National Mortgage News articles from December 2003

National Mortgage News archives from December 2003

Inside Track.
December 1, 2003... OPEN FORUM State and Federal Enforcement 4 EQUITIES Third Quarter Puts Ocwen in the Black Year-to-Date 8 COMMERCIAL MBA: Commercial and Multifamily Lending Set Record in Third Quarter 12 SPECIAL REPORT ...

$5B Freddie Restatement May Spark Legislation.
December 1, 2003... Mortgage banking giant Freddie Mac earned a record $10 billion last year, a feat that in normal times would land the company on the front page of most business sections. But the problem with Freddie Mac's $10 billion year is that the world...

The Freddie Restatement: The Year-By-Year Adjustments.
December 1, 2003... ($ in millions) Year As Prev Restated Dollar Ending Reported Net Change 2000 $2,547 $3,666 $1,119 2001 $4,147 $3,158 ($989) 2002 $5,764 $10,090 ...

Loan Limits to Jump 3.4% in 2004.
December 1, 2003... Higher-priced houses will be a little more affordable next year, thanks to a 3.4% increase in the conforming loan limit and an anticipated corresponding rise in the ceiling on government-insured mortgages. Effective Jan. 1, the limit on...

Top Ten Lenders '02: Mortgages Made to Minorities.
December 1, 2003... ($ in Mils) (part 1 of 2) Company Location Countrywide Hm Lns Rosemead, CA Washington Mutual Seattle, WA Wells Fargo Hm Mtg Des Moines, IA Bank of America Dallas, TX ...

Production Sets Record in Qtr.
December 1, 2003... First the good news: despite rising interest rates, residential lenders funded a record $1.2 trillion in mortgages during the third quarter. Now the bad news: rates likely will not revisit their late June/early July lows and the two-year...

Industry's Best Quarters.
December 1, 2003... ($ in billions) Rank Quarter Res Loans Funded 1 3Q 2003 $1,203 2 2Q 2003 $1,114 3 4Q 2002 $964 4 3Q 2002 $729 5 4Q 2001 $618...

Not Enough.
December 1, 2003... Lenders in the United States made $341 billion in first and second mortgages and home improvement loans to the nation's minorities last year, according to 2002 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. It's not enough. Considering that 7,700...

Doty: Parseghian May Have Unintentionally Misled Traders on Swap Deal.
December 1, 2003... Freddie Mac acting chief executive Greg Parseghian may have unintentionally misled Wall Street traders about the intent of a suspicious $10 billion swap transaction, according to the latest report of an internal investigation commissioned by...

Citi Buys WaMu Consumer Finance Unit, Independence Buys SIB.
December 1, 2003... Citigroup here has agreed to buy the Tampa, Fla.-based consumer lending unit of Washington Mutual for $1.25 billion. The Washington Mutual Finance subsidiary, which provides consumer installment loans and real estate-secured loans, has more...

At a Glance: Citi-WaMu Deal Throws Cold Water on Takeover Rumors.
December 1, 2003... Firm Open 11/25 Close 11/25 Change Percent Citi $46.74 $46.91 $0.17 0.36% WaMu $46.55 $44.95 ($1.60) -3.44% Source: Yahoo Finance Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc....

State and Federal Enforcement.
December 1, 2003... Ms. Howell recently addressed the Women in Housing and Finance Symposium in Washington, D.C. Excerpts of her remarks are presented as our Open Forum. The attempt by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to legislate field...

Rates Have Fallen, But Faith that the Economy Is Strengthening Persists.
December 1, 2003... The rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield has been trending lower (near 4.2% at press time last week) and mortgage rates have hit lows not seen since early October, but the market - for the most part - continues to act on expectations that...

Fannie and Freddie Respond to N.J. Law.
December 1, 2003... Fannie Mae has announced that it will not purchase high-cost subprime loans from New Jersey, New Mexico and Illinois, which are implementing new anti-predatory lending laws. Effective Nov. 27, mortgage loans "may not be delivered to us if...

New Century Plans to Make 60% Fewer Loans in N.J.
December 1, 2003... New Century Mortgage Corp. here expected to make 60% fewer loans in New Jersey after the state's predatory lending law took effect. (The law was slated to become official Nov. 27, the day after this newspaper went to press.) The subprime...

Continued Strength In Home Sales Seen.
December 1, 2003... Now that the economy is finally alive and well, the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors sees no reason why housing sales won't remain at high levels for the foreseeable future. Absent continued budget deficits, which he...

