National Mortgage News articles from June 2006

National Mortgage News archives from June 2006

Inside Track.
June 5, 2006... EDITORIAL Truly Nonconforming 4 OPEN FORUM A Bad Report 4 STREET SMARTS Syron Comments 5 EUITIES Stock Reports And Earnings 8 Nmn.com The New Guy ...

Fannie Mae 'Sought to Undercut Probe'.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON -- In a last-ditch effort to distract attention from its accounting problems, Fannie Mae used its clout on Capitol Hill to "undermine" and "discredit" a special examination of its books, according to a report by the Office of Federal...

Freddie Now Faces Limits On Portfolio.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight could impose portfolio limits on Freddie Mac, the company's chairman warned investors last week, which would potentially put Freddie in the same boat as Fannie Mae. The new...

Top Residential Servicers at 3-31-06.
June 5, 2006... (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. 6 Bank...

Freddie Mac's Earnings Dive.
June 5, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac's 2005 earnings fell 27% from 2004 as the costs of a recent securities settlement, accounting changes and Hurricane Katrina weighed down earnings. But declining net interest margins also factored into Freddie Mac's...

NAMB Seeing New Progress.
June 5, 2006... SANDUSKY, OH -- Jim Nabors assumed the presidency of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers nearly one year ago with an ambitious plan for the organization. Among his big issues were to improve industry education and to increase the...

AmGen Shuts Correspondent.
June 5, 2006... EVANSVILLE, IN -- American General Financial Services here has reportedly closed its correspondent loan channel, according to an executive who has done business with the company. The executive, requesting anonymity, said his secondary...

Fannie's Purchases Rise while Freddie's Fall.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae saw its loan purchases rise in April while its chief competitor, Freddie Mac, suffered a decline. Fannie, which is working its way through an accounting scandal, acquired $52.08 billion from its approved...

Sale of Irwin Said to Be Near.
June 5, 2006... FISHERS, IN -- The sale of Irwin Mortgage here, a top 40 ranked lender and servicer, could be announced as soon as this week, according to industry sources. Late last week, details were still being worked out with a buyer, sources said....

FHA Sees 'Premium Calculator' in Its Future.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Government is famous for moving at a glacial speed. But not the "New FHA." Though the first major congressional overhaul of the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance program in a decade has a long way to go in a...

Editorial: Truly Nonconforming.
June 5, 2006... It takes a truly nonconforming lender to ignore the greatest bull market in fixed-rate mortgages in history and make nothing but adjustable loans in recent years. But that's what Thornburg Mortgage of Santa Fe, NM has done, and it is hard...

Open Forum: Fannie Mae 'Stonewalled OFHEO'.
June 5, 2006... Mr. Lockhart's recent remarks in briefing the press on his agency's report of Fannie Mae's accounting and management failures at OFHEO's office in Washington are presented as our Open Forum. As a government-sponsored enterprise, Fannie Mae...

FOMC Considered 50 BP Hike; Syron Comment Gets Attention.
June 5, 2006... Among noteworthy market news last week was the revelation that the Federal Open Market Committee last month, before deciding to once again raise the fed funds rate 25 basis points, not only considered leaving it unchanged, as expected, but also...

California Judge Nixes Title Insurance Lawsuit.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- A federal judge in the Northern District of California has thrown out a lawsuit by the American Land Title Association against 18 insurance companies or insurance-related corporations which alleged the firms were selling title...

CDFIs Help Finance 43,000 Affordable Housing Units.
June 5, 2006... PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. community development financial institutions invested $3.5 billion in 2004 creating "a wide range of economic opportunities" in communities often overlooked by traditional investors, including 43,000 affordable housing...

Roundup: Moody's Downgrades CMBS on Concern about Big Loan.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of Commercial Mortgage Acceptance Corp. commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1998-C1, have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. Class L was downgraded from Caa1 to Caa2, and class M was...

ABFS Deal on Watch.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M of American Business Financial Services Mortgage Loan Trust series 2003-2 has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency also affirmed the rating on one other class in the deal. The...

Ace HE Deal Downgraded.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes of Ace Securities Corp.'s asset-backed pass-through certificates, series 2004-HE1, have been downgraded and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: class M-4, from...

Bear Stearns CMBS Downgraded.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes of Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc., commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1998-C1, have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: class H, from...

Another Bear Deal on Watch.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M of Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Inc. series 2003-ABF1 has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The rating agency also affirmed the rating on one other class in the deal. Fitch attributed...

First Franklin Deal Downgraded.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three certificates from First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust series 2002-FF2 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: class M-1, from Aa2 to A2; class M-2, from A2 to Ba1; and class M-3, from...

