National Mortgage News articles from December 2006

National Mortgage News archives from December 2006

Inside Track.
December 4, 2006... EDITORIAL Costs of Katrina Getting Clearer 4 OPEN FORUM GSE Oversight Needs to be Improved 4 STREET SMARTS 10-Year Under Watch as Interest Rates Keep Falling 5 SECURITIZATION ...

Ameriquest and Argent for Sale.
December 4, 2006... ORANGE, CA -- ACC Capital Holdings here is actively entertaining offers for its entire mortgage franchise which includes both Ameriquest Mortgage and its wholesale arm, Argent, investment bankers and other officials confirmed to National...

Roberts Hits Pre-Emption.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- National banks will not be able to use their operating subsidiaries to house and run their mortgage businesses if the new chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court has his way. Chief Justice John Roberts contends the Comptroller...

GNMA (FHA/VA) as a % of Total Fundings.
December 4, 2006... ($ in Billions) The Total Prime B&C FHA/ FHA/VA Year Prod. Prod. Vol. VA Share of Total Prod. 2006 (e) $3,169 $1,165 $742 $90 2.84% 2005 $3,294 $1,373 $807 $112...

No Changes In Loan Limit.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The conforming loan limit, perhaps the most intently watched number in the mortgage business, will remain unchanged next year at $417,000. The limit is the legislatively set ceiling on the size of loans that can be purchased...

3Q Production Drops 11%.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage bankers funded $830 billion in loans during the third quarter with refinancings accounting for 47% of production, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report. ...

MBS Volume Starts to Slow.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Mortgage-related securities issuance between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 outpaced levels seen a year ago but volume was slower in the last three months of that period, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association....

Cal Squeezed By GSE Freeze.
December 4, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- The cost of financing a home will remain prohibitive for many households in California in the wake of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's conforming loan limits for 2007, state Realtors say. The maximum 2007...

Top Residential Originators in Q3 '06.
December 4, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) Origination Volume % Market Mkt Shr Rk Organization Name Q3 '06 Q3 '05 Change Share % pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. $113,707...

CSBS: 37 States Commit to National Licensing.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- At least 37 states have committed to using an automated licensing and registration system for state-licensed mortgage lenders and brokers. The figure comes from Michael L. Stevens, vice president and director of regulatory...

Home Prices Slow Sharply: 'Given the five-year appreciation prior to this quarter of 56.8%, the slowdown is not unexpected.'.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Home price appreciation slowed to an annualized rate of 3.45% nationally in the third quarter, the lowest rate recorded since the second quarter of 1998, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Separately,...

Mercantile Buys Royal Palm Bancorp.
December 4, 2006... QUINCY, IL -- Mercantile Bancorp Inc. has completed the acquisition of Royal Palm Bancorp Inc. of Naples, Fla., in a cash transaction valued at $42.7 million. The acquisition, first announced in late May, brings into the Mercantile Bancorp...

Fiserv Migrates toward Single-Platform Strategy.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- In an effort to be more seamless to users and offer a high level of interconnectivity, Fiserv has migrated its nine businesses to three business units that will all be closely integrated. "Two years ago we were nine businesses,"...

Editorial: The Cost of Katrina.
December 4, 2006... Hard numbers on the cost of Hurricane Katrina to lenders are starting to trickle in, and they're not pretty. The Federal Housing Administration has released a report that estimates it will have to pay out $623 million in Katrina-affected areas...

Open Forum: What Role for the Fed?
December 4, 2006... Excerpts of Mr. Poole's speech at the Cato Institute's recent annual monetary conference in Washington are presented as our Open Forum. I believe that supervisory oversight is in pretty good shape, with one glaring exception....

Benchmark Yield Watched Closely as Rate Falls: The average long-term mortgage rate had fallen to a point below that seen at the same time last year.
December 4, 2006... The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield was being watched closely at press time last Thursday morning in the mortgage-backed securities market as the average benchmark mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac fell below the levels seen...

Reg AB Deadline Looms as Servicers Contemplate New Rules.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- With a key deadline for compliance with Regulation AB drawing near, rating agencies are stepping up efforts to monitor the compliance of loan servicers with the new reporting requirements. Both Standard & Poor's and Fitch...

