National Mortgage News articles from April 2009

National Mortgage News archives from April 2009

Nonprofit Buys 47 Loans from JPM.
April 6, 2009... NEW YORK-A New Jersey nonprofit said it has acquired the mortgages on 47 vacant homes in the Greater Newark area - loans that originally were part of a fraud scheme involving one real estate investor who received financing from the now-defunct...

PROMOTION SPOTLIGHT: HELEN KANOVSKY.
April 6, 2009... President Obama has nominated Ms. Kanovsky to be the general counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is currently chief operating officer of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust and previously served as chief of staff...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite; MIEC Index: 16.6 Change: -0.2.
April 6, 2009... Company 4/2/2009 3/26/2009 Wkly.% Chg. 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi % Chg. P/E Ratio Astoria Federal (AF)9.20 9.92 -7% 5.85 30.00 57.26% 11.06 Bank of America (BAC)7.19 7.58 -5% 2.53 41.50 184.19% 12.73 Bank of Hawaii (BOH)33.97 35.15 -3%...

FHA Seeks Mod Authority.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The Federal Housing Administration is seeking expanded loan modification authority as the agency deals with rising defaults and foreclosed properties in a bad housing market. The Department of Housing...

FHA to Enter the Electronic World, Finally.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Anthony Garritano WASHINGTON-With FHA loan volume expected to come in at about 30% of total originations this year, many in the industry are wondering when the Federal Housing Administration will automate to keep up with this steep...

FNIS to Acquire Metavante.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Anthony Garritano MILWAUKEE-Fidelity National Information Services plans to acquire Metavante Technologies here in a deal in which Metavante shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.35 shares of FIS common stock for...

FTC Accuses 7 of Credit Repair Scam.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission has charged seven related credit repair companies in New Jersey and three individuals connected with those companies with violating federal law by falsely promising to remove...

HUD Clarifies HECM for Purchase Maximum Claim Amount.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman WASHINGTON-Clarifying an earlier directive, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has published a new mortgagee letter that sets the maximum claim amount on the new HECM for Purchase product. HUD also...

Huntington Set to Avoid B/C Hurt.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Matthew Monks NEW YORK-Huntington Bancshares Inc. unveiled a restructuring last week that its chief executive said should cure its biggest headache: an unprofitable relationship with a troubled Jersey City subprime lender. ...

Fannie-IndyMac Buyback Secret.
April 6, 2009... WASHINGTON-Prior to the recent sale of the government-owned IndyMac FSB to an investor group, Fannie Mae settled a $1-billion-plus buyback dispute with the thrift but all the parties involved are keeping the settlement quiet. ...

KPMG Hit With $1B Lawsuit Over NCFC.
April 6, 2009... NEW YORK-The trustee for bankrupt subprime giant New Century Financial Corp. is suing the lender's auditor, KPMG, for $1 billion in damages, charging that it abetted the firm in misstating its true financial condition. Among other things,...

OPEN FORUM: Meeting the Financial Challenges.
April 6, 2009... Byline: James Lockhart, Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency Excerpts of Mr. Lockhart's comments Before The Women In Housing and Finance Symposium in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. (first Of Two Parts.) The...

PennsylvaniaHas New Rules.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon HARRISBURG, PA-Pennsylvania homebuyers will benefit from new rules governing mortgage disclosures and practices, according to the state Department of Banking. The rules are contained in a new regulation that...

Old GSE CEO May Get PHH Board Seat.
April 6, 2009... MOUNT LAUREL, NJ-Pennant Capital Management, the largest shareholder in PHH Corp. here, is seeking to install former Freddie Mac CEO Greg Parseghian and another candidate on the lender's board. In a new public filing, Pennant, a hedge fund,...

PEOPLE.
April 6, 2009... COLORADO Denver-Mortgage Spirit named Keith Kemph as vice president of sales and marketing. Prior to joining Mortgage Spirit, Mr. Kemph served as national sales manager for Calyx Software where he built and managed sales, marketing...

Non-Agency MBS Prices Jump But Will Confidence Last?(Street Smarts)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock Between the government's earlier PPIP move and the FASB's mark-to-market action at press time last Thursday, it looked as if the bogged-down private-label mortgage-backed securities market might be loosening up a...