Franklin Credit Management Sees Higher Revenue.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Franklin Credit Management, a company that acquires, originates, services and resolves performing and troubled residential mortgage loans, saw revenue rise 43% to $38.7 million in the first quarter. However, net income declined...

RCC Moves Ahead With Stock Offer.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- The SEC has declared effective a stock registration statement from Resource Capital Corp., a real estate investment trust. The registration statement relates to the resale of 14,450,800 shares of common stock from a private...

Analyst Is Keen on Capital One's Prospects after Acquisition Deals.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Credit card giant Capital One Financial Corp. has diversified its business by purchasing banks that have active mortgage units lately, and that's a good thing, an analyst at A.G. Edwards says. Capital One is the nation's fifth...

Slatin Likes Equity Inns.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Equity Inns, a real estate investment trust that owns upscale, extended-stay hotel properties in the U.S., has attracted the attention of the Forbes/Slatin Real Estate Report. Peter Slatin, editor of the report, recommends...

New Treasury Secretary Goes from Wall Street to White House.
June 5, 2006... Street Vet Tapped to Head Treasury President Bush has nominated Wall Street veteran Henry Paulson to be his new Treasury secretary and take over for Secretary John Snow, who submitted his resignation Monday morning. Mr. Paulson started his...

CFC Reiterates EPS Guidance.
June 5, 2006... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Financial Corp. has reaffirmed its 2006 earnings guidance, which was provided back in April, reiterating a range of $3.90 to $4.80 per diluted share. Countrywide said its earnings guidance reflects an...

Sunrise Changes Company's Name.
June 5, 2006... SHANGHAI, China -- Sunrise Real Estate Development Group Inc. has changed its corporate name to Sunrise Real Estate Group Inc. in order to "more accurately describe the business operations of the company." The company has its common stock...

Synergy Mortgage Drops Net Branches.
June 5, 2006... WACO, TX -- Synergy Mortgage here discontinued what is left of its net branch operation as of June 1. While the chairman, chief executive and president of its parent company Synergy Bank, Joe L. Williams, did not disclose the reasons...

Our Posters Are Looking for a Few Good Employees in Florida.
June 5, 2006... DannyOceans: Why is it so hard to find good people to work for you? We're a company that has a lot to offer, yes a company, not a net branch. We provide leads both for refis and purchases. And everyone I interview seems to want the world. They...

Roundup: Acquisition Helps Scotiabank Increase Mortgage Share.
June 5, 2006... TORONTO -- Scotiabank here saw its first-quarter earnings rise 8% over the same period last year. "In domestic banking, there were substantial year-over-year volume increases in residential mortgages, credit products and retail and...

Canada Raises Central Rate.
June 5, 2006... OTTAWA -- The Bank of Canada has raised the overnight rate by 25 basis points. "The strong momentum in the global and Canadian economies has continued, although there has recently been an increased degree of volatility in commodity...

French Bank Eyes U.K. Deal.
June 5, 2006... PARIS -- Credit Agricole here said it has been "assessing" British lender Alliance and Leicester PLC "among others" as a possible acquisition target but said the evaluation is at a "preliminary stage." "Credit Agricole has not made any...

Public Offerings In Asia.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- A number of international real estate finance-related companies have listed their shares through initial public offerings recently, including Bank of China Ltd., listed in Hong Kong, and RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund, listed on...

U.K. Sees Big Realty Auction.
June 5, 2006... CHICAGO -- The London office of Jones Lang LaSalle here recently held a property auction and it said was the largest seen in the United Kingdom this year. Ninety-five commercial properties were sold in the auction for an average price of...

eLynx Promotes E-Signatures.
June 5, 2006... CINCINNATI -- eLynx Ltd. here said it has helped Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Ditech.com achieve 35% borrower conversion from paper to e-signed disclosures during the month of May. That success was achieved by training 2,500 Ditech.com loan...

Industry Veteran Joins MortgageHub.
June 5, 2006... CONSHOHOCKEN, PA -- After starting out as a banker processing loans at 15, Jackie Gerstung made the transition from banker to vendor to consultant and back to vendor. Now she is moving to MortgageHub as vice president of sales and marketing as...

New Encompass Aids Marketing.
June 5, 2006... DUBLIN, CA -- Realizing the need for brokers to perfect their marketing and customer relationship management presence, Ellie Mae has released Encompass Professional Edition to help brokers compete in a down market. Specifically, Encompass...

Proficient Turns Web Visits into Prospects with Chat Room Tech.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Proficient Systems believes many lenders may be overlooking a goldmine of potential leads: their own websites. The company has developed technology that is designed to help lenders capture more leads from consumers visiting a...

