National Mortgage News articles from February 2003

National Mortgage News archives from February 2003

Inside Track.
February 3, 2003... SPECIAL REPORT Commercial-MF Lending With legislation providing a government backstop for terrorism insurance in place, commercial real estate lenders are starting off the year on a positive note. However, uncertainties relating to a...

FNF Set to Purchase Alltel.
February 3, 2003... Fidelity National Financial here, which has been on an acquisition binge, struck again last week - this time, agreeing to buy the financial services division of technology giant, Alltel, Little Rock, Ark. Sources told National Mortgage...

BoA GSE Exit Highlights Concern.
February 3, 2003... A little more than a year ago, Freddie Mac threw down the gauntlet on "guarantee fee" discounts, telling its seller-servicers that it was establishing a fee floor of 16 basis points. At the time, some large seller-servicers grumbled about...

Principal Shuts Down Retail.
February 3, 2003... In what may be a sign of the future of the retail mortgage business, Principal Residential Mortgage Inc. here announced it will close its 78 traditional retail loan production offices. It will instead concentrate its retail production on...

FNM Grows, Controls Risk.
February 3, 2003... Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines, in a Webcast Wall Street conference here last week, sought to convince investors that the government-sponsored enterprise is a relatively low-risk company with a dominant position as a low-cost provider in...

Freddie Has Record Year for Purchases.
February 3, 2003... Freddie Mac acquired $91.22 billion in home mortgages during December, yet another record month for the secondary market giant. For the year, Freddie bought a record $642.3 billion in product, a 35% increase from 2001. Freddie's chief...

'Tech Should Court Borrowers'.
February 3, 2003... While lenders should be proud of their accomplishments over the past year, William Newman, CEO of ABN Amro Mortgage Group, told the audience as the keynote speaker at the 6th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference here last week that lenders...

Top Residential Lenders and Their GSE Preferences.
February 3, 2003... (Dollars in Billions) (Strategic Alliances) Current Lender 2002 Favorite Rank Name Annual Volume GSE (1) 1 Wells Fargo $333 Freddie Mac 2 Wash....

Freddie Mac Mortgage Holdings-Purchases.
February 3, 2003... ($ in Mils) (2001-2002) (part 1 of 2) Year- Total Retained PCs Held Port. Grwth Month Portfolio in Port Rate (1) Sep-01 $470,850 $291,646 18.00% Oct ...

Freddie Closes Record Amount Of Multifamily.
February 3, 2003... Freddie Mac has closed 2002 with a "record" $14.3 billion in multifamily lending volume, the government-sponsored enterprise has reported. The leading multifamily lender credits "strong representation by its Program Plus correspondents"...

Critics Resume Calls for GSE Scrutiny.
February 3, 2003... Attacks on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are coming early this year as FM Watch and the Financial Services Roundtable issued warnings and reports about the continued growth of the government-sponsored enterprises and the risks they could pose to...

GFLA Relief Introduced.
February 3, 2003... Legislation was introduced here last week that would give mortgage funders and investors some relief from the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Amendments that would alleviate legal liabilities tied to the GFLA were introduced by a group of state...

OTS Pre-Empts NY Lending Laws.
February 3, 2003... The Office of Thrift Supervision has pre-empted New York state's anti-predatory lending law so that federally chartered thrifts and their operating subsidiaries will not be bound by the state's lending restrictions. "Federal law...

Chairman of FHLB Regulator Counters Efforts to Restrict His Reach.
February 3, 2003... By a 3-2 vote, Federal Housing Finance Board chairman John Korsmo easily beat back an attempt by two Democratic board members to curb his powers in running the agency. But not before board members Franz Leichter and Alan Mendelowitz shared...

Editorial: Hitting a Home Run.
February 3, 2003... We've been covering the mortgage industry for nearly two decades now, and we've never seen anything like it. You could compare it to baseball's home run record. It was an amazing thing when Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' decades-old...

Open Forum: Housing Demand Still Strong.
February 3, 2003... Secretary Martinez addressed the National Association of Home Builders at their annual convention in Las Vegas recently xcerpts of his remarks are presented as our Open Forum. President Bush and I both recognize that the homebuilding...

Higher Price Target and Risk Expected After Countrywide's Record 2002.
February 3, 2003... Countrywide Financial Corp. reported earnings per share growth of 50% compared to 2001 and set numerous company records in 2002. Countrywide reported diluted earnings per share of $6.49 for 2002, compared to $4.34 in 2001. ...