AFI Speeds Up Income Verification.
December 4, 2006... BOCA RATON, FL -- With mortgage fraud and loan buybacks on the rise, lenders are under pressure to improve the quality assurance process, especially for risky products such as stated-income or low-documentation loans. The FBI says that...

Merrill Tracks CMO Securities.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Merrill Lynch & Co. has launched an agency collateralized mortgage obligation index series that the company said is the first of its kind. There has long been a market interest in a CMO index series, but for a long time market...

MuniMae Securitizes $192 Million Multifamily Deal.
December 4, 2006... BALTIMORE -- MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary LLC has completed a $192 million, fixed-rate bond securitization, TEBS Tax-Exempt Multifamily Housing Certificates, Series 2006A. The Class A certificates in the transaction, which were privately...

Freddie Settles $4 Billion Note.
December 4, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mae settled a $4 billion 30-year 5.5% Gold MACS Strip security designated FHS 244 on Nov. 22. The weighted average coupon, weighted average remaining maturity and weighted average loan age are 6.20%, 358 months and one...

Roundup: Commercial Realty Index Reaches Sixteen-Year High: While the index has continued to climb, the rate of increase has slowed compared to late 2005 and early 2006.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A leading indicator for commercial real estate market activity rose 0.4% in the third quarter to a 120.1 reading, the highest level since 1990, the National Association of Realtors reports. The uptick in the index maintained...

BP Sells NYC Tower.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Boston Properties is selling 5 Times Square, a prime New York office property with over a million square feet of rentable space, to AVR Realty Co. for about $1.28 billion in cash. The property, located in the thick of Times...

CIT and BRT Join Forces.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- CIT Group, a commercial real estate lender, and BRT Realty Trust, a mortgage real estate investment trust, have entered into a joint venture to offer short-term commercial real estate mortgage loans. The venture, BRT Funding,...

TIAA Teams Up with REIT.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- TIAA-CREF, a pension fund institutional investor, and Developers Diversified, a Cleveland-based retail real estate investment trust, have embarked on a joint venture to buy a portfolio of 67 community retail centers for about $3...

Meridian Opens Dallas Site.
December 4, 2006... DALLAS -- Meridian Capital Group, a New York-based commercial mortgage broker firm, has opened an office here to cater to business from the Lone Star State. The office will be led by Alex J. Katz, as managing director, Meridian reports....

Equity Swap Wins NFB Vote.
December 4, 2006... MELVILLE, NY -- A vast majority of North Fork shareholders feel positive about the prospects of owning Capital One stock after the two companies merge, according to results from the company's recent shareholder election. Shareholders...

Capital One to Join Key S&P Index.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's has made several changes in its stock indexes recently, including one reflecting a pending acquisition in the mortgage industry. Capital One, already an S&P 500 company, has replaced OfficeMax on the S&P 100...

Warehouse Problem Weighs on Flagstar.
December 4, 2006... TROY, MI -- Analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey have cut their estimated 2006 earnings for Flagstar Bancorp here after Flagstar's announcement that it will take an estimated $8.7 million charge in the fourth quarter related to "fraudulently"...

Cherry Creek Mortgage Uses ASC to Automate Risk Management.
December 4, 2006... DENVER -- Cherry Creek Mortgage here views its emphasis on secondary marketing and risk management as a differentiator. As a result, the lender sought to automate the process to stand out in the current down market. Cherry Creek is a $1.7...

HNMA Forges Partnership with Deutsche Bank.
December 4, 2006... SAN DIEGO -- Leveraging a highly customized automated underwriting system, the Hispanic National Mortgage Association has entered a joint venture, HNMA Funding, to create a new national correspondent lending operation to purchase...

ComplianceEase Preparing to Grow Under New CEO.
December 4, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- In order to take the company to the next level and be a compliance one-stop shop, ComplianceEase has promoted its executive vice president, David Girling, to the position of president and chief executive officer. The...

Study Portrays Opportunities for U.S. Firms in Europe's CMBS Market.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Europe's commercial mortgage-backed securities market has continued to expand and evolve in ways that present opportunities for U.S. market participants, according to a report from the European arm of the Commercial Mortgage...

