National Mortgage News articles from December 2004

National Mortgage News archives from December 2004

Inside Track.
December 6, 2004... EDITORIAL Tech Innovations 4 OPEN FORUM Preventing Fraud 4 STREET SMARTS Rates Rise 5 B/C MORTGAGES Delta Takes A Hit 10 TECHNOLOGY Paperclip Gains Steam 14 NEW HOME SALES UP ...

Second Liens Threaten MIs As Piggyback Mortgages Boom.
December 6, 2004... Just how hot is the "piggyback" loan market? According to a brand-new study, some 41% of new, first-lien mortgages are now packaged with home-equity loans. According to a report released by Morgan Stanley, the soaring popularity of...

Top Residential 2nd Lien Lenders in Q3 2004.
December 6, 2004... ($ in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Bank of America Charlotte, NC 2 Chase Home Finance Edison, NJ 3 Washington Mutual ...

Fed Sees Softening Prices.
December 6, 2004... The Federal Reserve Board's periodic report on economic conditions is picking up some softening in home prices. "A slight cooling in the pace of home sales dampened home price increases in some markets," according to the Fed's "Beige...

Ocwen Dumps Thrift Status.
December 6, 2004... Ocwen Federal Bank FSB, West Palm Beach, Fla., has filed an application with its regulator to turn in its federal thrift charter, a move that will prohibit it from taking deposits in the U.S. Ocwen Federal, a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial,...

$359,650 Loan Limit for 2005.
December 6, 2004... The conforming loan limit for one-unit dwellings in 2005 will be $359,650. But as usual, many lenders aren't waiting until the new year to take advantage of the 7.8% increase in the ceiling, which is currently $333,700. Countrywide...

Average Home Prices on the Rise.
December 6, 2004... October 2003 $243,800 November $246,700 December $233,900 January 2004 $241,800 February $248,000 March $250,600 April $262,100 May $261,000 ...

Builders Don't See Disaster.
December 6, 2004... Little evidence of oversupply in the homebuilding industry proves that the supposed housing bubble is not about to burst, according to panelists at the 8th Annual Homebuilding Industry Conference sponsored by the New York Society of Security...

Merrill Buys UK Subprime Unit.
December 6, 2004... Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. here has purchased Mortgages plc, a nonconforming U.K.-based lender for a reported PN88 million ($162.1 million). The deal gives the investment banker a foothold in the hot U.K. subprime market which is getting...

Alt-A Credit Concerns Roil Securities Market.
December 6, 2004... Contested comments from one rating agency's analysts alleging that a large number of securitized alternative-A credit deals have been going to market with insufficient credit enhancement have led to increased scrutiny of the methods used to...

Fannie Mae Must Forfeit $6.5 Million in GNMA Fraud Case.
December 6, 2004... A U.S. District Court judge in North Carolina has ordered Fannie Mae to forfeit $6.5 million in funds the secondary market agency received from a mortgage lender who defrauded Ginnie Mae of nearly $30 million. According to court documents,...

Speed of Innovation.
December 6, 2004... This week's sixth annual Mortgage Electronic Commerce in Las Vegas should help answer the always-pertinent question of where the industry is heading in automation - and more importantly, how quickly it will get there. The conference, which...

Strategies for Fighting Fraud.
December 6, 2004... Excerpts of Mr. Weicher's recent statement before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing are presented as our Open Forum. FHA has made significant efforts through consumer education, enforcement actions and regulatory reforms...

Ten-Year Treasury Ticks Up, and Mortgage Rates May, Too.
December 6, 2004... In contrast to a slight decline in the long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield the week previous, the benchmark yield at press time had risen notably to a level just shy of 4.4% from a level closer to 4.2%. The move seems to...

Illinois Mortgage Brokers Seek Hearing On High-Cost Loans.
December 6, 2004... In an effort to provide Illinois consumers with a continued abundance of home financing options, the Illinois Association of Mortgage Brokers is urging the Illinois Supreme Court to hear a case concerning a section of the Illinois Interest Act...

Mich. Bill Seeks To Cut ID Theft.
December 6, 2004... Michigan Rep. David Robertson, R-Grand Blanc, has introduced a House bill, the Identity Theft Protection Act, to reduce the level of identity theft in Michigan and to provide state and local governmental officers with certain powers to regulate...

