National Mortgage News articles from July 2005

National Mortgage News archives from July 2005

Inside Track.
July 11, 2005... EDITORIAL Second Half Outlook 4 OPEN FORUM Tria Is Not Necessary 4 STREET SMARTS Rate Indicator Indicates What? 5 EQUITIES Ratings And Offerings 8 TECHNOLIGY ...

GSE Reform Headway Slow.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Efforts to pass a GSE regulatory reform bill this year are running into strong headwinds as old controversies continue to rage and new provisions become contentious. At the beginning of the year, it was taken for granted that...

Commercial/MF Up 2.4%.
July 11, 2005... The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding continued to grow in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's analysis of Federal Reserve Board flow of funds data. At the end of the first quarter...

MISMO and Institute Align.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- MISMO is making inroads to standardize the appraisal sector. Property data standards are in the final stages of approval and MISMO has entered into an alliance with the Appraisal Institute that will hopefully result in one...

New Mortgage Head at WaMu.
July 11, 2005... SEATTLE -- Washington Mutual has hired a CitiMortgage veteran to head its home loan unit. David Schneider, previously president and COO of St. Louis-based CitiMortgage, has been named president of Washington Mutual's home loan division...

IO Loans: Friend or Foe?
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The national media thinks it has found a story in interest-only loans and the story is this: buyer beware. In this case, the "buyer" is the consumer and not the secondary market agency or investment banking house that winds up...

Subprime Interest-Only Loans.
July 11, 2005... Product % of Loans Seriously Time Type Current Delinquent Rate Period B&C Interest-only 95.0% 1.2% March 2005 B&C Non IOs 85.6% 6.20% ...

Seattle FHLB Profits Plunge.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Seattle Federal Home Loan Bank reported a 46% decline in first-quarter profits from a year ago as the troubled bank exits the mortgage purchase business and focuses on advance lending as its primary business. "The Seattle...

Countrywide Will Acquire Homebuilder's Mortgage Subsidiary.
July 11, 2005... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Financial Corp. here is buying the mortgage subsidiary of KB Home, Los Angeles. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the deal to buy KB Home Mortgage, the two parties will form a 50-50...

KB Home to Pay $3.2 Million Fine.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The mortgage subsidiary of KB Home, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, has agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle allegations it engaged in poor underwriting practices in originating Federal Housing Administration...

Bank of America Deal Clouds Future for Nexstar Financial.
July 11, 2005... ST. CHARLES, MO -- The future of Nexstar Financial Corp. here is unknown as that company has been dragged into the acquisition of the private-label mortgage banker's brand-new parent company MBNA Corp., Wilmington, Del., by Bank of America...

Lenders Get O.K. For Faxing Rates.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage lenders can continue to fax "rate" sheets without getting prior permission from mortgage brokers under a bill passed by Congress just before the July 4 weekend. The bill (S. 714) restores an exemption for sending...

The Calm Before the Storm?
July 11, 2005... Mortgage interest rates currently are like a sailing boat anchored in a snug harbor. They have drifted gently with the tides, up and down a few basis points each week, for months now. And to continue the nautical metaphor, if rates are to...

TRIA Is No Longer Needed.
July 11, 2005... The Treasury Department recently released a report on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, as required by Congress. The text of the letter sent by secretary Snow to Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby and ranking member Paul...

Rate Indicator Fluctuates; Turnover Bigger Risk than 'Bubble?'.
July 11, 2005... The rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield as of press time had fluctuated somewhat but in general had traded relatively higher than the previous week, continuing a trend toward cautious, short-term optimism on the origination side of the...

Letter.
July 11, 2005... To the editor: In your article in the June 20 issue of National Mortgage News, you stated that Alabama was one of nine "attorney only" states where the closing of a mortgage loan was considered the practice of law. While Section 34-3-6(c)...

HUD Secretary Jackson to Convene Series of RESPA Meetings.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary Alphonso Jackson declared a series of six roundtables as the first step in the latest effort to come up with Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act reform. At a press...

