National Mortgage News articles from June 2004

National Mortgage News archives from June 2004

Inside Track.
June 7, 2004... OPEN FORUM Affordable Housing Challenges 4 WHOLESALE ABN Amro Tallies a Month of Production 20 SECURITIZATION The Growing Presence of IOs May Have Perfomance Ramifications 21 AFFORDABLE HOUSING DPA Adds...

1Q Rockets For B&C Wholesalers.
June 7, 2004... Subprime wholesale funders hit the ball out of the stadium in the first quarter with several firms more than doubling their loan production. The stellar performance by the nation's top-ranked subprime funders came as rising interest rates...

Subprime Residential Wholesale Gainers in Q1.
June 7, 2004... ($ in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name, Location 1 Franklin Mortgage Funding, Southfield, MI 2 Homecomings/GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis, MN 3 Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, CA 4 MILA,...

NAMB Exec: Refinancing Boom Hasn't Ended.
June 7, 2004... The rise in interest rates seen this year doesn't mean that the refinancing boom has ended, according to A.W. Pickel III, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers here. "The refinance boom isn't going away. People thought...

Affordability To Get Tougher?
June 7, 2004... Housing is expected to enjoy another decade of significant growth driven mainly by demand from women, minorities and immigrants, a trend that will also generate even bigger affordability challenges, according to the 2004 State of the Nation's...

DB Starts Up a Correspondent Unit.
June 7, 2004... Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. here has created a Correspondent Lending Group to purchase closed subprime loans on both a bulk and flow basis. It has hired Maxine Matteo as managing director of correspondent lending. She joins the company...

FASB Proposes Fair Value MSRs.
June 7, 2004... A controversial accounting change that had divided the mortgage industry may no longer be very divisive. That's because the Financial Accounting Standards Board has decided to let the industry have it both ways by making "fair value"...

Congressional Scrutiny of Govt.-Sponsored Enterprises Shifts to Farmer Mac.
June 7, 2004... The operations of another government-sponsored enterprise - Farmer Mac - came under congressional scrutiny last week. Like its older and larger cousins, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. is facing questions...

Countrywide Planning on Adding Subprime to Its United Kingdom Efforts.
June 7, 2004... As part of its quest to continue expanding into all things mortgages, Countrywide Home Loans here is in the throes of forming a subprime unit in the United Kingdom. Industry officials familiar with the matter said Countrywide - the largest...

Old Republic Starts New Bundling Unit.
June 7, 2004... Old Republic National Title Insurance Co., Minneapolis, has created a new unit that will be dedicated to providing bundled services and pricing solutions to mortgage brokers, community banks, savings institutions, credit unions and smaller...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
June 7, 2004... Please note that a photo of the Adams Morgan neighborhood that ran in the April 12 convention special edition of this publication should have been credited to the Washington Convention and Tourism Corp. Andrew Pollock is the president and...

Entering its Prime.
June 7, 2004... The thousands gathering this week in Salt Lake City for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' annual convention have something to cheer about: the undeniable triumph of subprime lending. The first-quarter 2004 numbers make it clear....

Affordable Housing Challenges.
June 7, 2004... Rep. Ney's statement at the opening of an oversight hearing on the Department of Housing and Urban Development is presented as our Open Forum. He is the chairman of the Housing Subcommittee. Those of us on the committee are acutely aware of...

Taking a Closer Look at What May Happen with B&C in Current Market.
June 7, 2004... Rates had dipped a little at one point prior to press time, but by and large, the byproducts of a gradual upward trend in them still seemed to be in effect last week. If you've been following our publication recently, you know that, on the...

Bank and Thrift MBS Portfolio Holdings Outstanding Top $1 Billion Mark.
June 7, 2004... Banks and thrifts added $121 billion in mortgage-backed securities to their portfolios in the first quarter as their combined MBS investments topped $1 trillion for the first time. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. quarterly report on...

House Subcom Wants More GSE Comp Data.
June 7, 2004... A list of the top earners at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now under lock and key at a House Energy Subcommittee, but two members want more information. A letter sent by Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill., to the...

AHM Gets New Ticker Symbol.
June 7, 2004... The ticker symbol for American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. on the New York Stock Exchange has changed to AHM from AHH. American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. is a mortgage real estate investment trust focused on earning net interest...