Net Income Rises at Three MIs After Decline at One.
February 3, 2003... While the nation's largest mortgage insurer reported a decline in net income between 2001 and 2002, its other three publicly traded competitors all said their net income increased during that time. Philadelphia's Radian Group Inc. reported...

Originations, MSR Gains Help Offset Charges at J.P. Morgan Chase.
February 3, 2003... J.P. Morgan Chase reported a net loss of $387 million in the fourth quarter, or $0.20 per share, as charges related to Enron litigation and merger costs weighed down positive results from the company's consumer banking unit. The Enron...

Farmer Mac Meets Goals Yet Suffers.
February 3, 2003... Farmer Mac says its fourth-quarter earnings were in line with analysts estimates, but the market responded unfavorably to news that accounting standards for derivatives and hedging activities reduced net income by $1.8 million in the fourth...

'Immigrants, Etc., To Help Revive Sluggish Rentals'.
February 3, 2003... Despite challenges of a sluggish economy and strong incentives for homebuying, long-term forecasts for the rental housing market remain positive as demographic growth is expected to fuel demand from sources such as minorities, so-called...

Nehemiah Donates $1 Million to HomeAid.
February 3, 2003... The Nehemiah Corp. has raised the ante of gift-giving. Normally, the nation's largest provider of downpayment assistance gives homebuyers a few thousand dollars so they can complete their purchases. But recently, the Sacramento,...

Wembley Asset Management.
February 3, 2003... Warehouse Outstandings: $200 million-$300 million (approximate, as of 1-24) Products Funded: conforming, jumbo, Alt A General Profile of Clientele: Mortgage bankers nationwide minimum net worth of $1 million Source: Wembley...

Post WTC, U.K.-Owned Warehouse Firm Proves Mettle.
February 3, 2003... U.S. mortgage warehouse services provider Wembley Asset Management, a subsidiary of the London-based ICAP plc (aka Garban Intercapital), first attempted to get started in August 2001 when it moved into the World Trade Center just about a month...

NAHB Fears Stimulus Plan's Long-Term Impact Might Hurt Housing.
February 3, 2003... The National Association of Home Builders is having trouble getting behind President Bush's economic stimulus package. Not just because the plan doesn't contain the homeownership tax credit the powerful 205,000-member trade group has long...

Clayton Sees Decline in Net.
February 3, 2003... Manufactured housing company and mortgage services provider Clayton Homes Inc. has reported net income for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2002 of about $31 million, down 8% from the same fiscal period last year. Clayton notes that "last year's...

Weicher: No More FHA Disruptions.
February 3, 2003... Though the insurance premium to obtain the government's backing on apartment loans could go up in fiscal 2004, the program won't come to a grinding halt, Federal Housing Administration commissioner John Weicher said here last week. Three...

Texas Builder To Lead NAHB.
February 3, 2003... C. Kent Conine, a home and apartment builder from Dallas, has been elected 2003 president of the 205,000-member National Association of Home Builders. The head of the Conine Residential Group, which specializes in single-family building,...

Commercial/MF Lending: War Tides Threaten.
February 3, 2003... In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers, commercial real estate lenders made obtaining a government backstop for terrorism insurance a priority. Although such legislation has been enacted after a...

Evolution Spawns Mezzanine Use.
February 3, 2003... Paul Turovsky, fund manager for Deutsche Bank's DB Realty Mezzanine Investment Fund II, found the task of raising capital for a real estate mezzanine investment fund easier the second time around. Mr. Turovsky said, "The first time we...

Study: Don't Put All Eggs in Home Basket.
February 3, 2003... A new study done by economist Jack Goodman for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts rebuts the view that owning a house voids the merits of investing in real estate investment trusts. "The misconception that 'real...

Moody's: Tempered Optimism for CRE.
February 3, 2003... All major commercial property types were either stable and in strong condition, or showed slight improvement, based on data gathered through the third quarter of 2002, according to Sally Gordon, the principal author of Moody's Investors...

Top Commercial Mortgage Lenders.
February 3, 2003... (Dollars in Millions) (In 3rd Quarter 2002) (part 1 of 2) Rank Organization Name Location 1 GMAC Commercial Mtg Corp. Horsham, PA 2 L.J. Melody & Co. Houston, TX 3...