HUD 'Road Home' Grants to Aid Returning New Orleans Residents.
June 5, 2006... NEW ORLEANS -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved the "Road Home" program, a $4.6 billion rebuilding fund provided through HUD's Community Development Block Grant, as proposed by the state of Louisiana in an effort to...

People.
June 5, 2006... ARIZONA Scottsdale-First National Bank of Arizona has promoted Karen Barton to vice president correspondent lending Western division sales manager. Previously, she was an assistant vice president correspondent account executive and has...

Fitch Positive on M&T's Outlook.
June 5, 2006... CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings has revised its rating outlook for M&T Bank Corp. and its banking subsidiaries to positive from stable, while affirming the current ratings. Fitch has also upgraded the individual rating for M&T Bank to "B" from...

Indianapolis Is Nation's Foreclosure Capital.
June 5, 2006... Irvine, CA -- Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis and Denver top the list of the nation's 10 highest metropolitan foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac's first annual 2006 U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which ranks the...

LandAmerica Settles With Nevada Regulator.
June 5, 2006... CARSON CITY, NV -- LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., has entered into a settlement agreement with the Nevada Division of Insurance over captive reinsurance arrangements. LandAmerica has agreed to a settlement of approximately...

14 Members Ready to Bolt FHLB Seattle.
June 5, 2006... SEATTLE -- At least 14 financial institutions have signaled their intent to break membership ranks with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. The Seattle bank, which has been operating under a supervisory agreement since December 2004,...

RealtyTrac Blog Taking the Pulse.
June 5, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- RealtyTrac here, an online marketplace for foreclosed property, has launched a weblog, Foreclosure Pulse, as an open forum for discussion about foreclosure markets and issues. The weblog has been created to help both consumers...

Publicly Traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
June 5, 2006... B&C Stock Price Index: 224.6 Change: 2.8 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 6/1/2006 Aames (AIC) 4.97 10.35 5.36 Delta Financial Corp (DFC) ...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
June 5, 2006... MIEC Index: 160.1 Change: 1.9 (part 1 of 2) Company 5/25/2006 6/1/2006 Wkly. % Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 30.45 31.00 2%...

Enhancing Skills to Build Profit.
June 5, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- Argent Mortgage Co. here expects its newly-launched Argent University will help its approved brokers "enhance their professional skills and build their businesses." Powered by CampusMBA, the educational arm of the Mortgage...

Fitch Downgrading NYLIM Securities.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes of notes issued by NYLIM Stratford CDO 2001-1 Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation partly composed of commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. In addition,...

Resource Capital Issues Securities.
June 5, 2006... NEW YORK -- Resource Capital Corp., a real estate investment trust that focuses on investing in commercial and residential real estate assets, has issued $25 million of trust preferred securities. The securities were issued through Resource...

CRE Loan Volume Rises 34.2%.
June 5, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Continuing a pattern of growth, originations of commercial and multifamily loans by mortgage bankers rose 34.2% in the first quarter, compared to the same quarter last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. However,...

Puerto Rican Banks Reach Agreement.
June 5, 2006... SAN JUAN, PR -- Doral Financial Corp. has paid $2.4 billion to First Bancorp's banking subsidiary, substantially reducing its balance of approximately $2.9 billion in secured commercial loans from FirstBank. The commercial loans resulted...

Campus Apartments in $1B Venture.
June 5, 2006... PHILADELPHIA -- Campus Apartments, a student housing investor, has entered into a joint venture to invest as much as one billion dollars in student housing with the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., the...

Inside Track.
June 12, 2006... EDITORIAL Staying the Course 4 OPEN FORUM SEC on GSE 4 STREET SMARTS Market Focus 5 INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGES REITs Go Overseas 8 TECHNOLOGY Ellie...

$759 Billion in 1Q Production.
June 12, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Residential funders originated $759 billion in mortgages during the first quarter, a decent showing that was overshadowed by razor-thin profit margins in both the prime and nonconforming niches. According to exclusive survey...

Top Residential Originators in Q1 '06.
June 12, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 3) Rk Organization Name 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 3 Washington Mutual 4 Chase Home Finance 5 CitiMortgage, Inc. 6 Bank...

Several Years Before the GSEs Stabilize?
June 12, 2006... WASHINGTON -- It could be "several years" before the scandal-wracked government-chartered housing enterprises are out of the woods, their safety and soundness regulator told Congress last week. Even Freddie Mac, which had been thought to...

Mortgage Stocks Swept Up in Selloff.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- On the surface, last week could have been a good one for mortgage industry stocks. The average 30-year mortgage rate dipped 5 basis points, and a bond market rally suggested that mortgage rates could ease further. If only it...