FHA Approves Correspondent.
December 6, 2004... New World Mortgage here has been approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a Federal Housing Administration loan correspondent. The approval will open up loan origination opportunities for the mortgage brokerage...

TILA Penalties Still Are Low.
December 6, 2004... The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a Lower Court decision that could have significantly increased penalties consumer lenders face for violating the Truth in Lending Act. The case Koons Buick v. Bradley Nigh deals specifically with auto...

Wake Forest Earns $1 Million.
December 6, 2004... Wake Forest Bancshares Inc., parent company of Wake Forest Federal Savings and Loan Association, reported earnings of $1.09 million, or $0.94 per share, for the year ended Sept. 30, 2004, compared to earnings of $1.15 million, or $1 per share,...

Freddie Re-Elects Directors.
December 6, 2004... Freddie Mac elected 13 members to the company's board of directors, ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's auditor and approved a stock compensation plan at its annual meeting last week. The reappointment of PwC...

Accredited Expecting 15% EPS Growth.
December 6, 2004... Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., San Diego, said that it has established a full-year 2005 earnings-per-share target of $6.90, estimating that it can achieve annual growth of 15% in earnings per share over the next five years. ...

Delta Takes a Hit From Switchover.
December 6, 2004... Delta Financial Corp. here is still feeling the effects of a first-quarter switch in the accounting method for its securitizations. The subprime lender headquartered here reported a net loss of $1.8 million, or $0.09 per share, for the...

MIG Names Head For Originations.
December 6, 2004... Mortgage Investors Group here has been undergoing expansion efforts, engaging in new technology initiatives, and recently named a new executive to oversee all aspects of operations in both the wholesale and retail origination divisions. ...

New Century Has Great 3rd Quarter, Netting $107 Million.
December 6, 2004... New Century Financial Corp. here, one of a number of subprime mortgage lenders that has become a real estate investment trust in recent months, has reported net earnings of $107.3 million, or $2.49 per share, for the third quarter of 2004. ...

PaperClip Software Ups Its Mortgage Presence.
December 6, 2004... PaperClip Software here has expanded its mortgage footprint and commitment to allowing for the possibility of a complete electronic mortgage by letting brokers access its solutions in a Web-hosted environment called VirtualLoanFolder.com and...

Ellie Live With Encompass 2.0.
December 6, 2004... Ellie Mae Inc. here has enhanced its Encompass product with the launch of version 2.0. Specifically, Encompass 2.0 adds enhancements to existing loan origination, processing and new business development features. The new features were...

Commercial Transactions.
December 6, 2004... * GMAC Commercial Mortgage has provided $26 million in floating rate financing for the acquisition of Riverview Center, a one million sq. foot, mixed-used office/warehouse, Albany, N.Y., facility. * Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has arranged a...

Portland CRE Sees a Turnaround.
December 6, 2004... The economic atmosphere in the Portland area is improving with a boost in employment, a decline in the office vacancy rate and considerable more interest shown by outside investors. The latest example of this turnaround is the purchase of a...

Hotel REITs See Improved Earnings.
December 6, 2004... Two hotel real estate investment trusts have reported improved earnings for the third quarter, both citing improving revenue at their properties. Host Marriott Corp. reports a net loss of $47 million ($0.17 per share) for the third...

Two REITs Try Joint Ventures That Invest in Retail Properties.
December 6, 2004... Two retail real estate investment trusts have entered into joint ventures to invest in retail properties, in a sign of the increased demand for the properties in the current environment. Inland Real Estate Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., and the...

Small City CRE Riskier Than Big.
December 6, 2004... Commercial real estate in smaller cities is riskier than that in larger cities, even after accounting for lower debt levels in larger cities, according to a default and delinquency study by Moody's Investors Service. The study, covering a...

Multifamily Transactions.
December 6, 2004... GMH Communities Trust has acquired 11 student housing properties located in eight different states, with 2,040 units in all, for a total of $277 million. James F. Perry & Co. has arranged financing of $32.4 million, at the rate of 1% over...

