National Mortgage News articles from August 2006

National Mortgage News archives from August 2006

Inside Track.
August 7, 2006... EDITORIAL The Road Back 4 OPEN FORUM The Need for Guidance 4 STREET SMARTS Rates Slide Lower 5 EQUITIES Earnings 10 INTERNATIONAL Slowing Down Down Under 11 ...

Preliminary: Production Down 2%.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage bankers saw their residential fundings decline by about 2% in the second quarter, according to preliminary survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News. Based on results of about 30 lenders, mortgage firms of all...

Residential Originators in Q2 '06 (Sample).
August 7, 2006... ($ in Millions) Origination Volume % Organization Name Location Q2 06 Q2 05 Change 1st National Bank Tempe, AZ $1,716 ...

Freddie Sets Temporary Portfolio Limits.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- First Fannie Mae, and now Freddie Mac, has agreed with its regulator to limit the growth of its giant mortgage portfolio for at least a year, if not longer, while it fixes its accounting systems and internal controls. The...

Wachovia/GWF: Leaders Named.
August 7, 2006... CHARLOTTE, NC -- Wachovia Corp. here has named its leadership team for the organization following its pending acquisition of Golden West Financial Corp. The retail mortgage and credit group will be headed up by Jim Judd, currently...

Lowrie Sells GF Stake.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Is Regina Lowrie the latest in a long line of housing industry leaders who lost their businesses while stumping the countryside on behalf of their colleagues? Not at all, says the chair of the Mortgage Bankers Association, who...

CHL Warning on Resets.
August 7, 2006... Seventy-five percent of his payment option borrowers choose the one with the cheapest mortgage payment, Countrywide Home Loans' chairman and chief executive said in Blaine, Wash. And that worries him enough that Countrywide has written a letter...

Freddie Mac: First Quarter Was a Good One for Mortgage-Backeds.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac said last week that its mortgage-backed securities business picked up in the first half of this year and it turned a $1.3 billion profit in the first quarter. "We have increased our credit guarantee business by about...

Blumenthal to Leave GSE Regulator: The former Schwab Capital Markets executive plans to return to the private sector in the fall.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Stephen Blumenthal, who ran the special examinations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said he intends to leave his post at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and return to the private sector this fall. The...

FHFB May Amend Capital Move.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Housing Finance Board seems determined to move ahead with proposed capital changes, but some amendments appear to be in the works to make it more acceptable to FHLBank members. Finance Board chairman Ronald...

PA Regulator Plans to Leave.
August 7, 2006... HARRISBURG, PA -- William Schenck III is resigning as Pennsylvania's secretary of banking, effective Aug. 15. Mr. Schenck is leaving to take a private-sector leadership position in his hometown of Pittsburgh. "Bill Schenck's skill and...

Changing of the Guard Seen at Fannie's Multifamily Lending Unit.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Fannie Mae has appointed Phillip Weber to head up its multifamily lending area, taking over from Richard Lawch, National Mortgage News has learned from a multifamily source that participates in Fannie Mae's Delegated Underwriting...

Editorial: The Road Back.(Editorial)
August 7, 2006... The overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives to revamp the Federal Housing Administration is a great first step in getting this reliable but shopworn institution back on its feet. The 415-7 tally gives FHA and its secondary market...

Open Forum: The Need for Guidance.
August 7, 2006... Excerpts of Mr. Walsh's remarks before the National Housing Advisory Council in Washington are presented as our Open Forum. We are delighted when the industry finds new and creative ways to put people into homes. Our concern is ensuring...

Mortgage Rates Slide Lower on GDP; Market Eyes Freddie's Cap.
August 7, 2006... Mortgage rates and the rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield were trending lower early last Thursday morning at press time, following uncertainty in the market about whether federal policymakers would continue to raise rates or not. The...

CMBS Viewed as Strong in First Half but May Slow in Second Half.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities continued strong for the first half of 2006, at over $88 billion (according to RBS Greenwich Capital), following record issuance for 2005 of over $167 billion. And issuance of...

PA Seeks Input On Conduct.
August 7, 2006... HARRISBURG, PA -- The Pennsylvania Department of Banking is inviting comment on its proposed regulations delineating what constitutes proper conduct for licensees under the Mortgage Bankers and Brokers and Consumer Equity Protection Act, the...