Europe Poised For CMBS Growth.
December 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- The multi-jurisdictional commercial mortgage securities market in Europe has gotten underway and while putting these transactions together remains a somewhat challenging process, it is one that may get easier in the coming year,...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
December 4, 2006... MIEC Index: 138.5 Change: -0.3 Company 11/21/2006 11/30/2006 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi From Ratio American Home (AHM) 33.03 ...

Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
December 4, 2006... B&C Stock Price Index: 197.5 Change: -1.7 Company 52 52 11/30/2006 Wkly. % Chg. P/E wk/lo wk/hi % Chg. From Ratio Delta Financial Corp...

Flagstar Has Lawsuit Dismissed.
December 4, 2006... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp Inc. here has had its lawsuit seeking recovery on a fidelity bond issued by the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. dismissed by a federal judge in a case involving mortgage warehouse lending fraud. The incident at...

People.
December 4, 2006... CALIFORNIA Irvine-Sage Credit Mortgage Co. has named Michael C. Carroll as general counsel. Mr. Carroll's primary responsibilities will be to provide legal advice and guidance with strategic initiatives. He was also appointed to Sage...

Lenders Are Wary Of Fannie Patent: 'Without changes, I suspect it will be extremely difficult for lenders to sign the agreement.'.
December 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Upon closer review of Fannie Mae's patent licensing agreement, some lenders see problems if certain provisions involving liability and restrictions on third-party vendors are not changed. "Without changes, I suspect it will...

Inside Track.
December 11, 2006... EDITORIAL Fraud Concerns 4 OPEN FORUM FDIC On Credit 4 STREET SMARTS Secondary Conference 5 INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGES UK Nonprime 11 HOME BUILDERS Horton Earnings 12 GRAPEVINE Chatroom Talk...

Fannie Shaves Net $6.3 Billion.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae's long-awaited revised financial results reduced the company's retained earnings by $6.3 billion through June 30, 2004 and acknowledge that the company twice fell short of its minimum capital requirement. While the...

IO Volumes Fall by 25%.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage bankers funded $160 billion in interest-only loans in the third quarter, a 25% decline from the same period last year, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by this newspaper. Industrywide production (all...

Panel Chairs Make Mark.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Treasury Department officials and key House members, including incoming Democratic panel chairmen, are close to an agreement on regulating the size and growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's giant mortgage portfolios, but they are...

Top Interest-Only Lenders in Q3 2006.
December 11, 2006... ($ in Millions) IOs Funded % Market Rk Organization Name Location Q3 2006 Q3 2005 Change Share 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage San Francisco, CA $23,920...

CRE Volume Drops by 6%.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Pointing to a slowdown in activity, originations of commercial and multifamily mortgage loans in the third quarter were 6% lower compared to last year's third quarter, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association....

CFC Settles With Spitzer.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Countrywide Financial Corp. has entered into a fair lending agreement with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, closing a regulatory investigation into the company's 2004 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. The agreement...

Tech Linking RE, Mortgage.
December 11, 2006... CARLSBAD, CA -- In a down market lenders are always looking for ways to offer new services that act as a differentiator. Now ipayOne here is linking the real estate deal with the mortgage to offer borrowers a one-stop shop. "The vision and...

Top Subprime Funders, Q3 2006.
December 11, 2006... ($ in Millions) Subprime Volume % Market Rk Organization Name Location Q3 '06 Q3 '05 Change Share 1 Wells Fargo Home San Francisco, CA...

ECC Sale Delayed until 2007.
December 11, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- The sale of ECC Capital Corp. here to Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. will not close until the first quarter of 2007, a company executive said in a statement. "Certain required administrative matters have taken longer...

Regulators Revise Basel Standard.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Federal banking regulators last week unveiled a new capital proposal called Basel Ia, designed mostly for midsize and large banks, that is expected to lower capital requirements on residential mortgage assets. Basel Ia is...

Basel Ia Risk Weights for 1-4 Family First Liens.
December 11, 2006... Loan-to-Value Ratio Risk Weight 60% or less 20% Greater than 60% and less than or equal to 80% 35% Greater than 80% and less than or equal to 85% 50% ...

Refinancing Exceeds 50% Mark.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Refinancing as a share of home loan applications exceeded 50% in the week ending Dec. 1, the highest level seen since April 2004, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. The MBA's weekly survey of loan...