Third Quarter Puts Ocwen in the Black Year-to-Date.
December 1, 2003... Ocwen Financial Corp. reported net income of $4.6 million or $0.07 per share in the third quarter, sustaining the company's profitability on a year-to-date basis for 2003. For the first nine months of the year, the company, which turned a...

Mortgage Assets Give Impac's EPS a Boost.
December 1, 2003... Impac Mortgage holdings, a real estate investment trust, reported a 34% increase in third-quarter earnings per share fueled by growth in the company's mortgage assets. The company reported net earnings of $33.4 million in the third...

Study: Secondary Market's Evolution Played Key Role in Homeownership.
December 1, 2003... The emergence and consolidation of the U.S. secondary mortgage market through a combination of effective technological tools and financial products that have both expanded customer outreach and enhanced lender competition, has played a key role...

ACB and Habitat Form New Partnership.
December 1, 2003... America's Community Bankers has formed a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, whose goal is to have members collectively invest up to $500,000 annually in affordable housing for low- to moderate-income borrowers. The...

MBA: Commercial and Multifamily Lending Set Record in Third Quarter.
December 1, 2003... Commercial and multifamily mortgage lending set a new record during the third quarter at $29.7 billion, up from $29.5 billion for the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association has reported. Third-quarter 2003 originations are also up...

REITs Raise $17 Billion In Equity, Debt Offerings.
December 1, 2003... So far this year, real estate investment trusts have raised about $17 billion through offerings of common equity, preferred equity and senior debt, according to Jackson Hsieh, managing director, UBS. Mr. Hsieh - moderator of a panel session...

Related Capital Unit to Oversee Sales and Refinancing of AH Properties.
December 1, 2003... Related Capital has set up a unit, with Stephen D. Roger as senior vice president, to oversee the sales and refinancing of the firm's affordable housing properties that are expected to come on the market over the next few years. The unit...

Housing Demand for WTC Bonds Up.
December 1, 2003... An increasing proportion of the demand for Liberty Bonds is coming from those interested in building housing, said Frances Walton, the chief financial officer of the Empire State Development Corp. At their inception, Liberty Bonds were...

Prentiss Forms JV with Pension Fund.
December 1, 2003... Prentiss Properties Trust is forming a joint venture with a Netherlands-based pension fund to invest in class "A" office properties. The venture will invest up to $510 million in Prentiss' core markets in Washington, D.C., Northern...

Roundup: Fannie Adds Flexibility to Its 2004 Benchmark Note Calendar.
December 1, 2003... Fannie Mae's recently released Benchmark Securities issuance calendar for 2004 adds to the government-sponsored enterprise's lineup "flexibility features that allow the company to better gauge investor needs and demand for specific structures...

Fannie Prices Subordinate Notes.
December 1, 2003... Fannie Mae here has priced $1.5 billion of 5.125% 10-year Subordinated Benchmark Notes at 99.180. The issue (CUSIP 31359MTP8), due Jan. 2, 2014, yields 5.231% at a spread of 92 basis points over the 4.250% Treasury due in August 2013. ...

Sizing up the Rating Agencies.
December 1, 2003... The number of residential mortgage-backed securities ratings handled by each of the three major rating agencies has been roughly equal, but there are differences in the way all three operate, according to a Nov. 6 National Economic Research...

GreenPoint Mortgage Begins Using Fidelity Loan Origination Software.
December 1, 2003... GreenPoint Mortgage, Novato, Calif., a national nonconforming lender, has successfully deployed the Empower! loan origination software offered by Fidelity Business Systems Group, a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc. here. ...

Ellie Mae Partners With PCi Corp.
December 1, 2003... Ellie Mae Inc., a national provider of desktop and Web-enabled productivity solutions and software for third-party mortgage originators, has formed a strategic partnership with Boston-based PCi Corp., to integrate that firm's WizBasic, a...

Appraisal Services/AVMs: Enhancing the Model.
December 1, 2003... In the old days, it was a standard procedure that involved filling out a standard form in a traditional way that generally cost the lender a week or two. For years, getting the property valuation has been the limiting factor on how fast the...

LandSafe Launches ValueFinder Plus Collateral Tool.
December 1, 2003... Alternatives to the standard real estate appraisal have been gaining some traction in the mortgage business. Automated valuation models are cheaper and faster than traditional appraisals. With the expected rise in home equity lending coming in...

eAppraiseIT Releases New Product.
December 1, 2003... eAppraiseIT LLC here, a national provider of real estate valuation services and a joint venture between The First American Corp. and Land America Financial Group has released its new collateral valuation score. The industry has witnessed a...