RPM Offering Reverse Loans.
August 7, 2006... ALAMO, CA -- Residential Pacific Mortgage, a family-owned mortgage bank and broker here, recently launched a reverse mortgage program led by Thomas Perkins, an industry veteran. "Baby boomers are redefining retirement - it's now an active...

MoneyLine Lending Services to Become Part of Genpact.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Genpact, formerly GE Capital International Services, has agreed to acquire MoneyLine Lending Services, Irvine, Calif., a provider of end-to-end mortgage origination and fulfillment services. MoneyLine will become part of Genpact...

Flagstar Bancorp Sees Its Net Earnings Inch Up During Quarter.
August 7, 2006... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp Inc. reported 2006 second-quarter net earnings of $28.6 million, or $0.44 per share. For the six months ended June 30, 2006 net earnings totaled $47.6 million, or $0.74 per share. For the 2005 second quarter,...

Thornburg Was a Steady Gainer.
August 7, 2006... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage Inc. experienced steady gains in the second quarter with an increase in overall mortgage originations. Highlights from the second-quarter results at Thornburg include mortgage originations of $1.4 billion,...

Property Sales Boost REIT's Net.
August 7, 2006... CHICAGO -- Equity Residential listed net income of about $150 million for the second quarter (earnings of $0.51 per share), compared to net income of about $128 million ($0.44 per share) in the second quarter of 2005. The largest...

Equity Office Properties Improves.
August 7, 2006... CHICAGO -- Equity Office Properties Trust generated net income of $87.9 million (earnings per share of $0.24) for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $205.4 million (loss per share of $0.50) for the comparable period of 2005. For...

Housing Effort Goes Global.
August 7, 2006... MINNEAPOLIS -- Residential Capital Corp. and Habitat for Humanity are joining in a worldwide effort to create additional homeownership opportunities for families in need through the construction of more than 20 new homes in 2006. ResCap,...

AET Completes DeWAG Deal.
August 7, 2006... DENVER -- Archstone-Smith subsidiary Archstone Europe Trading BV has completed its purchase of the majority of Deutsche WohnAnlage GmbH for about $649 million. "We continue to see opportunity in the German residential real estate market,...

PMI: Some Area Prices Climb Despite Slowdown Seen Down Under.
August 7, 2006... WALNUT CREEK, CA -- Australia's residential property market is overall seeing a slight slowdown, but some parts of the country are still seeing price growth, according to the annual Australian Residential Property Overview by global mortgage...

WNS Prices IPO for NYSE Shares.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- WNS (Holdings) Ltd., the parent company of a provider of offshore business process outsourcing services for the mortgage industry and others, has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an...

Bourne End Sells RE in England: The property was developed in the 1960s and is slated to become part of a regional redevelopment.
August 7, 2006... PORTLAND, OR -- Bourne End Properties PLC has sold a 42-retail-unit shopping center in Speke, England, according to its corporate parent Fog Cutter Capital Group Inc. here. Speke is located eight miles to the southeast of Liverpool. The...

Firm Finances Buyers Abroad.
August 7, 2006... CHICAGO -- James Monroe Capital Corp. here has created a platform to support U.S. mortgage lenders that are interested in funding American borrowers in selected foreign countries. "The new platform will allow lenders... to enter into new...

Promotion Spotlight: David Craig.
August 7, 2006... Mr. Craig has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Archive Systems, Fairfield, N.J. He was previously chief operating officer of international enterprise staffing software company Virtual Edge. (c) 2006 National Mortgage...

Amoro's Taylor: Affordability Niche Provides a Constant Demand.
August 7, 2006... NASHVILLE, TN -- At 23, Ephren W. Taylor II, America's youngest African-American CEO of a public company, already has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience, part of which is developing affordable housing in urban areas. Mr. Taylor...

Fund's Effort Designed to Assist 'Forgotten' Hurricane Victims.
August 7, 2006... FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- Innovative investment efforts are being made to provide affordable housing for hurricane victims. A mutual fund, CRA Qualified Investment Fund, has launched the Charlotte County Hurricane Housing Recovery Program, a...

BrooksAmerica Rolls Out Automated Pricing: 'The prior system was great for brokers that knew us, but this makes it seamless to new brokers.'.
August 7, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- With volume shrinking, more lenders are looking to be as transparent to brokers as possible. The most recent example of this trend is BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp., a direct wholesale mortgage lender, which has launched a new...