'Home Prices Rose 8.5% in Quarter'.
June 7, 2004... Those who expect home price values to fall nationwide will have to continue to wait and see if their predictions come true. The Freddie Mac Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index found home values increased 8.5% on an annual basis between the...

NACM: Small Decline in May Index.
June 7, 2004... While credit conditions remained relatively healthy, the National Association of Credit Management reported a small decline in its Credit Manager's Index for the month of May. The overall CMI declined from 62.6 in April to 60.2 in May, with...

At a Glance: Credit Strength Slips in May.
June 7, 2004... Month CMI Score May 60.2 Apr. 62.6 Mar. 60.5 Feb. 56.5 Jan. 55.3 Source: NACM Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com...

Imperial Gets Fitch's Small CMBS Loan Rating.
June 7, 2004... Fitch Ratings has given Imperial Capital Bank the first primary servicer rating specifically designated for management of small loans in commercial mortgage backed securities. ICB received a "CPS3 Small Loans" rating from Fitch, making the...

Single Borrowers Near Buying Majority, SMR Research Study Shows.
June 7, 2004... In a little-noticed, yet highly significant trend, single persons will probably become the majority of all homebuyers this year, if they haven't already, according to a new study. Hard data for 2003 will be released sometime this summer and...

AHM Processing For Signature Bank.
June 7, 2004... American Home Mortgage Corp. here is providing private-label mortgage processing services for Signature Bank, New York, through its online channel, Mortgage Select. Among the items that made the arrangement attractive to Signature Bank,...

NYC IBO Scrutinizes Battery Park City Authority's Use of Housing Funds.
June 7, 2004... Following an exception to a 1989 agreement with the Battery Park City Authority, New York City has diverted millions of affordable housing dollars to general budget purposes and plans to channel related funds to other projects, raising...

Downtown Houston Seen Undergoing Revitalization.
June 7, 2004... Downtown Houston is alive, not just with the sound of music, but also restaurants, sports venues and, best of all, people. It used to be that the 140,000 folks who worked downtown, where the National Association of Real Estate Editors...

Texas RE Developer May Build in Libya.
June 7, 2004... The eyes of Texan Gerald Hines are on Libya. Mr. Hines, whose development firm has projects in numerous locations throughout the world, told realty writers gathered here late last month that his next stop may be a coastal site in Tripoli,...

COFI Descends to Another New Low.
June 7, 2004... As other rates continue to rise, the 11th District Federal Home Loan Cost of Funds Index has set another new low. The rate for April is 1.802%, down a little over one basis point from March's 1.815%. As a sign where this index might be...

These Days, Metal Homes Are 'Tin Cities' No More, But Rather 'Urban Lofts'.
June 7, 2004... During the Great Depression, slums were often described as "tin cities." They were seedy little neighborhoods where the otherwise homeless and downtrodden lived, by one account, in rusty huts of baled-together pieces of scrap metal, bits...

Texas A&M Study Tracks Homebuying Trends Among Ethnic Groups.
June 7, 2004... Spanish-speaking Hispanics are more uncomfortable than any other ethnic group in handling business transactions in a language other than their own, according to a study of homebuying attitudes. "Real estate agents who conduct business in...

Home Inspectors and Mortgage Professionals May Have Some Common Causes.
June 7, 2004... The American Society of Home Inspectors has been building some mutually beneficial alliances with mortgage market participants and may be interested in yet further ties with the real estate finance industry, the group's president said in an...

First Franklin Produced $2B+ in Month.
June 7, 2004... First Franklin Financial Corp. here originated $2.44 billion in mortgage loans in April, making the month the company's "highest-funded April" in its "nonconforming lending history." The company's wholesale division funded over $2.27...

ABN Amro Tallies April Production.
June 7, 2004... ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. here originated $8.2 billion in April, a dollar volume that was higher than what was seen in March but lower than that seen a year ago. "AAMG's production grew in each successive month of the first quarter of...

ABN Amro Mortgage Group: April Volumes by Loan Channel.
June 7, 2004... InterFirst (Wholesale) $6.3 Billion National Lending Center $923 Million Standard Fed/LaSalle Bank $816 Million ABN Amro Mortgage Unit $138 Million Total: $8.2 Billion ...