RESPA Schedule.
July 11, 2005... Thursday, July 14 *HUD RESPA roundtable, HUD Bldg. Thursday, July 21 *HUD/SBA RESPA Hearings, Los Angeles Thursday, July 28 *HUD RESPA roundtable, HUD Bldg. Thursday, Aug. 4 *HUD/SBA RESPA Hearings, Chicago ...

Congressional Budget Slashes Downpayment Assistance Program.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The House has passed a housing appropriations bill that shortchanges the president's downpayment assistance program but provides full funding for the agency that supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The White House budget...

Tax Credit Would Reward Employers.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Companies providing housing assistance to their employees would be eligible for a federal tax credit under a bill introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and two Republican senators. The employer-assisted housing program...

HomeBanc Completes $50 MM Offering.
July 11, 2005... ATLANTA -- HomeBanc has issued $50 million of trust-preferred securities through a newly formed Delaware statutory trust, HMB Capital Trust I. The securities mature on June 30, 2035 and are callable by the company, in whole or in part, at...

Margin Pressure May Hurt Banks.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- As second-quarter results start to roll in, some analysts think that big banks might see more compression of their net interest margin than many investors have anticipated. But mortgage units might come to the rescue. ...

MortgageIT Prices New Stock Offering.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- MortgageIT Holdings, a residential mortgage company organized as a real estate investment trust, has priced an offering of 9,484,306 shares of common stock at $18.25 per share, the company said in late June. However, 2,194,878...

Metavante Becomes More End-to-End With GHR and TREEV Acquisitions.
July 11, 2005... MILWAUKEE -- In a combined deal valued at $84.5 million, Metavante Corp. here has acquired both origination vendor GHR Systems and document imaging/management vendor TREEV LLC. Both companies, TREEV and GHR, will become a subsidiary of...

Fidelity Offers Interactive Mapping Service.
July 11, 2005... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Fidelity National Data Services is offering a new interactive mapping feature within its proprietary Farm Utility system, an online real estate property data and lead location service. The new interactive feature,...

AVMs Help BoA Avoid Buybacks.
July 11, 2005... NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- Though Bank of America has had to repurchase loans because of inaccuracies in standard appraisals, it has so far never had to buy back a loan valued by an automated valuation model. So said Steve Conlin, the bank's manager...

Ellie Mae/Point Face New Software Competitor.
July 11, 2005... CANONSBURG, PA -- Calyx Point and Encompass continue to battle for dominance in the broker point-of-sale software segment. However, a new vendor, TrueClose here, has entered the market with a true ASP model designed to target the same market....

Moody's Puts Italian Lender on Review.
July 11, 2005... MILAN, Italy -- Moody's Investors Service has placed UniCredito Italiano's Aa2 long-term credit rating and B+ financial strength rating on UniCredito Italiano SpA under review for possible downgrade. At the same time, Moody's has placed...

MortgageFlex Sees Opportunity.
July 11, 2005... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A number of U.S. players have faced challenges in attempting to introduce U.S.-style servicing concepts to Europe, but technology provider MortgageFlex Systems here believes there still is opportunity there. ...

Silvergate Offers Financing in Mexico.
July 11, 2005... LA JOLLA, CA -- Silvergate Funding LLC has joined the ranks of the few lenders providing loans that enable U.S. citizens to purchase homes in Mexico. "Historically, purchasing a home in Mexico has been costly and risky. Investors were...

Roundup: Prudential Raises $140 Million for German Investment.
July 11, 2005... LONDON -- Prudential Real Estate Investors has raised $140 million from institutional investors for its German residential investment strategy to invest in the expansion Stuttgart-based residential real estate investment group DeWAG Deutsche...

BoA Buys Stake in Chinese Bank.
July 11, 2005... CHARLOTTE, NC -- Bank of America Corp. has agreed to buy about 9% of the stock of China Construction Bank for $3 billion, with the option of increasing that stake in the future. CCB is currently majority owned by an entity of the government...

Moody's GSE Ratings Unchanged.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service's new rating methodology for government-related issuers has left the ratings of the major mortgage-related government-sponsored enterprises in the United States unchanged. Fannie Mae's subordinate debt...