Did Loan Buybacks Cause OwnIt, Sebring to Shut?: OwnIt was a significant player in the third quarter, with origination volume rising 27%.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- OwnIt Mortgage Solutions - the brainchild of industry veteran Bill Dallas - closed its doors last week amid reports that the subprime lender had been hit by huge loan buyback requests from an investor. A few days before OwnIt...

Editorial: $1 Billion Here, $1 Billion There.
December 11, 2006... Last year, an ominous milestone was passed in the home loan business. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, mortgage fraud losses passed $1 billion for the first time, doubling from the year before. Whether it's borrower...

Open Forum: Banks Must Aid New Customers.
December 11, 2006... Ms. Bair's remarks before the Financial Services Conference of the Consumer Federation of America in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. It is my pleasure to be part of the Consumer Federation of America's nineteenth...

Market Conditions Pressuring Some to Close: While things are tough there are a number of viable secondary market strategies that may help.
December 11, 2006... A slowing market, disintermediation, product innovation, performance, and legal and regulatory concerns are creating challenges that make it difficult for midsized mortgage bankers to stay in business, speakers at SourceMedia's Secondary Market...

OFHEO Chief Still Pressing for Legislation to Reform GSE Oversight.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's director continues to press for what he acknowledges are "sticking points" in the passage of proposed government-sponsored enterprise legislation, he told attendees at the...

Option One Hit By Tough Market.
December 11, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- Option One Mortgage Corp. here - which is on the auction block - lost $40 million for the three-month period ending Oct. 31, compared to a $48 million profit in the same period last year. The subprime lender's parent company,...

Economist Sees a 'Correction,' But Not a Crash: Housing markets most at risk for price declines are concentrated in the East Coast and California.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Whether or not there is going to be a housing correction is no longer a question - it's here, according to Celia Chen, director of housing economics at Moody's Investors Service's Economy.com. Rather, she said the "big...

Moody's to Revise Option ARM Marks.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Services is planning to update its approach to rating option adjustable-rate mortgages in response to loan product innovation in the sector, an analyst from the rating agency told attendees at a Moody's investor...

Condominium Make-Up Is Surprisingly Diverse: 'The study showed that 63% of condos were owner-occupied and 21% were rented out last year.'.
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- When people think of condominiums, they tend to think of large apartment buildings in urban areas with individual owner occupants. But only 28% of condominium units fit the traditional stereotype, according to the MBA. In...

Toll Results Show Builder Weakness.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Homebuilder Toll Brothers' sharp drop in earnings compared to a year earlier could portend more weakness in results from the homebuilding sector, according to analysts at CreditSights. In a report, the independent analytics...

In LBO World, No REIT Is 'Too Big' for a Deal.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- The deal for private-equity firm Blackstone to buy the nation's largest office REIT, Equity Office Properties, in a leveraged buyout proves that no REIT deals are out of reach in a strong merger and acquisition market, according to...

Housing Demand Is Seen Slowing.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Despite volatile figures regarding home sales, it appears that demand has "swiftly eroded" from last year's peak no matter how you add up the numbers. In a report, analysts at independent research firm CreditSights said that...

Bear Stearns Expects Nonprime Market in U.K. To Weaken Slightly.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- The United Kingdom's nonconforming market may face a slight decline in performance in 2007 but other developments will likely mitigate it, according to a recent Bear Stearns report. "We expect the overall performance to...

Canada and Russia Agree to Cooperate.
December 11, 2006... TORONTO -- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and the Federal Agency of the Russian Federation for Construction on Nov. 29 signed a memorandum of understanding that CMHC president Karen Kinsley said "will result in new commercial opportunities...

SunTrust Joins HouseRaising in Custom Home Financing Partnership.
December 11, 2006... CHARLOTTE, NC -- HouseRaising Inc., a managed service provider to the custom homebuilding industry, has developed a credit program with SunTrust Mortgage, a subsidiary of SunTrust Banks Inc., which enables builders affiliated with HouseRaising...

D.R. Horton's Earnings Fall: Reductions in inventory and construction helped preserve 'significant positive cash flows from operations.'.
December 11, 2006... FORT WORTH, TX -- D.R. Horton Inc. reported net income for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 of $277.7 million. Earnings for the same quarter of fiscal year 2005 were $563.8 million. Fourth-quarter consolidated revenue totaled $4.9 billion,...