Brokers May Find New Resources at NRT.
June 7, 2004... A new training program is getting underway at No Red Tape, a national residential wholesaler located in the Sherman Oaks section of this city. "Prior to this, all we had were teletrainers," said Delaina Mitchell, the company's new national...

The Growing Presence of IOs May Have Ramifications for Performance.
June 7, 2004... Interest-only mortgages can represent as much as two-thirds of adjustable-rate mortgage pools securitized by some of the largest issuers, up from none at the beginning of 2002, according to a recent Moody's Investors Service report. The...

Fitch Downgrades Some LB RMBS.
June 7, 2004... Fitch Ratings downgraded Class BF of Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust series 2000-LB1, group 1 to BB-minus from BB and removed from Rating Watch Negative. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on 13 classes in two Long Beach residential...

Downpayment Assistance Provider Adds Another Affordable Housing Tool.
June 7, 2004... The Nehemiah Corp. of America has added to its product mix yet another unique tool that benefits the affordable housing marketplace. The downpayment assistance provider launched the "Nehemiah Listing System," an Internet marketing tool...

Officials from Fannie, Lenders Celebrate the Opening of Chicago Housing.
June 7, 2004... Fannie Mae chairman and chief executive officer Franklin D. Raines joined local politicians, community developers, lenders and other partners in celebrating the opening of the first of several phases of mixed-income housing at Lake Park...

Illinois Law to Make High-Priced Areas More Accessible to Lower Incomes.
June 7, 2004... Within the next year, Illinois is expected to become the fourth state to have a law requiring wealthier municipalities to develop plans for construction or rehabilitation of moderate- to middle-income housing. "For builders and developers,...

Bringing Borrowers on Board at Fifth Third.
June 7, 2004... Fifth Third Bank here has been reaching out to prospective borrowers through its "homeownership mobile." The retrofitted bus, which includes resources from Freddie Mac and The Community College Foundation, has been providing various services,...

'U.S. REITs Lead Worldwide Correction in Realty Stocks'.
June 7, 2004... Fears of rising interest rates contributed to a sharp drop in the stock prices of REITs in America during April. But it turns out the trend was not limited to the United States, according to ResearchWorld.com. Fifteen countries saw the real...

At a Glance: U.S REITs & the Stock Market.
June 7, 2004... REITs listed on AMEX or NYSE: 354 REITs as % of U.S. Stock Market: 2% U.S. REIT Price Decline in April: 15.8% Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com

RE Firms to Benefit From Index Change?
June 7, 2004... When the widely followed Russell 3000 Index, which measures the performance of the 3,000 largest public companies, is rebalanced in early June, some real estate companies could benefit form the move, according to analysts at Sandler O'Neill &...

REIT Transactions at a Glance.
June 7, 2004... Credit Suisse First Boston has acquired a 75% interest in a Manhattan office property for an equity interest of $60 million from an SL Green joint venture, and has refinanced the property with a $238.5 million, interest-only, 10-year fixed rate...

Multifamily Transactions at a Glance.
June 7, 2004... Related Capital has closed, with seven investors, a $225 million corporate tax credit fund that will invest in properties under the low income housing tax credit scheme. BNP Res. Prop. has acquired a 346-unit Durham, N.C., multifamily...

Commercial Transactions at a Glance.
June 7, 2004... Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has arranged fixed rate mortgage financing totaling $108 million through Nationwide LIC, at 5.06% and 4.72%, for two warehouse portfolios totaling four million sq. feet. Heritage Property Trust has provided a bridge...

Piper Rudnick: No Election Impact.
June 7, 2004... The upcoming presidential election this year is likely to affect the outlook for real estate investment, according to respondents to a survey on real estate investment and development issues, trends and forecasts, by the law firm Piper Rudnick....

Assisted Living Concepts May Appoint Advisor.
June 7, 2004... Assisted Living Concepts is considering the appointment of a financial advisor to assist the company in "exploring various strategic alternatives," the provider of assisted living services reports. Due to this, and other considerations,...

HEI Hospitality Closes Equity Fund.
June 7, 2004... HEI Hospitality, a hotel investment company, has closed a $275 million equity fund for investment in hotel properties. The fund - whose participants include institutional investors, individuals, and HEI principals and employees - will focus...