S&P: German Ratings Safe.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- Although there will be a sea change coming to Germany's mortgage-related markets July 19 when the rules governing the country's landesbanks change, so far it looks like existing ratings on a number of related deals will remain...

Bank Regulators Change Reporting Rules on Ginnie Mae Over Dues.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Federal banking regulators have changed the reporting requirements for delinquent loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, despite opposition from Ginnie issuers. In the June 30 Call Report that banks file with...

InterFirst Expands Its Internet Menu.
July 11, 2005... ANN ARBOR, MI -- To help community banks compete effectively in local markets and respond to the needs of a wide range of potential customers, the Financial Institutions Group of InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending said it has added six new...

Administration Wants Congress to Limit Terrorism Extension.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is calling for a scaled-backed extension of a federal terrorism insurance program that is due to expire at the end of this year. In a letter to Congress, Treasury secretary John Snow said the...

Promotion Spotlight: Rick Pishalski.
July 11, 2005... American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., Melville, N.Y., has appointed Mr. Pishalski executive vice president and correspondent lending director. He was most recently correspondent channel senior executive and business manager at E*Trade...

HUD Launches Asset Control.
July 11, 2005... DALLAS -- In cooperation with the Enterprise Foundation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched the Asset Control Area program here, designed to recycle into the affordable housing marketplace foreclosed HUD properties....

Private DPA Leads to Higher Defaults: HUD.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Private downpayment assistance generally leads to lower-quality Federal Housing Administration loans with inflated property values and higher default rates, according to a long-awaited report commissioned by the Department of...

Sweat Equity A Big Positive.
July 11, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Homebuyers who invest "sweat equity" to help construct their own homes and their communities through "mutual self-help housing" construction become more responsible homeowners, according to the Housing Assistance Council report,...

IL Mortgage Lender Buys Bloomfield Hills Bancorp in Michigan.
July 11, 2005... BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI -- Chicago-based mortgage lender PrivateBancorp Inc. has completed a deal for $64 million in cash to acquire Bloomfield Hills Bancorp Inc. here. The suburban Detroit company operates three locations in affluent...

Option ARM Payment Shock Eyed.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- When it comes to sizing up the risk in the option ARM loans that have become increasingly popular in today's securitized market, the main concern is payment shock, according to Mark Douglass, head of Fitch's research and modeling...

Moody's Rates Some Neg-Am MBS.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service has rated a number of negative-amortization loan securitizations recently, including: * WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, series 2005-AR6, which includes approximately $2.87 billion of rated...

S&P Reassesses Sector's CE Levels.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Service has determined that additional credit enhancement is needed in U.S. option adjustable-rate mortgage loan deals. "Recently, option ARMs have become increasingly prevalent in the market. After...

Credit Data Use Seen in Hong Kong.
July 11, 2005... HONG KONG -- The use of positive information for credit reporting and scoring for existing bank customers has begun here, according to Chicago-based credit reporting company TransUnion. The use of the information, which began June 2,...

Ameriquest Deals Receive Ratings.
July 11, 2005... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service has rated a number of transactions collateralized by loans originated by nonprime lender Ameriquest or one of its affiliates, including: * Park Place Securities Series 2005-WCW1, which includes about...

Roundup: BrooksAmerica Creates a Specialty Lending Division.
July 11, 2005... SANTA ANA, CA -- BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp. here has created a Specialty Lending Division which will originate what it calls "alt-B" mortgages through the wholesale channel. Until now, BrooksAmerica had been a prime credit lender, but by...

Alaska no longer top spot to lend.
July 11, 2005... ANN ARBOR, MI -- Alaska is no longer on the University Financial Associates list of Best Place to Lend for nonprime lenders. The spring 2005 list retains the other seven states that were on the winter 2005 list: the oil-producing states of...

Liberty American Cuts Prices.
July 11, 2005... ROSEVILLE, CA -- Nonprime/alternative-A credit mortgage banker Liberty American has reduced the prices of its fixed-rate 30-year and fixed-rate 40/30 loans. The new pricing structure will be 1/8% below the currently featured...

U.K. 'Nonstandard' Market Grows.
July 11, 2005... DUBLIN, Ireland -- The United Kingdom's equivalent of the nonprime market, often referred to as the "nonstandard market," is getting increased attention as mainstream players look for ways to grow, according to a report by Research and Markets....