CSW Announces Expanded Service Options for its CASA AVM Product.
December 1, 2003... Case Shiller Weiss, Boston, a unit of Fiserv Inc., has added three new service options for its CASA valuation platform. The platform provides automated valuation models that home equity lenders use to quickly gauge the suitability of collateral...

OnePointCity Adds Freddie HVE Product.
December 1, 2003... OnePointCity, the Web-based settlement system from Geotrac here has added Freddie Mac's automated valuation model, Home Value Explorer, to its array of online products and services. Home Value Explorer combines public record data from the three...

GMACCM Sorting Out Its WTC Mortgage.
December 1, 2003... Two years after GMACCM made an unfortuitous $563 million commercial mortgage loan backed by the World Trade Center complex, the lender is close to getting its money back and disentangling themselves from the deal. The Port Authority of New...

FTC Files Lawsuit vs. AmeriDebt.
December 1, 2003... The Federal Trade Commission has sued a consumer debt-counseling firm, AmeriDebt, for misrepresenting its fees and other deceptive practices. According to the FTC complaint, the Germantown, Md., firm claimed it did not charge an upfront...

Household, ACORN Seek to Settle Suit.
December 1, 2003... Household International Inc., the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and a group of borrowers have announced a proposed settlement of a nationwide class-action lawsuit involving the mortgage lending practices of Household's...

GE To Spin Off MI, Other Insurance Units.
December 1, 2003... General Electric plans to spin off its life and mortgage insurance units into a separate publicly traded, $10 billion company called Genworth Financial. GE, which exited the residential origination/servicing business more than two years...

PMI Firms Ranked by New Policies Written (Q3/03).
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Mortgage Guaranty Ins. Milwaukee, WI 2 PMI Group San Francisco, CA 3 United Guaranty Greensboro, NC...

PMI Firms Ranked by No. Policies Written (Q3/03).
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Mortgage Guaranty Ins. Milwaukee, WI 2 PMI Group San Francisco, CA 3 United Guaranty Greensboro, NC...

'Don't Invite Skepticism on MSR Values'.
December 1, 2003... With the SEC and other regulators paying closer attention to corporate accounting than ever before, lenders need to make sure that their methods for valuing mortgage servicing rights don't invite skepticism, according to a Deloitte audit...

'1st American First to Market with Purchase Money Bundle'.
December 1, 2003... Responding to expected RESPA reform and the growing demand for one-fee mortgages, First American Corp. here has just introduced "the mortgage industry's first consolidated bundle of products and services to complete home purchase transactions."...

Despite Ruling, RESPA Sec. 8 Suits Expected to Continue.
December 1, 2003... In a victory for the mortgage industry, a federal judge here ruled recently that RESPA's Section 8 does not prohibit originators from profiting from unearned fees, so long as these fees are not split with another company. But while this is the...

NAHB Index Fell to 69 from 72 in Month.
December 1, 2003... The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index fell to 69 for November from 72 in October. The October number was the highest point the index had been in nearly four years, NAHB said. The index is compiled from the results...

GMAC Launches 'BuilderPower'.
December 1, 2003... GMAC Mortgage has launched a new program where it partners with builders to provide loans for buyers of newly constructed homes, the company said. The company is positive about the prospects of its new product, after running what it described...

Refis Helped Fannie Raise G-Fees 10%.
December 1, 2003... The refinancing boom has allowed Fannie Mae to raise its guarantee fees by 10% over the last seven quarters, while its credit losses remained miniscule. The average effective guarantee fee rate on its outstanding mortgage-backed securities...

Martinez News Sparks RESPA Action.
December 1, 2003... News that housing secretary Mel Martinez is seriously considering a run for a Senate seat in his home state of Florida has set off a flurry of action on the RESPA front. Major lending and housing groups suddenly became concerned that the...

Freddie Mac Shareholder Relations Director Leaves.
December 1, 2003... Freddie Mac's director of shareholder relations, Robert Weiss, has left the company, NMN has learned. But why he left appears to be a question that the beleaguered secondary market giant will not answer. A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said it...

OFHEO Launches Fannie Accounting Review.
December 1, 2003... As part of its special review of Fannie Mae's accounting policies and practices, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has sent the secondary market giant an extensive, three-page document request letter. The letter, dated...