S&P Warning About Risky Trends for CMBS.
December 6, 2004... Standard & Poor's has expressed concern about certain developing trends related to commercial mortgage-backed securities that could lead to higher risk for investors in future. The credit rating agency said in a written release that it is...

Criimi Mae Loss Is $9.3 Million.
December 6, 2004... Criimi Mae has reported a net loss of $9.3 million ($0.60 per share) for the third quarter, a deterioration from the net loss of $7.4 million ($0.49 per share) for the third quarter of 2003. The commercial mortgage real estate investment...

Fannie Loosens Several Restrictions On Manufactured Housing.
December 6, 2004... Fannie Mae is loosening several restrictions on its manufactured housing loan program that were implemented in the summer of 2003 to curb high default rates. Starting Dec.1, Fannie will begin purchasing MH loans with downpayments as low as...

Derivative Guide For Banks, Thrifts.
December 6, 2004... Federal regulators are still finding banks and thrifts that are not properly reporting derivatives and they plan to issue new guidance before the end of the year. The new guidance deals with compliance issues involving the accounting and...

October Speeds Rose Modestly.
December 6, 2004... Prepayment rates for 30-year Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities rose "modestly" in October in the wake of a decline in mortgage rates of 17 basis points, according to Bear Stearns analyst Dale Westhoff. "The results show...

Selected 30-Year Fixed-Rate Prepayments.
December 6, 2004... (For October Period) Cpn Year WAC Fctr Oct04 Sep04 Fannie Mae 6.00 2004 6.43 .932 21.5 17.8 Fannie Mae 6.00 2003 6.49 .608 31.4 30.8 Fannie Mae 6.00 2002...

Home Equity ABS See Ratings Cut.
December 6, 2004... Two classes of IndyMac ABS Inc. home-equity issues have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: class BF of series SPMD 2000-B group 1, from CC to C; and class BF of series SPMD 2001-B, from BB to CCC. In...

Downgrade for amres.
December 6, 2004... Class M-2 of American Residential HELT series 1998-1 has been downgraded from A to A-minus and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also affirmed the rating on one other class in the deal. The downgrade stemmed...

ABSC Also Downgraded.
December 6, 2004... Two classes of Asset Backed Securities Corp. home-equity securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Class B-1F of ABSC series 1999-LB1 group 1 was downgraded from BBB to BB-plus, and class B-1A of series 1999-LB1 group 2 was...

WaMu Sees Speed as the Key.
December 6, 2004... Massive job cuts and a restructuring of mortgage operations have improved productivity for Washington Mutual, and the head of the company's mortgage division believes that reducing loan closing cycle times is an additional way to boost...

Thrift Loan Volume Off by 16%.
December 6, 2004... Single-family originations by thrift institutions fell 16% in the third quarter, despite strong demand for adjustable-rate mortgages. The Office of Thrift Supervision reported that thrifts originated $145.5 billion in 1-4 family loans in...

Fannie Mae Holdings/Purchases 2004-2003.
December 6, 2004... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 3) Year/ Mort. Port Portfolio Multi- Month Holdings Growth Rate Family(1) 3-Jan $810,609 31.00% $879 Feb $816,747 8.30% ...

Freddie Mac Holdings/Purchases 2004-2003.
December 6, 2004... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Year/ Total Retained PCs Held in Port.Growth Month Portfolio Portfolio Rate(1) 3-Jan $567,594 $340,785 -2.40% Feb ...

Paperless Mortgage: Who Needs Paper anyway?
December 6, 2004... Automation is the way of the future. Every day another vendor comes up with a clever, more cost-effective way to automate another step in the mortgage process. The end result of all these different systems and innovations is of course a...

Can MISMO Really Help the Industry Go Totally Paperless?
December 6, 2004... The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization was developed to standardize all the datasets in the mortgage process to get everyone talking the same language and make it easier for the industry to move toward a complete electronic...

E-Mortgage Usage Still Several Years Away.
December 6, 2004... Adoption of a complete electronic mortgage is the answer to creating a totally paperless environment. However, despite various technology strides forward, the advancement toward a complete e-mortgage still seems far off, according to most...