Roundup: Some Initial Interest PCs to Be Freddie REMIC Eligible.
August 7, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac has made changes to its eligibility requirements for its real estate mortgage investment conduit program starting with August settlements. Initial Interest fixed-rate Gold participation certificates with the...

Minimum Servicing fees lowered.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered the minimum servicing fees required on mortgage-backed security deals containing prime residential mortgage loans. S&P said the revised minimum fees are based on surveys of...

CIT HE certificates downgraded.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Seven certificates from two CIT Home Equity Loan Trust subprime mortgage deals have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades in series 2002-1 were as follows: class MF-1, from Aa2 to Aa3; class MF-2, from A2...

Six New Century Classes lowered.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Six classes from transactions originated by New Century Mortgage Corp. have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades from securitizations issued by Asset Backed Securities Corp. were as follows: series...

Luminent puts shelf in place.
August 7, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Luminent Mortgage Capital Inc. has put a $2.5 billion Securities and Exchange Commission shelf registration for securitization in place under the name Lares Asset Securitization Inc. "With our own securitization shelf in...

Long Beach Class Grades Slip.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Eight classes from four issues of subprime Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust residential mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: series 2001-4 group 1, class I-M2, from BB...

Fitch Downgrades SACO I Class.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- One class of SACO I Trust second-lien mortgage-backed securities has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and four classes have been placed on Rating Watch Negative. Class B-4 of series 2005-2 was downgraded from BB to B, and the...

RASC Home Equity Ratings Fall.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Eight classes from two Residential Asset Securities Corp. home equity transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: RASC series 2001-KS2 group 1, class M-I-1, from AA-minus to A-minus, class...

Roundup: SMHG Closes New York Mortgage-Backed Bond Unit.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Sanders Morris Harris Group Inc., Houston, has made plans to close most of the fixed-income activities it staffed with former Advest bond department employees at the end of 2005 and exit the agency mortgage-backed and high-grade...

RCC Prices first CRE CDO.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Resource Capital Corp. has priced its first commercial real estate collateralized debt obligation, Resource Real Estate Funding CDO 2006-1 Ltd. The CDO is comprised of $265.6 million of non-recourse notes with ratings that...

ABSC Ratings Change.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Five classes of Asset Backed Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and two classes have been removed from Rating Watch Negative. The downgrades were as follows: series...

GS Class Rating Downgraded.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class K-PR of GS Mortgage Securities Corp. II commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2005-VII, has been downgraded from Ba1 to B1 by Moody's Investors Service. Class K-PR is supported solely by the Pittsburgh...

CharterMac and IXIS Join Forces to Start Centerbrook Financial: Centerbrook is looking to provide credit intermediation services for junior and senior pieces on mortgages.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- CharterMac, a multifamily and commercial real estate finance company, has launched Centerbrook Financial, a provider of credit intermediation products, in partnership with IXIS Capital Markets. Centerbrook will be a provider...

Lexington Purchasing Newkirk: The combined company will own interests in more than 350 properties located across 44 states.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Lexington Corporate Properties Trust, an office real estate investment trust, is acquiring Newkirk Realty Trust, Boston, to form Lexington Realty Trust, a $4.6 billion REIT focused on single-tenant office properties. The...

One Exec Looks at the Implications of Using SQL: 'When talking about SQL, the alternative is to store information in a separate file on a hard disk.'.
August 7, 2006... KIRKLAND, WA -- As more technology companies look to improve their systems and move to create centralized databases, Microsoft's SQL Server seems to be a choice that most vendors are embracing and lenders should look at the implications there...

Combining TV, Web to Increase Homeownership.
August 7, 2006... SEATTLE -- HomeTeam started as a TV show dedicated to getting a first-time homeowner into a house. Now the company has expanded to become a utility for potential homeowners by adding a website and an online university to its product offering...

People.
August 7, 2006... CALIFORNIA Pasadena-IndyMac Bank has added some new members to its mortgage bank. Paul Saurbier comes to IndyMac from Decision One Mortgage as a first vice president for the Wholesale Lending Division's Chicago region. Prior to...