YSP, Subprime Bill Coming.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The House Financial Services Committee is expected to approve legislation regulating subprime lending and lender compensation when Congress returns from its spring break in late April. Chairman Barney...

Builders Made the Classic Mistake of Growing Too Fast.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman WASHINGTON-The big public builders made all the classic mistakes associated with growing too fast, according to a former executive of one of the largest in the country. But their greatest misstep was in their failure...

Congress Battles to a Draw on Cramdown Bill.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-A three-month battle over a bankruptcy cramdown bill has resulted in a draw as Congress adjourns for a two-week spring recess and the legislation appears stalled in the Senate. The House passed a...

EDITORIAL: Gathering Momentum.(Editorial)
April 6, 2009... Mortgage lenders should now be going to full alert status as low rates generated by the Federal Reserve's intervention in the MBS market should translate into a flood of refinance applications arriving at their doors via phone and e-mail. ...

One-Fourth of Mortgages Underwater Soon?
April 6, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi NEW YORK-A report finds 20% of all mortgaged properties in the U.S. were "underwater" by December 2008 and one-fourth of U.S. homeowners are at risk to find themselves in the same uncomfortable waters in the next six...

Subprime Mortgages Didn't Keep People in Houses Long.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein NEW YORK-Subprime mortgage loans did not accomplish what their proponents claimed to be their main benefit - putting people into homes. That was the main finding of a paper written by Yuliya S. Demyanyk for a...

Pfandbriefe May Weather Risks Better than RMBS/CDOs.(International Mortgages)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock BERLIN-A new cross-border study shows Germany's mortgage pfandbriefe, which epitomize a "covered bond" structure used more frequently in Europe, may do a better job of mitigating certain risks than the residential...

Boost for Warehouse.(News Analysis)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo OCALA, FL-If Taylor, Bean & Whitaker's investment in Colonial Bancgroup comes off without a hitch, it could give a major boost to two ailing sectors of the mortgage industry: loan brokers and non-banks that rely on...

FASB Rule Aids MBS.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The Financial Accounting Standards Board has approved major changes to mark-to-market accounting rules, allowing depositories to reverse certain losses they took on mortgage-backed securities and report an...

SWAT Teams to Snare Lenders.
April 6, 2009... WASHINGTON-Concerned that "bad actors" may be originating or brokering FHA-insured loans, housing secretary Shaun Donovan said the government is sending out SWAT teams unannounced to check up on problem lenders. Moreover, the agency last...

Thornburg End Finally Comes.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock SANTA FE, NM-Thornburg Mortgage Inc. here has made plans to discontinue operations after it winds down through a bankruptcy filing and a series of asset sales and liquidations, ending a struggle to survive the...

Wells in Warehouse?
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein SAN FRANCISCO-Sources have told National Mortgage News that Wells Fargo & Co. here is about to enter the mortgage warehouse lending business. David Lykken, the managing partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions,...

Subservicers Continue to Drop; (Dollars in Trillions).
April 6, 2009... The # Firms reporting Total outstanding Outstanding Year to NMN residential debt B&C debt 2008 25 $9.59 $0.96 2007 32 $9.21 $1.03 2006 41 $8.59 $1.29 200058 $5.11 $0.32 Notes: Based on a survey conducted by National...

Top Residential Wholesalers 4Q08; (Dollars in Millions).
April 6, 2009... Firm Name 4Q08 4Q07 % Change Mkt. Share Wells Fargo & Co.$5,462 $7,132 -23% 8.96% Taylor Bean & Whitaker$4,772 $5,607 -15% 7.83% AmTrust Bank$4,195 $4,649 -10% 6.88% Chase (1)$3,816 $11,594 -67% 6.26% Provident...

Neighborhood Funding for 'Green' Affordable Housing.(Affordable Housing)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi NEW YORK-New leadership at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is energizing support for green affordable housing through pilot programs backed by federal assistance. One beneficiary, New York City's...

PROMOTION SPOTLIGHT: TOM DONATACCI.
April 13, 2009... Mr. Donatacci, who recently left Residential Capital Corp., has joined The Clayton Group, a loan advisory firm based in Shelton, Conn. Clayton named Mr. Donatacci executive vice president of marketing and sales. At ResCap he was in charge of...

KB Home ShowsA $58MM Loss.
April 13, 2009... LOS ANGELES-For its first quarter ended Feb. 28, KB Home here generated a net loss of $58.1 million compared to a net loss of $268.2 million for the year-earlier quarter. This included pretax, non-cash charges for inventory and joint...