MF Lender Introduces Products to Cushion Downturn.
February 3, 2003... Since 2002, American Mortgage Acceptance Co. has been responding to an ongoing flat market by shifting gears to more diverse revenue sources and less "capital-intensive" products. "The most important diversification in our products and...

ABA Making Freddie Mac Part Of Its List of GSE Partnerships.
February 3, 2003... The American Bankers Association, whose membership represents 90% of all banking assets in the U.S., has signed a secondary marketing agreement with Freddie Mac. For ABA, it now has agreements with the three largest secondary market...

LandSafe Hits Historic High.
February 3, 2003... LandSafe Inc. here said it had the best results in the company's history for 2002, whether measured by total revenue, earnings before income taxes or by the total number of orders processed or closed. The company had total revenue of $159...

Vendee Loan Program on Hold.
February 3, 2003... The Department of Veterans Affairs halted is "vendee loan" program last week, which was used to finance sales of VA-foreclosed single- family homes. "Effective for all listings on or after Jan. 31, 2003, the VA will no longer offer...

GAO Finds FHFB Exams of FHLBs to Be Insufficient.
February 3, 2003... Federal Housing Finance Board examinations of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have been largely superficial over the past five years and only recently has the agency taken the necessary steps to beef up its examiner force, according to a draft...

Restatement Clouds Record Earnings.
February 3, 2003... Freddie Mac reported record earnings for 2002 and said that it may have to restate earnings upward, but its stock price faltered last week as skittish investors decided to wait for the fog to clear on the company's ongoing audit of its...

FNF Reports $531.7 Million in Earnings.
February 3, 2003... IRVINE, CA-Fidelity National Financial here, the nation's largest title insurance underwriter, reported 2002 net earnings of $531.7 million or $5.38 per share, up from $305.5 million or $3.15 per share from the year before. In the fourth...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
February 3, 2003... MIEC Index: 139.3; Change: -4.7 (part 1 of 2) 1-23-03 1-30-03 Wkly % Chg 52 wk/lo Alltel (AT) 48.99 46.26 -6% 35.33 Countrywide Financial Corp. ...

Tech Seen as Remaining a Challenge.
February 3, 2003... After providing a wealth of evidence proving that technology has been a powerful force for positive change in the mortgage industry, keynote speaker Gary Clark, chief information officer for IndyMac Bank, told attendees of Thomson's 6th Annual...

IndyMac Net Earnings Reach $143 Mil.
February 3, 2003... IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc. here, the holding company for IndyMac Bank, has reported record net earnings of $143 million ($2.41 per share) for 2002, compared with $116.4 million ($1.84 per share) in 2001. Net earnings totaled $36...

Principal Residential and Its Production Channels.
February 3, 2003... (Third Quarter) ($ in millions) Production Percent of Channel Volume Total Production Retail $1,552 14% Wholesale $2,448 22% Corres. $7,129 64% ...

Inside Track.
February 10, 2003... OPEN FORUM Terrorism Risk Insurance 4 COMMERCIAL Employment May Determine CRE Origination Volume 9 SECURITIZATION Ginnie Mae Funds Come Out Ahead 15 B&C MORTGAGES Delta Reports $17.6M Net Income for...

Coalition Seeking MI Deductibility.
February 10, 2003... The mortgage insurance industry has formed a new coalition to lobby for the tax deductibility of mortgage insurance premiums, National Mortgage News has learned. Dubbed the "Homeowners and Veterans Tax Fairness Coalition," the group is...

Falcon Out, Brickell In, at OFHEO.
February 10, 2003... Investment banker and derivatives expert Mark C. Brickell has been picked by the White House to head the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. OFHEO director Armando Falcon, a holdover...

Budgeting B&C into FHA.
February 10, 2003... The unveiling of the president's budget for fiscal year 2004 last week provided a few surprises for Federal Housing Administration lenders - including a new loan product that is designed to reach subprime borrowers and reward them for making...

CRE Lending Up Last Quarter.
February 10, 2003... Commercial mortgage originations surged in last year's final quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported here last week. The MBA gaged the improvement against the fourth quarter of 2001, which wasn't as strong as it might have been...

Calif. Threatens Wells' License.
February 10, 2003... The California Department of Corporations has issued a letter of intent to revoke the residential mortgage lending license of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa. The move is the latest in a battle between the regulators and...

Top Residential Originators in Q4-02.
February 10, 2003... (Dollars in Mils) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Wells Fargo Home Mtg Des Moines, IA 2 Washington Mutual Seattle, WA 3 Countrywide Finl Corp. Calabasas,...