SL Green Buying Reckson Associates.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- SL Green Realty Corp., an office real estate investment trust, is acquiring Reckson Associates Realty Corp., another office REIT based in the New York area, for about $6 billion, including the assumption of about $2 billion of...

Rising Rates Seen Dampening CRE Investment: 'The balance of power seems to be shifting slightly in favor of buyers.'.
August 7, 2006... PARSIPPANY, NJ -- Rising long-term interest rates, and "lofty" asset values, are finally having a dampening effect on commercial real estate investment activity, according to Prudential Real Estate Investors' midyear 2006 outlook report. ...

JER/Longhouse Buy of JI Among Going-Private Deals.
August 7, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- In another going-private deal in the real estate investment trust sector, JER Partners, the private equity investment unit of The J.E. Robert Cos., has acquired Jameson Inns, in a joint venture with Longhouse Hospitality, for a...

Prudential RE Unit Raises $700 Million for RE Fund.
August 7, 2006... PARSIPPANY, NJ -- Prudential Real Estate Investors has raised about $700 million for its PRECO III real estate opportunity fund, the Prudential Financial associate said. And by tapping into additional debt financing, the fund has $2.7...

First Industrial Forms Venture With California Pension Fund.
August 7, 2006... CHICAGO -- First Industrial Realty Trust, an industrial real estate investment trust, has formed a $950 million joint venture with the California State Teachers' Retirement System, the California public pension fund. The venture will...

Regulatory Move Affects GMAC Deal: 'GM and GMAC are now working ... to consider ways to try and avoid delaying the targeted closing date.'.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart's regulatory battle to get an industrial loan company has created a glitch in closing a $14 billion deal by a consortium to acquire a 51% stake in General Motors Acceptance Corp. GMAC controls the nation's...

Bear Stearns Class Sees Lower Rating.
August 7, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M-7 of Bear Stearns Asset-Backed Securities series 2005-2 has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on seven other classes in the deal. The Rating Watch placement...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
August 7, 2006... MIEC Index: 152.3 Change: 4.3 Company 7/27/2006 8/3/2006 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi From Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 28.96 30.22...

Senate Leaves Two Bills Unpassed: Sen. Shelby continues to press for tougher GSE legislation. Two senators placed a hold on the flood bill.
August 7, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Senate left town last week for a month-long recess without passing a GSE regulatory reform bill or a flood insurance reform bill. The House has already passed a bill to strengthen regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

Publicly Traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
August 7, 2006... B&C Stock Price Index: 222.1 Change: 3.1 Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 8/3/2006 Wkly. %Chg. P/E % Chg. From Ratio Aames (AIC) 4.67 ...

Inside Track.
August 14, 2006... EDITORIAL Preventing Fraud 4 OPEN FORUM OFHEO on the GSEs 4 STREET SMARTS Market Buzzing 5 TECHNOLOGY Choosing a Docs Vendor 6 COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES Apartments...

Morgan Buys Saxon for $706MM.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- Wall Street's interest in acquiring mortgage originators picked up steam as Morgan Stanley here said it will acquire nonprime originator and servicer Saxon Capital in a deal valued at $706 million, or $14.10 per share, in cash. ...

'Lesser Role For GSEs'.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not likely to regain their former dominance over the secondary mortgage market, a blueprint for the future prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of lending industry leaders suggests. The Council to...

Fannie Checks Out Subprime.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae executives are upbeat about completing a restatement by the end of this year and they are looking forward to entering the subprime market to "remain relevant to their customers." Fannie president and chief...

California Looks to Snitch Squad.
August 14, 2006... SAN JOSE, CA -- The California real estate commissioner called on mortgage brokers to tell regulators when they see a problem with another originator. There has been tremendous growth in the number of real estate licensees in California,...

Katrina One Year Later.
August 14, 2006... Nearly one year after a series of hurricanes devastated the Gulf Coast, the storms remain a hot topic for servicers who met in Las Vegas recently for the Western States Loan Servicing Conference. In part, that is because moratoriums on...

Freddie Mac Eyes Opportunities to Buy Small Multifamily Loans.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac is trying to build its knowledge base and infrastructure to buy small multifamily loans on a flow and bulk basis, but currently it is purchasing these assets via commercial mortgage-backed securities. Freddie is a...