Loan Modification Nation.(Inside Take)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo There's gold in them there loan modification hills, I tell ya. At least that's the way it felt at SourceMedia's Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas last week. At times, it felt like an old-fashioned regional brokers...

Merger Cracks the Top 25.
April 13, 2009... WASHINGTON-Once homebuilders Pulte Homes and Centex Corp. complete their recently announced merger, their combined mortgage units will rank 23rd nationwide in residential originations, according to figures compiled by this newspaper and the...

FRE Inflow May Double.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon DALLAS-Freddie Mac saw 52,000 in real estate-owned inflow in 2008 and about 5,400 properties went through disposition in March. And by the end of 2009, the GSE expects to see 136,000 in REO inflow. REO inventory...

Next Boom? 15 Years, At Least.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman WASHINGTON-Waiting for the housing market to bounce back to 2005 levels? Don't hold your breath, a leading residential real estate consultant said here last week. Steve Murray of Real Trends, a Littleton,...

Affiliated Realty Broker Saviors.
April 13, 2009... WASHINGTON-The ability to generate income from affiliated mortgage and title entities has been "the difference between life and death" for many real estate brokerages, members of the Real Estate Services Providers Council were told at their...

Wait and See on RESPA Regs.
April 13, 2009... WASHINGTON-When it comes to complying with the new Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act regulations, many lenders appear to be sticking their heads in the sand, according to a pair of Washington regulatory lawyers. Jeffrey Naimon of...

Helping Lend America Stay Ahead.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... Lend America chief business strategist Michael Ashley's plans to attend the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference are just one aspect of larger plans he has for the company in its efforts to stay ahead of the curve...

Long-Time Secondary Attendee: This One Will Stand Out.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock Ed Fuchs got his start in the business in 1992 working for Central Pacific Mortgage, which was then owned by Source One Mortgage Services Corp. and later owned by current Mortgage Bankers Association president/CEO...

Eyeing Market For Reverses.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Anthony Garritano Loan origination vendor LendingSpace is looking forward to talking about the secondary market opening up for reverse mortgages at the MBA show in Chicago. "Right now it's a small market," noted Ravi Varma,...

Lenders Eye Agencies, Servicing.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... Trends likely to be seen among attendees at this year's Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference may include moves toward directly selling to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, issuing securities and retaining servicing. ...

Attending to Find Answers.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... Several representatives from mortgage business cooperative Lenders One plan to attend the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Market Conference to try to help find answers to the common questions that cloud the industry's future,...

Playing a Small Part in the Secondary Market's Recovery.(Convention Special Edition)(Industry overview)
April 13, 2009... Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, Carrollton, Texas, is a special servicer - and to a smaller degree, a loan investor - seeking to contribute to efforts solving massive nonperforming loan concerns that have stood in the way of the restoration of a...

Not So 'Secondary'.(Convention Special Edition)
April 13, 2009... The secondary market is definitely not what it was, but it remains significant even in its relative absence and continues to shape the industry's fate. Therein lies the reason that - as a couple executives planning to attend put it - the...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite; MIEC Index: 17.7 Change: 1.1.
April 13, 2009... Company 4/9/2009 4/2/2009 Wkly.% Chg. 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi % Chg. P/E Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 10.33 9.24 12% 5.85 30.00 76.58% 10.72 Bank of America (BAC) 9.72 7.25 34% 2.53 40.65 284.39% 12.74 Bank of Hawaii (BOH) 35.58 34.10 4%...

Wells Funds $100B in 1st Quarter.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo SAN FRANCISCO-Wells Fargo & Co. hit a residential home run in the first quarter with originations soaring by 51% to $100 billion and mortgage-related commitments topping $175 billion. Compared to fundings in the...

HFF Closes FHA Loan in Portland.
April 13, 2009... PORTLAND, OR-The Portland office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP has arranged a $7.05 million FHA 223f loan for the 2020 Building, a 55-unit multifamily community in downtown Portland. HFF director Casey Davidson and associate director Tom...

Post Properties Closes Loan With PNC ARCS.
April 13, 2009... ATLANTA-Post Properties Inc. has closed a mortgage loan with PNC ARCS LLC, pursuant to Freddie Mac's loan program, secured by a mortgage on its Post Luminaria community located in New York. Post Luminaria is held in a joint venture entity in...