Freddie '03 Results Coming in Midyear '04.
December 1, 2003... When Freddie Mac unveiled its long-awaited earnings restatement for the 2000-2002 period, it had a surprise for the market - that it would not release any quarterly or annual results for 2003 until midyear 2004. It had other surprises as...

Congress Passes Flood Extension, Etc.
December 1, 2003... In a mad legislative rush, Congress has passed a flood insurance extension and made important progress on a housing bill before leaving town for the Thanksgiving break. Congress agreed on a three-month extension of the National Flood Insurance...

Conforming Loan Limits.
December 1, 2003... Year Loan Limits 1980 $93,750 1981 98,500 1982 107,000 1983 108,300 1984 114,000 1985 115,300 1986 133,250 1987 153,100 1988 168,700 1989 ...

Freddie Mac Mortgage Holdings/Purchases.
December 1, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (2002-2003) (part 1 of 2) Year/ Total Retailed PCs Held in Portfolio Month Portfolio Portfolio Growth Rate(1) Oct-02 $536,389 $327,295 ...

Thrifts Originate a Record $200 Billion+.
December 1, 2003... The strong purchase and refinancing activity in the third quarter pushed thrift originations of 1-4 family loans above the $200 billion mark for the first time. The Office of Thrift Supervision reported that originations jumped from $198.8...

'Little Has Changed in Thrift Industry'.
December 1, 2003... Little has changed in the thrift industry, OTS director James E. Gilleran told reporters at the America's Community Bankers annual convention here. He noted that OTS' recent survey ratified "the same results we came up with the last time we did...

Carlton Marketing $141MM in Loans.
December 1, 2003... Loan sale advisor Carlton Advisory Services here has been selected by an undisclosed institutional seller to market $141 million of performing residential mortgages. The loans are backed by properties in the United States and are primarily...

Inside Track.
December 8, 2003... OPEN FORUM A Look at Rental Housing 4 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Fannie Mae, PMI Promise to Fund $50B In AH through Year-end '06 10 TECHNOLOGY E*Trade Financial Launches Online Mortgage Shopping Tool 11 SERVICING ...

Martinez Departure 'Kills RESPA Reform'.
December 8, 2003... Housing secretary Mel Martinez is expected to announce his resignation as early as this week so he can run for the Senate, a move that will, for now, end RESPA reform, industry lobbyists told National Mortgage News. It's anticipated that...

Final Two for Freddie CEO.
December 8, 2003... A Freddie Mac search committee has presented its board with two final candidates for the company's CEO job, sources said late last week. However, U.S. trade representative, Robert Zoellick, a former Fannie Mae executive who is said to be...

A New Number One Subprime Firm?
December 8, 2003... The privately held Ameriquest Mortgage of Orange, Calif., may very well be the big kahuna of subprime lending, but company officials are still being shy about its production numbers. According to exclusive subprime origination rankings...

Subprime Residential Lending Volume Leaders (Q3/03).
December 8, 2003... ($ in Mils) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 New Century Fin'l Irvine, CA 2 Ameriquest Mtg (E) Orange, CA 3 Household Fin'l (E) (1) Prospect Hts, IL 4 ...

Top 10 Lender Being Shopped.
December 8, 2003... Cendant Mortgage Corp. here, a top 10 mortgage banker, is quietly being shopped around by its owners, industry sources told National Mortgage News. "The origination, servicing and relocation businesses are for sale," said one official...

Countrywide May Have Appetite for Deals in Wake of Refinancing Boom.
December 8, 2003... Countrywide Financial Corp., which has long heralded its "organic" growth strategy, may be ready to go shopping in the M&A market. Speaking at a Friedman Billings Ramsey investors conference last week, Countrywide senior managing director...

Bill Would Exempt High-Cost States.
December 8, 2003... Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., has introduced legislation to increase the conforming loan limit in states with significantly higher housing costs. Under the measure, which has been endorsed by 20 co-sponsors, including House Minority Leader...

OFHEO Gets Budget Boost for GSE Investigation.
December 8, 2003... House and Senate conferees have agreed to provide increased funding for special investigations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's accounting problems. But they also decided to drop a Senate-passed provision that would have authorized the...

Ticking Away.
December 8, 2003... The subprime delinquency numbers are shocking, a ticking time bomb that needs to be addressed before the inevitable explosion. At Fairbanks Capital Corp. of Salt Lake City. At the nation's top subprime servicer, more than one in every four...

