 'King' in 2005.
April 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Countrywide Home Loans was once again the production king of the mortgage industry, outfunding every firm in the land during 2005, thanks, in part, to correspondent loan purchases. According to exclusive survey figures...

Expert Says Compliance Getting Harder.
April 3, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- Predatory lending laws and mortgage originator licensing laws are more complex than ever before, and many believe it's getting harder for lenders and brokers to stay in compliance with the increasing patchwork of regulations out...

NHEMA Is Drawing Attention To Fraud.
April 3, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- The National Home Equity Mortgage Association will host a Fraud Detection & Prevention Workshop May 17-18 here at the Hyatt Regency. "Learn How to Protect Your Company and Customers Against Mortgage Fraud" is the program...

300 Fitch Deals Affected by Katrina.
April 3, 2006... NEW YORK -- While the long-term impact of Hurricane Katrina remains uncertain, it is clear that investors in mortgage securities and mortgage servicers have their work cut out for them. Currently, Fitch ratings estimates that approximately...

CA Apartment Vacancies Decline.
April 3, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Slow and steady gains in the overall Southern California economy will continue to push up apartment rents and occupancy rates that now rank among the highest in the country, according to the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast...

Publicly Traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
April 3, 2006... B&C Stock Price Index: 215.3 Change: -1.5 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 3/30/2006 Aames (AIC) 5.11 10.35 5.84 Delta Financial Corp (DFC) ...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
April 3, 2006... MIEC Index: 158.3 Change: -2.7 (part 1 of 2) Company 3/23/2006 3/30/2006 Wkly. % Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 31.45 30.66...

LandAmerica Buys Capital Title.
April 3, 2006... RICHMOND, VA -- In what might be the first sign of consolidation of ancillary service providers in the post-refinance boom era, LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. here has agreed to buy Capital Title Group Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz., in a deal...

Group Questions Bankruptcy Rules.
April 3, 2006... New York -- Recent data show controversial bankruptcy law reforms enacted in October 2005 are proving opponents of the law correct, with up to 97% of those affected unable to repay any debt. A National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy...

Inside Track.
April 10, 2006... EDITORIAL The Latest Progress Report 4 OPEN FORUM HUD's Budget 4 STREET SMARTS Rate Possibilities 5 REFIS HIT 04 LOW Last week the market saw the lowest refinancing percentage since...

51% of GMAC Sold to Partnership.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Cerberus Capital Management and two partners have inked a deal to buy 51% of General Motors Acceptance Corp., which controls the nation's fifth-largest mortgage banking franchise. The purchase price is $14 billion and includes...

Trump Hiring, Not Firing.
April 10, 2006... NEW YORK -- When Bill Dallas, the chairman and chief executive of OwnIt Mortgage Solutions, speaks at industry events, he tells mortgage brokers there are entities outside of the business such as WalMart that want a piece of their pie. Now...

FHA Reform Proposed.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Homebuyers with good credit would be able to get a Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage of up to $417,000 with no upfront insurance premium under a legislation proposal the Bush administration sent to Congress last...

Omni Bank Buys Lender.
April 10, 2006... BATON ROUGE, LA -- Omni Bank, temporarily headquartered in Harvey, La., has acquired LendSouth Mortgage LLC here. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal helps Omni to expand its mortgage banking services as well as assist its...

CFC: MBA Take Stand on GSE Limits.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The nation's largest mortgage lender is demanding that the Mortgage Bankers Association publicly declare its opposition to a Senate GSE bill that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce their mortgage portfolios. ...

Top Alt-A Lenders in Q4 '05.
April 10, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 EMC Mortgage (1) Irving, TX 2 IndyMac Bancorp, Inc. Pasadena, CA 3 Aurora Loan Services, Inc.(2)...

Irwin Selling $14B in MSRs.
April 10, 2006... COLUMBUS, OH -- Irwin Financial Corp. here is toying with the idea of selling $14 billion in servicing rights housed at its mortgage affiliate, investment banking sources told National Mortgage News. A spokeswoman for IFC declined to...

Predatory Lending Bill Stalled in House but Markup Still Planned.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Efforts to move a predatory lending bill in the House appear to be stalled, but negotiations between Democrats and Republicans are continuing with an eye toward marking up a bill possibly in May. House Financial Services...

OTS Alarmed.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Office of Thrift Supervision director John Reich is sounding the alarm that underwriting standards are slipping as mortgage originations decline and lenders are trying to maintain loan volume. The OTS director is concerned...

Freddie's Preliminary Earnings Fall, GSE Takes Hit on IO Assets.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac, which is still not current on its financial reporting, unveiled preliminary earnings of $2.5 billion for 2005 while revealing a $500 million writedown in the fourth quarter tied to its holdings of interest-only...

Fed Gives Citi OK On Large Deals.
April 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has given Citigroup the green light to make "significant" acquisitions, saying the financial services giant has improved its compliance risk management program. A year ago, the Fed...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 10, 2006... In the March 17 issue, National Mortgage News reported that, after the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council made it clear that lending institutions must find at least two ways to authenticate borrowers or face face fines, IndyMac...

Editorial: The Latest Progress Report.(Editorial)
April 10, 2006... The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization took advantage of the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual technology conference to announce four new e-mortgage releases and a white paper on Internet data security. What does it all...

Open Forum: HUD's Budget.
April 10, 2006... Secretary Jackson recently testified before the House Financial Services Committee on HUD's fiscal year 2007 budget. His testimony is presented as our Open Forum. The president's proposed FY 2007 budget truly reflects his intent to address...

Rate Possibilities; ARM Consumer Effects Eyed.
April 10, 2006... Signs that interest rates are likely to continue to trend higher appeared to dominate sentiment in the market at press time last week. But last Friday's influential employment statistics had not been released as this newspaper went to press...