TPG CompletesOffice Financing.
April 13, 2009... Byline: James Comtois LOS ANGELES-Thomas Properties Group, a full-service real estate company here, has reached an agreement with its other partners in the Austin portfolio partnership, including Lehman Brothers and California State...

DOJ FraudTask Force?
April 13, 2009... Byline: Paul Muolo WASHINGTON-The Department of Justice is moving closer to forming a national mortgage fraud task force to investigate and prosecute real estate and mortgage related crimes, according to government officials familiar with...

Price DeclineWill Continue.
April 13, 2009... WASHINGTON-The decline in prices has much further to go with so many houses for sale and more foreclosures coming on the market, according to David Berson, chief economist at the PMI Group. "There are simply too many homes on the market,"...

BoA Trims its Brokers Even More.
April 13, 2009... CALABASAS, CA-Bank of America recently trimmed certain loan brokers from its active list, according to loan representatives who still use the wholesaler for table funding. Late last week, Bank of America, which this month officially...

FTC Files Enforcement Actions.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman WASHINGTON-Seeking to halt the proliferation of mortgage relief scams, the Federal Trade Commission last week filed enforcement actions against five operations the agency contends use deceptive tactics to market their...

Lenders Asked to ID Scams.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman WASHINGTON-Lenders are being asked to help identify potential mortgage modification scams as part of a major coordinated federal-state crackdown on con artists who target financially strapped borrowers struggling to...

NAMB Withdraws a Lawsuit.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein WASHINGTON-The National Association of Mortgage Brokers has withdrawn its lawsuit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which had sought to stop the Home Valuation Code of Conduct from taking effect on May 1....

Downgrade Worsens MI Outlook.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The plight of the nation's private mortgage insurers darkened last week with the sector getting a downgrade and little hope that Treasury would anytime soon show financial support for MIs. Trade groups...

NM Title Group Supports New Law.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein SANTA FE, NM-The governor of New Mexico has signed a bill that supporters state will increase competition and bring down prices for title insurance in the state. The law gives homeowners discounts when they...

OPEN FORUM: Meeting the Financial Challenges.
April 13, 2009... Byline: James Lockhart, Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency Excerpts Of Mr. Lockhart's Comments Before The Women In Housing and Finance Symposium In Washington Recently Are Presented As Our Open Forum. (second Of Two Parts.) Two...

PEOPLE.
April 13, 2009... CALIFORNIA Irvine-RealtyTrac has hired Robert J. Houghton as chief information officer/chief technology officer. Mr. Houghton has more than 25 years of technology experience in operations, management and IT applications across a...

Geithner: Banks Need to Sell Problem Assets.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department will continue to encourage banks to sell problem assets to government-sponsored investment funds despite recent changes to the mark-to-market accounting rules, according to secretary...

Effective Quality Control Lacking.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brad Finkelstein DEERFIELD BEACH, FL-An expert on operational risk management states that what the government-sponsored enterprises and the Federal Housing Administration require of their approved originators in terms of quality...

EDITORIAL: A Fatal Squeeze.(Editorial)
April 13, 2009... Thornburg Mortgage put up a good fight to survive the liquidity crisis. Though they ultimately didn't make it, they gave it a good try. While many lenders claimed in the squeeze folded their tents in a matter of days or weeks, Thornburg...

Despite Numbers, Hope for Mortgage Jobs.(Conference notes)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-Even though national unemployment numbers continued to be ugly last month, it appears that the job situation in the mortgage sector is showing signs of stabilization with a possible upturn in sight. ...

MBA: Oversight Body Needed for Industry.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-The Mortgage Bankers Association released a regulatory reform proposal last week that calls for the creation of a federal mortgage regulatory agency that sets lending and servicing rules for the entire...

Changing Reverse Mortgage Demographics.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi OAKLAND, CA-The demographic of people researching reverse mortgage options appears to be shifting. A Golden Gateway financial report finds more seniors are trapped between the need to rely on a reverse mortgage to...

GSE's Reverse REMIC Giant PCs Get Under Way.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Bonnie Sinnock MCLEAN, VA-Freddie Mac's reverse REMIC Giant PC securities program, which aims to improve liquidity for remaining real estate mortgage investment conduit securities, has gotten under way. Freddie mortgage funding...