Grapevine.com: Keeping Realtors From Clients.
December 11, 2006... Jessie1971: Can someone please tell me how I can stop Realtors from stealing away my borrowers? They don't just promise borrowers the world to take them away, they do it within a day or two before closing. The most horrible part about it is the...

Countrywide Offers Referrals.
December 11, 2006... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Subservicing has added a new program, known by the acronym POWER, designed to increase income for its subservicing clients by providing them with loan referral information. The "Providing Opportunities With...

MI Book Values Remain Strong.
December 11, 2006... ARLINGTON, VA -- While concern about rising home loan delinquencies has depressed the stocks of mortgage insurance companies, those concerns may be overblown, according to a report from Friedman Billings Ramsey. Noting that MI companies...

Index Suggests Weaker Credit.
December 11, 2006... COLUMBIA, MD -- While the stock market indexes are pointing up, one economic indicator seems to be pointing down. The seasonally adjusted Credit Managers Index published by the National Association of Credit Managers dipped for the fourth...

DepotPoint Aims for Greater Foreclosure Workload Efficiency.
December 11, 2006... BELLEVUE, WA -- DepotPoint, an independent technology firm here focused on foreclosure and default management systems, has created a Web-based workflow tool, TrackPoint, designed to make default management more efficient. With the spread...

USFN Honors MI Law Firm.
December 11, 2006... BINGHAM FARMS, MI -- Trott & Trott, a foreclosure law firm based here, has been awarded USFN's Diamond Award of Excellence. The award is given annually to USFN member firms that demonstrate the highest standards of participation and leadership...

Bradford Bank Buys Title Agency.
December 11, 2006... BALTIMORE -- Bradford Bancorp here has purchased a title agency, Best Title and Processing LLC, Towson, Md. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bradford Bancorp is the parent of Bradford Bank and Bradford Financial Group. The latter is a...

Penn. Realtors Oppose New Tax.
December 11, 2006... HARRISBURG, PA -- The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors is opposing a proposed increase in realty transfer taxes that could add more than $3,000 to the cost of an average-price home. Increases totaling 1.39% in realty transfer taxes by...

USFN Publishes Training Guide.
December 11, 2006... TUSTIN, CA -- USFN, a resource network servicing the mortgage industry, has published "Writing and Implementing a Living Quality Plan for Mortgage Servicers and Law Firms." The 202-page hardcover book was written by Dennis Jankowski,...

GE Sets Up New Unit for Investment in Commercial Real Estate.
December 11, 2006... STAMFORD, CT -- GE Real Estate has set up a direct investments unit to acquire real estate for its portfolio. The business is looking for large commercial real estate portfolios across the primary asset classes, GE Real Estate reports. ...

A.M. Best Sees Big Quake Risk.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- A.M. Best, an insurance rating firm, suggests that home and businesses owners could face huge losses and significant economic disruption in the event of a major West Coast earthquake. A.M. Best noted that the 1989 Loma Prieta...

Roundup: Jumbo Mortgage Securities Issuance Slows from 2005.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Issuance of U.S. prime jumbo mortgages in the third quarter was stronger than that seen previously this year but down from levels seen during the same time period in 2005, according to a Nov. 30 report by Standard & Poor's here. ...

CMBS Getting Bigger: A $4.5 billion deal in December was the largest CMBS deal ever issued.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Increasingly sizable, record-setting deals have been seen in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, which already has surpassed 2005's issuance record, according to a recent report by RBS Greenwich Capital. "The...

Anthracite Does Euro Deal.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Anthracite Capital Inc. has priced 263.5 million euros ($345.9 million) of non-recourse debt offered by Anthracite Euro CRE CDO 2006-1 PLC. A portfolio of European commercial mortgage-backed securities and subordinated...

Equity One Deal Downgraded.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes from Equity One ABS Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates issued in 2002 have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-3, class B-1, from BBB-plus to BB, and class B-2, from...

FBR: Rule Won't Hamper GSEs.
December 11, 2006... ARLINGTON, VA -- While Treasury's new GSE debt issuance rules may pack more bark than bite, analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey say "negative headlines" from Treasury's actions could put downward pressure on the stock. FBR maintained its...