Tech Vendors See Benefits from In-House Sales Force.
June 7, 2004... Ellie Mae's decision to restructure its sales force by going from an independent effort to a full-time employed sales department has highlighted the fact that a number of mortgage technology vendors who have significant market share in their...

Appintell Transforms Its Fraud Tool into Automation Freddie Mac Can Use.
June 7, 2004... Appintell here has customized its DISSCO fraud tool for Freddie Mac. The new version of the fraud-detection application is called SHERLOQ. As part of the agreement, Appintell will retain ownership of the new SHERLOQ product and plans to...

Fannie 'Dream' Goes to Ohio Region.
June 7, 2004... Fannie Mae has launched the "American Dream Commitment" for central and southern Ohio, a new $25 billion investment strategy designed to help provide affordable homeownership and rental opportunities for over 225,000 individuals and families in...

Wilshire Closes on Sale of Servicing Unit.
June 7, 2004... Wilshire Financial Services Group has officially closed on the sale of its mortgage servicing unit to Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital. Wilshire said proceeds from the cash sale, net of related costs, were $48 million, subject to adjustments. ...

Certain Bear ABS Placed Under Review.
June 7, 2004... Two certificates from a series of Bear Stearns asset-backed securities issued in 2001 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. The deal, Bear Stearns Home Loan Owner Trust 2001-A Home Loan-Backed...

Total Lending Remains Strong in U.K., But Refi Volumes Are Waning.
June 7, 2004... Total gross lending in the United Kingdom rose for the second month in a row during April - but refinances declined to a low not seen since 2002, according to estimates provided by the Council of Mortgage Lenders here. "Total lending shows...

Chase CMBS Class Gets Downgraded.
June 7, 2004... Class I of Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp.'s mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1997-2, has been downgraded from B-minus to CCC by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also upgraded two classes in the deal and affirmed the ratings on...

Legal Services: A Patchwork Of Laws.
June 7, 2004... So-called predatory lending has become a key issue in legal services. It covers a wide range of practices from asset-based lending, or equity stripping, to fraud and deceit. Some practices are clearly illegal while others are intended to...

'Purchaser Can't Test for Compliance in Secondary'.
June 7, 2004... Jeffrey Marston, a partner with the law firm Lotstein Buckman LLP, Washington, is seeing purchasers of loan pools in the secondary market become more cautious of assignee liability. His clients are becoming less willing to negotiate buying and...

Do State Lawmakers Know Mortgages?
June 7, 2004... There can be dire consequences for lenders who don't understand the rules relating to predatory lending. That is why it's so important to educate customers about the laws in different jurisdictions, according to Ron Swafford, chief legal...

Living Without a State Predatory Lending Law.
June 7, 2004... Predatory lending is a hot topic given the softening in the market. Most insiders expect predatory lending to be on the rise going forward, but Louisiana doesn't have a law in existence to deal with this trend and is forced to fall back on...

South Carolina Law to Focus On Broker Responsibility.
June 7, 2004... Once the term "predatory lending" was coined, the phrase took on a life of its own, according to John Hearn, an attorney with the Columbia, S.C.-based Rogers Townsend & Thomas PC, a firm that focuses on default services, real estate and...

People.
June 7, 2004... CALIFORNIA Laguna Hills-QuestSoft has hired Carey Aimone, a 14-year veteran of the compliance industry, as an account executive. AE responsibilities at the company include the sales and marketing of QuestSoft's compliance services and...

WaMu Sees Transition.
June 7, 2004... Washington Mutual's chairman and CEO says that this is shaping up to be a transition year in which mortgage banking becomes a less powerful component of his company's performance. While not providing new earnings guidance, Mr. Killinger...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
June 7, 2004... MIEC Index: 176.4 Change: -1.7 (part 1 of 2) Company 5/27/2004 6/3/2004 Wkly.% Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 38.13 37.78...

Publicly-Traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
June 7, 2004... B&C Stock Price Index: 242.4 Change: -1.3 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 6/3/2004 Aames (AMSF) 1.75 5.40 2.75 American Business Fin. (ABFI) ...

Inside Track.
June 14, 2004... EDITORIAL Outsourcing allows remotely located lender to capitalize on national expertise 4 OPEN FORUM Let's keep pursuing homeownership for the under privileged and under served 4 STREET SMARTS The Fed's likely...