Brokers, Correspondents to Get Improved View of MILA Products.
July 11, 2005... MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, WA -- MILA Inc. here is introducing technology that will allow mortgage brokers and correspondents to see a greater array of products side-by-side. Chief executive Layne Sapp explained that the user could take the...

Verifying Accuracy In Valuations.
July 11, 2005... CLEVELAND -- Appraisal Management Co. here has incorporated Quality Review Plus into its Vantex technology platform. Quality Review Plus is a decision-making tool designed to identify residential valuations that are potentially inaccurate...

MindBox Helps Conforming Lenders Enter the Nonprime Sector.
July 11, 2005... ALPHARETTA, GA -- The nonprime sector is very different when compared to dealing with conventional, conforming borrowers. The traditional loan officer has to be schooled in finding the right product and developing strategies to decrease a...

People.
July 11, 2005... CALIFORNIA San Francisco-The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has named Daniel Cooke vice president and assistant general counsel and Michael Yeh vice president, enterprise risk management. Mr. Cooke provides legal counsel and...

Lenders, Habitat Build in Detroit.
July 11, 2005... DETROIT -- Metro Detroit's top lenders helped Habitat for Humanity open the doors to new homes during President Jimmy Carter's Work Project in June. The former president hammered nails and passed out bibles to new homeowners while...

Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
July 11, 2005... B&C Stock Price Index: 228.7 Change: -0.6 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 7/7/2005 Aames (AIC) 2.10 12.00 9.86 American Business Fin. (ABFIQ) ...

Inside Track.
July 18, 2005... EDITORIAL One Hot Re Market 4 OPEN FORUM Fed On Homeownership 4 STREET SMARTS New GMAC Unit 5 EQUITIES Offerings And Earnings 10 SECURITIZATION European MBS Down...

ARM Market Continues Red Hot.
July 18, 2005... In the first quarter, mortgage funders continued their love affair with adjustable-rate products with ARMs accounting for a majority of originations at many top-ranked firms. According to exclusive survey figures compiled by National...

ARM Volume Leaders in 1Q 2005.
July 18, 2005... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 3 Washington Mutual 4 Chase Home Finance 5 CitiMortgage, Inc. ...

HUD Wants Openness On RESPA.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- To kick-start a second RESPA reform effort, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has finally revealed the contents of its Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act rule that it shelved in March 2004 due to fierce industry...

Strong Volume, But Price War.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Profit margins on conventional production have been razor thin since the refinancing boom peaked in late 2003, but now a "price war" of sorts is raging in the nonconforming sector. Interviews with industry executives conducted...

MBA: Tech Spending Up.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Mortgage Bankers Association here released highlights from its 2005 Technology Study, which said technology spending between 2004 and 2005 was up 14% over the previous year, and technology budgets are expected to climb by...

Fairbanks Tops FTC's Complaint List.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Fairbanks Capital Corp., Salt Lake City, a subprime servicer with a history of predatory allegations against it, topped the Federal Trade Commission's complaint list last year. According to a Freedom of Information Act request...

Complaints Against Mortgage Firms.
July 18, 2005... Mortgage Firm's # of Complaints Filed '04 Rank '04 Rank Name Against in 2004 as Servicer as Lender Fairbanks Capital (1) 788 30 na Countrywide Home...

Freddie Mac Extends Hurricane Relief.
July 18, 2005... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac said last week that its "full menu of relief policies for borrowers affected by disasters" was being extended to victims of Hurricane Dennis. Ingrid Beckles, Freddie Mac's vice president of default asset...

Oxley Is Steadfast On TRIA Support.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee signaled last week that he is determined to extend a federal terrorism insurance program and will move ahead with legislation even if the Bush administration raises...

Flagstar's Home Loan Volume Dips.
July 18, 2005... DETROIT -- Second-quarter loan production results brought good and bad news for Detroit's No. 3 lender, Flagstar Bank. In its breakout of second-quarter loan production figures, the bank is boasting of its increase in consumer and commercial...