Bush Administration Calls for GSEs to Increase Minority Homeownership.
February 10, 2003... The Bush administration wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to devote more of their resources to increasing homeownership opportunities for minorities. The administration views the two government-sponsored enterprises as major contributors to...

2 Top Lenders Pledge $500B Each to AH.
February 10, 2003... Following closely on the heels of a $500 billion commitment to underserved communities by J.P. Morgan Chase, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. has announced that it will be expanding its previous $100 billion pledge to increase low-income and...

Framework Becomes a Subsidiary of Its Biggest Client, Bank of America.
February 10, 2003... Framework Inc., the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based technology firm and developer of the LendWare credit fulfillment platform, has been acquired by Bank of America, its biggest client. Framework has been working for much of the past two years on an...

Editorial: The Refi Boom and the Internet.
February 10, 2003... Is it possible that when the refinancing boom comes to an end, as it inevitably will, that this will choke off the current blooming of the Internet as an originations channel? That's the question that was posed by Emmanuel Obiorah, online...

Open Forum: Terrorism Risk Insurance.
February 10, 2003... Undersecretary Fisher recently spoke before the Worldwide Conventions and Business Forums in New York on the topic of successfully managing terrorism insurance risk xcerpts of his remarks are presented as our Open Forum. President Bush...

Falcon's Parting Call for Insolvency Receivership Appointment Authority.
February 10, 2003... In his last public speech before leaving office, departing Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight director Armando Falcon stressed that OFHEO should have legal authority to close and appoint a receiver for a government-sponsored...

GSEs Agrees to Add Disclosures on MBS.
February 10, 2003... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said that come this spring they will begin making six additional "pool specific" disclosures on the mortgage-backed securities they issue. The two secondary giants announced their new disclosures last week, just...

LendingTree: Investors Weigh Record Earnings vs. a Rate Change.
February 10, 2003... LendingTree Inc. reported its second consecutive quarter of positive earnings per share and three years of sequential quarterly revenue growth when it released its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2002. During the quarter, the company earned...

eMortgage Alliance Goes Paperless.
February 10, 2003... Docutech Corp. here has joined with four other vendors to announce formation of the eMortgage Alliance offering to deliver a completely paperless mortgage solution today. The alliance, termed an "official collaboration," brings together...

Atlanta FHLB Gets OK on MF Plan.
February 10, 2003... The Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank has received regulatory approval to expand its Affordable Housing Multifamily Participation program so that it can invest up to $100 million in multifamily loan participations. Since 1996, the Atlanta...

Is Green Banking the Next Big Thing?
February 10, 2003... Specialists are calling earth-friendly projects and services, or "green banking," the next big trend in the mortgage market since affordable housing. Panelists at a media briefing organized by the Community Investing Campaign, a project...

Employment May Determine CRE Origination Volumes.
February 10, 2003... Though commercial mortgage originations ended 2002 on a fairly high note, the market isn't likely to exhibit any real power until this year's final quarter, according to economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Commercial Real Estate...

Employment in Metro Markets.
February 10, 2003... Lost jobs: 71 Lost 10,000+ jobs*: 17 Gained jobs: 41 Gained 10,000+ jobs*: 5 * Included in the figure above. Source: CIGNA Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Looking for the Next Subjective Commercial-Multifamily Opportunity.
February 10, 2003... Like beauty, opportunity is in the eye of the beholder. At least it is for panelists discussing their strategies at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Commercial Real Estate Finance-Multi-Family Housing Convention here last week. "An...

Fannie's Investments In MF Top $22 Billion.
February 10, 2003... Fannie Mae's multifamily investments for 2002 have topped $22 billion, the government-sponsored enterprise has reported. This figure nearly matches its record performance for 2001 despite an estimated 20% to 30% decline in the overall...

MBA Names GMAC Top CRE Servicer.
February 10, 2003... GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., Horsham, Pa., tops the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual ranking of commercial loan servicers. At the end of 2002, GMAC was administering nearly $133.8 billion in master and primary servicing, or $50.2...

Key CRE Changes Its Name to KeyBank Real Estate Capital.
February 10, 2003... Key Commercial Real Estate, a unit of KeyBank National Association, has been renamed KeyBank Real Estate Capital, to better reflect the broader scope of its operations, and some key personnel changes have been made at the commercial real estate...