PTP Upgrade Supports the Paperless Trend.
December 6, 2004... Palisades Technology Partners, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., has updated its Impact loan origination software offering to allow for a more automated process by adding functionality such as doc prep and delivery to its architecture. Impact is an...

Loan Protector Gets ISO Approved.
December 6, 2004... Loan Protector Insurance Services, a leading outsourcer of customized mortgage insurance tracking and verification, has completed the certification process by the International Organization for Standardization. The company said it is the...

Lender Embraces E-Signatures.
December 6, 2004... eLynx Ltd., a provider of electronic document delivery solutions here, has been selected by Boca Raton, Fla.-based mortgage lender Mortgage Strategies Group LLC to handle all the lender's electronic signature needs in an effort to be less paper...

MortgageHub Adds Online Servicing.
December 6, 2004... MortgageHub here, an industry Web-service provider, has added an online customer service solution to its menu of systems that decreases origination time and cost for mortgage wholesalers. The new solution will allow lenders to offer...

World RE Interest Booming.
December 6, 2004... There is great interest worldwide in real estate investments and a number of countries are contemplating the adoption of a U.S.-style real estate investment trust format, according to participants at a session on the topic "accessing capital...

Abbey Reorganizes After Takeover.
December 6, 2004... The United Kingdom's Abbey National PLC has reported that two of its executives are leaving the company and one executive will take on responsibility for an additional department as the result of reorganization taking place due to its...

First RMBS Done in Latvia.
December 6, 2004... Residential mortgage securitization is being done in Latvia for the first time, Moody's Investors Service's office here has reported. Baltic-American Enterprise Fund, a private U.S. corporation initially funded by a U.S. government grant...

Shurgard Prices Euro Bond Offer.
December 6, 2004... Seattle-based real estate investment trust Shurgard Storage Centers Inc. has priced a 325 million euro (about $400 million) bond offering listed on the Dublin stock exchange. About 235 million euros (about $290 million) of the bonds were...

Promotion Spotlight: Kenneth Bloom.
December 6, 2004... Mr. Bloom has been named president of Sheldon Good Financial Services, Chicago, a company founded earlier this year that has established a $250 million global lending fund to meet the short-term cash flow needs of commercial, industrial and...

NAR Sees Another Big Year in Real Estate and Lending for 2004.
December 6, 2004... Some people call it a boom. Others say it is a runaway housing market that cannot be sustained. David Lereah prefers to describe the current cycle as a "good, healthy real estate expansion." And he believes it will "continue into the...

ICBA Wants Changes to CRA.
December 6, 2004... In the pro-con debate over changes to the Community Reinvestment Act proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and made by the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Independent Community Bankers of America have lined up with those who...

NHDC Establishes Disaster Fund.
December 6, 2004... National Housing Development Corp., a national nonprofit that preserves affordable housing, has contributed $35,000 to establish the NHDC Disaster Relief Fund. The initial money raised will help support residents temporarily displaced at...

ACORN Points to Disparities.
December 6, 2004... The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has released a mortgage lending study, The Great Divide 2004, which the association said shows evidence of increased lending disparities. In submitted comments to the Federal Deposit...

Call for New Counseling Laws.
December 6, 2004... The National Consumer Law Center has found that according to recent data some credit counseling agencies accepted customers from states where they are not licensed. In addition, NCLC reports that a number of states are not enforcing action...

OFHEO: Home Price Hikes Hit 25-Year High.
December 6, 2004... Home prices increased by an annualized rate of 18.5% in the third quarter, the fastest appreciation speed recorded in 25 years, according to new figures released by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. "The appreciation...

Conforming Loan Limits: What the GSEs Can Buy.
December 6, 2004... 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 $187,600 1990...

People.
December 6, 2004... CALIFORNIA Pasadena-IndyMac Bancorp Inc. said it is adding new members to the sales management team of the Wholesale Lending, Subprime Lending and Correspondent Services. Patrick Doran joins IndyMac as area manager for the Wholesale...

Fannie Asks Explicit Protection.
December 6, 2004... Fannie Mae wants to ensure that investors in its mortgage-backed securities are protected in the event Congress creates a new GSE regulator with receivership powers next year. Fannie wants the federal government to provide explicit...