CFC, LEND Spark Stock Sell-Off.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- A drop in loan volume at Countrywide and a lower profit forecast from Accredited Home Lenders appear to have sparked a sell-off in mortgage stocks last week. On Aug. 9, Countrywide said that its mortgage loan fundings totaled...

New LOS Helps Bank Add Products.
August 14, 2006... LOUISVILLE, KY -- To more efficiently provide consumer, home-equity and commercial loan products that meet its customers' needs, Republic Bank & Trust Co. here has elected to implement a new loan origination system. In an effort to...

Lenders Still Worried about FHA Indemnities.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Lenders continue to gripe that the Federal Housing Administration is to "too quick" to require reimbursement on loans that go bad, even though HUD's Office of Inspector General has modified its approach to indemnification over the...

Editorial: Preventing Mortgage Fraud.(Editorial)
August 14, 2006... We heard a good idea recently that may help crack down on the epidemic of mortgage fraud that seems to be sweeping across the industry. Chuck Cross, director of consumer services for the Washington Department of Financial Institutions,...

Open Forum: The Need For GSE Reform, Now: Mr. Lockhart's remarks at a recent panel discussion on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hosted by Reuters in New York are presented as our Open Forum.(Discussion)
August 14, 2006... The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight just celebrated its 13th anniversary. It may sound strange from someone who has only been director for two months, but I hope it will be OFHEO's last anniversary. As I will discuss, and as both...

Market Buzzes as Fed Halts, Wall Street/Main Street Lenders Move.
August 14, 2006... The market at press time last Thursday morning was abuzz not only with discussions of how the Fed's inaction and a foiled terrorist plot were pressuring mortgage rates and rate-indicative bond yields lower, but also with developments reflecting...

The Ins and Outs of Choosing a Document Vendor.
August 14, 2006... PORTLAND, OR -- Given that more investors are coming online with e-mortgage specifications, the need to embrace electronic delivery is becoming mainstream. However, sometimes when dealing with the different doc delivery vendors, it can be hard...

Regulator: National Registry for Lenders Could Benefit Industry.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- In streamlining the licensing process for mortgage lenders and brokers, state regulators want to develop a Web-based registry that is a useful tool for the industry, too. One benefit could be to expedite the wholesaler-broker...

'Fraud Comes in Many Forms'.
August 14, 2006... SAN JOSE, CA -- National Association of Mortgage Brokers president Harry Dinham told attendees at the California Association of Mortgage Brokers annual convention "fraud comes in many forms and has been around for some time." During his speech...

OT Issue Affects Brokers, Too: A 'willful' violation Of FLSA could cause a broker to pay an employee two or three years of back pay.
August 14, 2006... SAN JOSE, CA -- The issue of overtime and minimum wage not only affects large lenders, but mortgage brokers as well, an attorney told attendees at the California Association of Mortgage Brokers annual convention here. The penalties, either...

Rep. Ney Drops Re-Election Bid amid Scandal.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who chairs a housing panel and became enmeshed in a lobbying scandal, said last week that he has stopped campaigning for re-election and plans to step down at the end of his term in January. "After much...

Conseco Settles Dispute with IRS.
August 14, 2006... CARMEL, IN -- Conseco Inc. here made a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service regarding how the net operating loss characterized in its former Conseco Finance subsidiary has been finalized. When Conseco filed for bankruptcy, it was...

Survey Says Apartment Lending Environment Remains Favorable.
August 14, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Apartment markets continue to improve, according to a quarterly survey by the National Multi Housing Council, but multifamily sales transactions are down. And even though interest rates have been going up, most respondents...

Gramercy Raises $1 Billion in Deal.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- Gramercy Capital Corp., a commercial mortgage originator and investor, is coming out with a $1 billion commercial real estate collateralized debt obligation with a 10-year term. Gramercy reports that the company will utilize the...

Roundup: Valuations Undermine Some Securities.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- Classes K through O of GMAC Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc. commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2004-C3, have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The rating actions were attributed to a...

CSFB Class Downgraded.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service has downgraded one class from a transaction issued by Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage in 2002 and placed one class from another deal under review for possible downgrade. Class B-F of Credit Suisse...

DLJ Deal on Review.
August 14, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M of DLJ Mortgage Acceptance Corp. series 1996-QA has been placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's said the action was based on the weak performance of the underlying loans, whose...