Farmer Mac Pursues Global Debt.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., a congressionally chartered secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgage loans, has formed a global debt program to finance future growth opportunities. ...

Hot and Heavy.
July 18, 2005... As the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers prepares for its annual meeting this week in Kissimmee, Fla., a real estate frenzy in the state is reaching a crescendo. Not even reminders of Mother Nature's occasional interventions with...

Traditional Paths to Ownership.
July 18, 2005... Excerpts of Gov. Olson's remarks at the recent Community Development Policy Summit at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland are presented as our Open Forum. Owning a home is one of the most tried-and-true paths to wealth accumulation in...

ResCap Sees Bright Future Despite GM's Financial Troubles.
July 18, 2005... The significance of the new Residential Capital Corp.'s creation, boils down to improved prospects for investors and an enhanced form of the status quo for its industry business partners and employees, according to co-CEOs Bruce Paradis and...

Flagstar Selects Compliance Software.
July 18, 2005... BOSTON -- As banks work to keep up with rapidly changing legislation, Flagstar Bank has selected PCi's Wiz Sentinel to combat predatory lending issues. Wiz Sentinel automates the processes involved in managing anti-predatory lending compliance...

Home-Equity Overdues Rise.
July 18, 2005... Washington -- Bucking a trend toward credit quality improvement, delinquency rates on home-equity loans and lines of credit increased in the first quarter of this year, according to the American Bankers Association. The delinquency rate...

Bernanke: Housing Will Stay Strong.
July 18, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The president's new economic adviser contends rapidly raising house prices are the result of a strong economy and he does not appear to be concerned about the potential of a housing bubble. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the...

Bear Stearns: Payment Shock Not a Systemic Risk.
July 18, 2005... NEW YORK -- The payment shock risk posed by interest-only and negative-amortization loans is a concern, but the percentage of these loans in the overall market is too small to consider them a "systemic risk," a Bear Stearns researcher said in a...

Thomson Augments E-Trading Platform.
July 18, 2005... JERSEY CITY, NJ -- Thomson TradeWeb has launched what it said is the first ever multi-dealer-to-customer electronic trading platform for the tri-party repurchase agreement market. (This publication originally shared the same parent company as...

President Leaves NY Mortgage Trust amid Cost Cutting Moves.
July 18, 2005... NEW YORK -- New York Mortgage Trust here said its president and chief investment officer Ray Redlingshafer has resigned from those positions as well as from his seat on the company's board of directors. The statement issued by the company...

Conference Features Top Women Lenders.
July 18, 2005... MEDFORD, NJ -- What do the best producers and managers do when they get to the top of their game? They get better. That premise is at the core of the Third Annual Top Women Producers and Managers Conference scheduled Oct. 7-9 at the Broadmoor...

Lennar Sees Higher Income, Growing Backlog of Orders for Homes.
July 18, 2005... MIAMI -- For the second quarter of 2005, homebuilder Lennar Corp. reported operating earnings of $431.5 million, up 34% from the same period in 2004. The company's backlog value increased 25% to $7.3 billion. Second-quarter net earnings...

Zacks Highlights Mortgage Stocks.
July 18, 2005... CHICAGO -- Zacks growth and income profit track, a strategy that looks for companies with unusually high-dividend yields, points to several mortgage and real estate stocks as strong picks for investors, the company said. Zacks describes...

RCC Files for IPO.
July 18, 2005... PHILADELPHIA -- Resource Capital Group has filed a registration statement with the SEC for the initial public offering of $287.5 million of common stock. RCC said a substantial majority of the stock to be offered will be newly issued stock...

M&T Bank Sees MSR Impairment.
July 18, 2005... BUFFALO, NY -- M&T Bank Corp. here said second-quarter earnings per share rose 10% on a year-over-year basis, despite a $27 million hit to its mortgage servicing rights. M&T said EPS was $1.69 in the second quarter, reflecting net income...

Two Firms Join New Russell Index.
July 18, 2005... NEW YORK -- Capital Senior Living Corp., Dallas, and First Union Real Estate Equity and Mortgage Investments, Boston, have been included in the new Russell Microcap Index. Capital Senior Living is one of the country's largest operators of...