RES and CRE Debt '00-'08; (Dollars in Billions).
April 13, 2009... At Comm. Debt Res. Debt. Year-end Outstanding Outstanding 2008 $1,935 $9,585 2007 $1,898 $9,206 2006 $1,742 $8,591 2005 $1,598 $8,291 2004 $1,453 $7,664 2003 $1,398 $7,081 2002 $1,322 $6,305 2001 $1,247...

'Wrapping Up' the REO.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Lew Sichelman New York-Here's an offbeat idea for REO specialists who need to protect their assets: Rather than pay a caretaker a monthly fee to watch over vacated houses and protect them from the elements, not to mention vandals...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite; MIEC Index: 17.8 Change: 0.3.
April 20, 2009... Company 4/16/2009 4/9/2009 Wkly. % Chg. 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi % Chg. P/E Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 9.70 10.21 -5% 5.85 30.00 65.81% 11.87 Bank of America (BAC)10.48 9.57 10% 2.53 40.65 314.23% 18.84 Bank of Hawaii (BOH)35.90 35.29 2%...

Fidelity Ups Public Offering.
April 20, 2009... JACKSONVILLE, FL-Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial here has increased the size of its planned public offering to 15.8 million shares, pricing the stock at $19. Originally, it was slated to sell 13.3 million shares. The new...

Jaberi Joins Fannie Mae.
April 20, 2009... WASHINGTON-Javid Jaberi, a former senior vice president of servicing in charge of loss mitigation for Residential Capital Corp., has joined Fannie Mae, industry sources told National Mortgage News. Late last week, a Fannie official...

Ginnie HitsHighest MBS.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Amilda Dymi WASHINGTON-Ginnie Mae is keeping its stated promise to provide more liquidity to the housing finance market. In March alone, the Government National Mortgage Association issued a record $34.5 billion in...

HFAs: Clarification Needed for Unused GO Zone Tax Credits.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Peter Schroeder WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department should promptly clarify that unused Gulf Opportunity Zone low-income housing tax credits can be recaptured by states and reallocated to other "shovel-ready" projects, and that...

Irwin Sells Servicing to Green Tree.
April 20, 2009... WASHINGTON-Irwin Financial, which recently posted heavy losses on mortgage and home-equity lending, has sold $900 million in second-lien servicing rights to Green Tree Servicing LLC, St. Paul, Minn., for an undisclosed sum. Green Tree also...

Mortgages Hurt JPM Chase Net.
April 20, 2009... NEW YORK-Even though JPMorgan Chase earned $2.1 billion in the first quarter its consumer and mortgage lending group lost $389 million during the same period due to loan servicing and credit charges and higher mortgages costs tied to loan...

Mods Lowering Payments.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Brian Collins WASHINGTON-Federal banking regulators are starting to see better results when loan modifications end up lowering the homeowner's monthly payments, which could put more pressure on servicers to lower the interest rate...

OPEN FORUM: Making Homes Affordable.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Shaun Donovansecretary, Department Of Housing and Urban Development Mr. Donovan's prepared remarks at a mortgage fraud press conference in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. Foreclosure scams are destructive,...

PEOPLE.
April 20, 2009... DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington-The Mortgage Bankers Association named Michael Fratantoni vice president of single-family research and policy development. Mr. Fratantoni joins MBA from Washington Mutual where he was the economic...

Spike in SARs Points to Actual Increase in Crime.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins WASHINGTON-After claiming for years that bankers were filing ever more suspicious activity reports in response to regulatory pressure, experts are attributing the latest spike to a dramatic rise in actual financial...

Mortgages Up, But Total Lending is Down at TARP Banks.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins WASHINGTON-Bankers are making more mortgages but still drastically decreasing other types of consumer lending, according to a Treasury Department survey of the largest financial firms receiving government rescue...

UBS Planning More Layoffs.
April 20, 2009... ZURICH-UBS AG plans to eliminate 8,700 jobs, reducing its workforce by more than 11%, to cut costs after the company reported a first-quarter net loss of nearly $1.75 billion. In a speech at the company's annual general meeting here, group...

Loan Servicers Come Under Fire.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Harmon DALLAS-Tension is evident in the mortgage servicing industry and federal regulators along with state lawmakers and consumer protection groups are coming after servicers, according to speakers on the legislative...