Cities Perceived as the Linchpin in Efforts to Secure Prosperity.
February 10, 2003... sAmerica's cities were held out here last week as the key to the nation's future prosperity. "Cities are important," said Mayor Gus Morrison of Freemont, Calif., a city of 208,000 on the southeast side of San Francisco Bay. "If we keep...

CMSA/MBA Aiming For Data Standards.
February 10, 2003... The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association has jointly announced with the Mortgage Bankers Association that the contents of the CMSA Investor Reporting Package (IRP) will be incorporated into the MISMO data dictionary. The effect will...

Criimi Financing with Brascan Aims to Provide a Foundation for Growth.
February 10, 2003... Criimi Mae has finalized a financing with Brascan Real Estate Finance Fund, a private investment company, that is expected to provide the commercial mortgage-backed securities investing company with a platform for growth. Criimi Mae went...

Ginnie Mae Funds Come Out Ahead.
February 10, 2003... Mutual funds chiefly invested in Ginnie Mae securities topped the rankings of mortgage funds in 2002, recording an average cumulative total return of 8.35%, according to data from Lipper Inc., New York. Meanwhile, funds invested mainly in...

Selected national mortgage fund performance.
February 10, 2003... (part 1 of 3) Latest Total 1 Year Fund Net Assets 12-31-01 / 12-31-02 Name ($Mil) Cum Tot Ret (%) Adjustable Rates...

Roundup: Moody's Pegs CMBS Worldwide Total for 2002 at $104 Billion.
February 10, 2003... Commercial mortgage-backed securities issuance worldwide totaled $104 billion in 2002, according to Moody's Investors Service. Among the countries and regions contributing to that total, Moody's said, were the United States, where $66...

Anti-Predatory Act Introduced In New Mexico Senate.
February 10, 2003... New anti-predatory lending legislation was introduced last week in the New Mexico legislature that was reportedly modeled after legislation already drafted in California, North Carolina, Georgia and New York. SB 449, the New Mexico Home...

Delta Reports $17.6 Million Net Income for 2002.
February 10, 2003... Delta Financial Corp. here reported net income of $17.6 million for 2002, the first annual profit the once-troubled firm has posted since 2000. This now makes five consecutive profitable quarters for Delta. For the year ended on Dec. 31,...

Hurt in 1998, Two Lenders Who Hung on Until 2002 Found It Paid Off.
February 10, 2003... During the middle 1990s, the subprime industry, spurred on by Wall Street's appetite for its product, was in growth mode. Then it hit the wall in 1998, suffering when investors pulled money out of riskier investments in a search for...

Home Equity Securitizations Viewed as Increasing But Slower than '02.
February 10, 2003... Home equity securitizations in 2003 should reach $130 billion, only slightly less than last year's record breaking volume of $132 billion, Moody's Investors Service has reported. "In 2003, the market is expected to be driven by...

Moody's and Fitch Make GFLA Moves.
February 10, 2003... Moody's Investors Service and Fitch, in separate announcements last week, said they would give heightened scrutiny to investor liability for securitized residential mortgages as a result of the Georgia Fair Lending Act. The act, which...

'Monthly Late Pays Rise 1%-6% on HE ABS'.
February 10, 2003... Monthly delinquencies have increased 1%-6% on a relative basis for almost all vintages of fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage pools backing subprime, home equity asset-backed securities, Credit Suisse First Boston has reported. One...

Would You Like to Get More NMN Data?
February 10, 2003... Each week, NMN brings you the top rankings from our comprehensive surveys of the mortgage industry. But if you would like to plug in deeper into our world of data, you can learn more about sectors such as these we've recently highlighted:...

Ney Pushing to Pre-Empt State Moves.
February 10, 2003... Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, the new chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing, plans to make a big push to pass a predatory lending bill that provides consumer protections and pre-empts state predatory lending laws. "Are...

Legislation Moving to 'Fix' GFLA.
February 10, 2003... Legislation has been introduced here in both the House and Senate to alleviate some of the misery mortgage funders and investors are feeling from the Georgia Fair Lending Act. Once reconciled into a final bill, language introduced in House...

GE to Acquire the U.K.'s First National.
February 10, 2003... GE Consumer Finance, the consumer credit services business of General Electric Co., has agreed to acquire United Kingdom-based First National's secured and unsecured lending business from Abbey National plc for PN848 million (about $1.39...