A Look at Rental Housing.
December 8, 2003... Gov. Gramlich recently spoke at a meeting on rental housing hosted by the MacArthur Foundation in Washington. Excerpts of his remarks are presented as our Open Forum. When Americans think of housing, they usually think of homeownership....

Rate-Indicative Bond Yield Returns to Where It Was Before Dip.
December 8, 2003... The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond had rebounded at press time early last Thursday and was back in the 4.4% range, influenced by indicators showing economic strength. The 10-year first returned to this relatively higher yield range...

Banks Unloading Mortgage Assets.
December 8, 2003... Commercial banks dumped mortgage-backed securities in the third quarter and slowed the rapid growth of their 1-4 family loan portfolios as mortgage interest rates rose during the summer. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported that...

NAR: Keeping Banks Out a Legislative Victory - But 'It Ain't Over Yet'.
December 8, 2003... Soon to be a million members strong, the politically powerful National Association of Realtors gave itself a huge legislative pat on the back here at its annual convention. "It's been a very active and successful year," Gary Weaver, NAR's...

NC Issues Guidance On Net Branching.
December 8, 2003... North Carolina has issued very restrictive guidance on "net branching" which is expected to lead to a crackdown on mortgage bankers or brokers who maintain loose affiliations with loan officers who operate out of their homes. A declaratory...

Freddie, Fannie Executives: Realtors Key to Reaching the Underserved.
December 8, 2003... If primary lenders believe Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold the key to reaching emerging markets, who do the secondary market giants think of as pivotal to expand homeownership to the underserved? The nation's two million licensed real...

DVA's REO 'Open to All'.
December 8, 2003... Realty brokers of every stripe are being welcomed with open arms by the new manager of the Department of Veterans Affairs' extensive portfolio of foreclosed properties. "We welcome any broker," Dan Harper, vendor manager at Ocwen Realty...

Fannie Mae, PMI Promise to Fund $50 Billion in AH through Year-end '06.
December 8, 2003... Fannie Mae, in an unprecedented partnership with PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Walnut Creek, Calif., has pledged to provide $50 billion in affordable housing financing through the end of 2006. If in the recent past the mortgage industry has...

Fannie Tailors Loan Options To Serve Hispanics.
December 8, 2003... Fannie Mae has enhanced mortgage options which are expected to better serve "the unique homebuying needs of Hispanics and others previously underserved by the mortgage industry." Enhanced products - including Fannie's MyCommunityMortgage...

E*Trade Financial Launches Online Mortgage Shopping Tool.
December 8, 2003... E*Trade Financial Corp. has launched "Fair Compare," a Web-based mortgage shopping tool that it says allows consumers to objectively and anonymously compare the total package price of any lender's mortgage offer to a similar loan product...

DataSync Integrated Into DataTrac System.
December 8, 2003... DocsDirect here has integrated its Internet-based DataSync solution into San Diego-based Del Mar Database's DataTrac, enabling users of the DataTrac system to directly access the closing document solution. DocsDirect's DataSync...

First Horizon Scrutinizing MSR Values in Its Origination-Side Decisions.
December 8, 2003... At First Horizon Home Loans, the quality of mortgage servicing rights is playing an increasingly important role in decisions made at the time of loan origination. That's because the company has started tracking origination sources,...

Putting Disaster Preparedness to the Test.
December 8, 2003... Employees of National Closing Solutions here faced an unwelcome visitor on Monday, Nov. 17, when a flurry of tornadoes touched down in the Houston area. One of the twisters ripped the roof right off their top floor office space, sending...

Roundup: Spanish Securitization Market Seen Going Beyond Mortgages.
December 8, 2003... The Spanish securitization market has begun to diversify into non-mortgage assets, a representative of the law firm Baker & McKenzie said at a recent conference the firm held here. However, the representative expects that residential...

Brascan Eyeing Canary Wharf.
December 8, 2003... Brascan Corp. has proposed to acquire Canary Wharf Group PLC, London, on behalf of CWG Acquisition Ltd., and although so far its proposed offers have been met with resistance on the part of most Canary Wharf investors, two group of minority...

PMI Completes Novel Deal.
December 8, 2003... PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Ltd. here has completed its largest German credit enhancement transaction to date.The total pool of residential mortgages insured was about $1.61 billion, PMI said. The transaction includes the assumption of...

Simon Forms JV with Italian Firm.
December 8, 2003... Simon Property Group plans to make an initial equity investment of about 182 million euros (approximately $214 million) in a commercial real estate venture it has agreed to form with Italy's Rinascente Group. The venture's initial value is...