Publicly-traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
December 6, 2004... B&C Stock Price Index: 255.1 Change: 11.5 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/low 52 wk/hi 12/2/2004 Aames (AMSF) 2.00 5.40 2.35 American Business Fin. (ABFI) ...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
December 6, 2004... MIEC Index: 188.2 Change: 5.0 (part 1 of 2) Company 11/23/2004 12/2/2004 Wkly. % Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 40.08 41.61 ...

GSE Woes May Affect Housing.
December 6, 2004... Housing experts project a positive short- and long-term housing finance outlook mixed with a downplayed sense of uncertainty about current developments within government-sponsored entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At the 8th...

Pulte: Vegas Blip Will Stay in Vegas.
December 6, 2004... Builder Pulte Corp.'s closely watched decision to lower home prices in the hot Las Vegas market, which some feared might signal the beginning of a broader downturn in housing, was an isolated event, a spokesman for the company told attendees at...

Inside Track.
December 13, 2004... At Mortgage EC Tracking The E-mortgage's Evolution 6 Home Builders WCI Weathers Hurricanes 8 Equities An MBS Investor Meets 3q Challenges 10 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Taking A Look At A Government Agency's...

Consensus Close on National Law.
December 13, 2004... Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., appear to be very close to agreeing on a bipartisan bill that would create a national lending standard and protect consumers from abusive practices. The bill would pre-empt a "mish-mash" of...

Top Residential Retail Lenders in Q3 2004.
December 13, 2004... ($ in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 2 Countrywide Financial Corp. 3 Washington Mutual 4 Chase Home Finance 5 Golden West Financial...

DPA Program Cut in Appropriations Bill.
December 13, 2004... Congress has finally passed the $388 billion omnibus appropriations bill that includes additional funding for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight but cuts funding for President George Bush's signature housing initiative - the...

Schumer: Double LIHTC.
December 13, 2004... Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is calling for revision of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program and for the repair of what his office has described as a federal tax Catch-22 that has blocked the preservation of affordable housing...

WTC Seen as Two Attacks.
December 13, 2004... In a major victory for New York real estate developer Larry Silverstein, a New York jury has decided that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center constitute two attacks for insurance purposes, which could result in an additional payout of as...

Will the MIs Consolidate?
December 13, 2004... Every few years the issue of consolidation in the mortgage insurance industry rears its head and not much happens. But is this time different? Over the past few months a handful of analysts who cover mortgages have suggested that the...

Tales of Two Cities May Have Implications for Industry Regulation.
December 13, 2004... As lenders prepare for the verdict in a court case between American Financial Services Association and the City of Oakland, the Eighth Ohio District Court of Appeals here has reversed a Lower Court's holding for AFSA regarding the legality of...

OCC and FDIC Watching Home Equity Lending Sector Carefully.
December 13, 2004... Federal banking regulators are getting nervous about the "extraordinary" growth of home-equity lending at a time when interest rates are starting to rise and home price appreciation is expected to slow. The Office of the Comptroller of the...

Countrywide Nixes Plan For UK B&C.
December 13, 2004... Countrywide Financial Corp. has scrapped - for now - plans to create a subprime lending division in the United Kingdom. In an interview with NMN last week, CFC chairman and chief executive Angelo Mozilo confirmed that the idea has been put...

Taking It Seriously.
December 13, 2004... Financial literacy and homebuyer education are topics it's hard to get excited about. Yet they are key ingredients in moving the underserved, the emerging markets that will drive growth over the next several decades, into the ranks of mortgage...

The Logic of Monetary Policy.
December 13, 2004... Excerpts of Gov. Bernanke's remarks on monetary policy before the National Economists Club in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. When I speak about monetary policy at occasions like this one, more often than not the focus...

Jobs Report Knocks Yields Down, Cyclical Shift Looks Gradual.
December 13, 2004... The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield had just finished a notable climb from levels close to 4.2% to almost 4.4% when the release of a weaker-than-expected employment report knocked it back down to close to where it has been...

Today's Hybrids to Spur Tomorrow's E-Mortgage?
December 13, 2004... For the past five years the industry has been touting the coming of an electronic mortgage, but what exists today are only hybrids that take the industry to a partly paperless process. While most consider this adoption slow, the continuing...