Brokers Get Outreach Challenge.
June 14, 2004... Outgoing National Association of Mortgage Brokers' president A.W. Pickel III issued a personal challenge to mortgage brokers to fill the needs of certain underserved communities in America. At the group's annual convention here, he quoted a...

MPF Founder Leaving Chi. FHLB Post.
June 14, 2004... Alex Pollock, the father of the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, is stepping down as president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago at month's end to become a scholar at a Washington think tank. The sudden announcement caught both...

BrokerScore to Define Registry?
June 14, 2004... At the annual National Association of Mortgage Brokers' conference here, former NAMB president A.W. Pickel III expressed a strong interest in using Sysdome's new BrokerScore product as a starting point for the formation of a national broker...

Less Pressure On New Leader.
June 14, 2004... Like most people about to take over the top post at a major trade association, Bob Armbruster had some trepidations about becoming the new president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. After all, it's a big responsibility to...

High-Cost Charge for Wells.
June 14, 2004... A class-action lawsuit has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County here by borrowers against Wells Fargo Financial, alleging that Wells has violated the Illinois Interest Act, which prohibits loans with interest rates above 8% from...

Per Loan Origination Costs in Q1 04.
June 14, 2004... (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Navy FCU Merrifield, VA 2 Fidelity Bank Wichita, KS 3 Ridgewood Savings Bank Ridgewood, NY ...

House Panel Approves Zero-Downpayment FHA Mortgages.
June 14, 2004... The House Financial Services Committee has approved a bill that would allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure zero-downpayment loans for first-time homebuyers. Besides foregoing a 3% downpayment on FHA loans, the bill (H.R....

Calyx Backs Off Part of Suit.
June 14, 2004... Calyx Software here has withdrawn the preliminary injunction against Ellie Mae that sought to stop Ellie Mae from producing and selling its Encompass product, but the lawsuit alleging that the company has committed copyright infringement is...

NAMB Wants Study of State Laws.
June 14, 2004... The National Association of Mortgage Brokers is putting out a request for a proposal that calls for a comprehensive study of how state anti-predatory lending laws have affected credit availability. The study will be similar to one the...

A Fan of Outsourcing.
June 14, 2004... In the ongoing discussion many in the industry are having about whether or not to outsource, one lender is tilting towards vendors, big time. And while geographic remoteness has had something to do with making outsourcing attractive for...

The Dream of Homeownership.
June 14, 2004... Mr. Syron recently addressed the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Excerpts of his remarks are presented as our Open Forum. In 1968, President Johnson challenged America, saying: "Surely a nation that can go to the...

Rate Hike Expectations Seen Keeping FRM Rates Relatively Low.
June 14, 2004... Once again, although there had been some fluctuation, the rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield and other rate-linked cyclical indicators at press time late Thursday morning appeared to be pointing toward a continuing upward trend and a...

Selected 30-Year Fixed-Rate Prepayments.
June 14, 2004... (For May Period) Cpn Year WAC Fctr May '04 Apr '04 Fannie Mae 5.50 2004 5.92 .969 10.2 16.9 Fannie Mae 5.50 2003 5.94 .806 22.8 35.3 Fannie Mae ...

Plunge Seen in Prepayment Speeds.
June 14, 2004... Prepayment rates for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities plunged among major coupons during the May reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. The constant prepayment rates of Fannie Mae 5.5%...

Servicing Values Rise Dramatically - MIAC.
June 14, 2004... It would appear that the long-awaited recovery in the value of residential servicing rights is finally here. According to a new report released by Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. here, there has been a "dramatic improvement" in servicing...

CMBS Bond Defaults 'Extraordinarily Low'.
June 14, 2004... Defaults on commercial mortgage-backed securities have been "extraordinarily low" during the 14-year history of the bonds, according to a study by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency is however expecting a "gradual rise" in below-investment...

Lender Advocate Website Offered as Compliance Clearing House.
June 14, 2004... An old saying has it that everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it. Now DocuTech Corp. here has launched a new interactive website to help mortgage lenders tame a tornado of legislation blowing across the country....

Broker Consolidator Offering Securities.
June 14, 2004... Consumer Direct of America, a consolidator of mortgage brokerages here, has commenced a private securities offering. Each unit of the offering consists of one share of the publicly traded company's common stock and a warrant to purchase an...