Chair Claims Perjury by 2.
June 12, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House GSE Subcommittee has accused former Fannie Mae chief executive Franklin Raines and former chief financial officer Timothy Howard of perjuring themselves before Congress. Rep. Richard Baker, R-La.,...

REITs/CMBS Reach $1T.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- The issuance of real estate investment trust and commercial mortgage-backed securities has surpassed the $1 trillion mark, according to data compiled by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts and the Commercial...

Editorial: Staying the Course.(Editorial)
June 12, 2006... With 350 current customers for its E3 loan automation platform and plans to triple that quickly to 1,000, Harland Financial Solutions' Mortgage Solutions Group has shown a steadiness that is now smoothing out a once-rocky road for the...

Indian Outsource Firm Buys Mortgage Dynamics.(Company overview)
June 12, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Indecomm Global Services has acquired Mortgage Dynamics Inc. here in a continued effort to enter the U.S. mortgage market. MDI is a consulting firm that has serviced the U.S. mortgage market for 18 years. The company was...

Regional Weak Spots in Housing Pose Risk for Homebuilders: Some mortgage investors are avoiding buying loans from areas with weak housing fundamentals.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Panelists at the American Securitization Forum's meeting here last week made the question of how the recent weakening in housing may affect players in the mortgage and home-equity markets sound like a game of hot potato. ...

Open Forum: Fannie Faces Meaningful Sanction.
June 12, 2006... In late May, Mr. Cox addressed a joint news conference outlining Fannie Mae's $400 million legal settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. As part of the settlement,...

Market Returning to Its Inflation, Income and Employment Focus?
June 12, 2006... Could we be returning to the days when the housing finance industry's fate was more often connected to the fortunes of employment and income than investor buying of properties and the Fed's concern about inflation above all else was seen as a...

Freddie Mac Sets Date for Annual Meeting.
June 12, 2006... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac has set its annual meeting date for Sept. 8, at which time stockholders as of June 30 will have the opportunity to elect 13 of the company's 18 directors. All the directors elected at the annual meeting will serve...

Franklin Bank Raises Capital.
June 12, 2006... HOUSTON -- Franklin Bank Corp. said that its perpetual preferred stock, Series A Non-Cumulative, began trading on the American Stock Exchange as of May 30. The preferred stock trades under the symbol "FBK.PR." In a news release, CEO...

25 SASC Tranches Are Under Review.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Twenty-five subordinate certificates from 12 subprime home-equity loan transactions issued by Structured Asset Securities Corp.'s Amortizing Residential Collateral Trusts have been placed under review for possible downgrade by...

Asia Leads Way as REIT Concept Expands into More Countries.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- The number of countries or regions with listed REITs has quadrupled over the last dozen years or so with most of the growth seen in Asia, the moderator of a panel at the NAREIT Investor Forum here said. In 1994 there were four...

PMI Sees Canada As Growth Market.
June 12, 2006... WALNUT CREEK, CA -- PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. here, already with offices outside the U.S. in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Europe, is looking north of the border for its latest international market. The company has filed an...

Ellie Mae Integrates With Fannie Mae Technology.
June 12, 2006... DUBLIN, CA -- Ellie Mae and Fannie Mae have agreed to integrate their e-commerce technologies to improve the way brokers submit loan data to lenders. As a result of the technology collaboration, Ellie Mae will expand its LenderConnect...

PreQualPal Competes for Brokers.
June 12, 2006... HIGHLAND, CA -- A new player has entered the ring to vie with Calyx, Ellie Mae, Lenders Insight, LION and others to serve brokers by automating loan qualification and lender referral. With technology coming from the ranks of a successful real...

Action Mortgage Saves over $300 per Loan.
June 12, 2006... SPOKANE, WA -- Action Mortgage here was looking to streamline its processes, become more efficient and not take on additional hardware or software. The solution the company came up with was creating an electronic loan folder that has saved...

C&F Financial Raises Dividend Payout by 7.4%.
June 12, 2006... WEST POINT, VA -- C&F Financial Corp., the holding company for C&F Bank, has raised its dividend to $0.29 per share, a 7.4% increase from the previous dividend of $0.27. The new quarterly dividend is payable on July 1 to shareholders of...

Analyst Likes Clayton's Prospects.
June 12, 2006... CHICAGO -- William Blair & Co. has started research coverage of Clayton Holdings, the newly public information and analytics provider, with an "outperform" rating. Analyst John Neff estimates that Clayton will earn $0.63 per share in 2006...

ECC Capital Sees Challenges in 1Q.
June 12, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- ECC Capital, a mortgage REIT here, saw its financial challenges continue in the first quarter of this year. While the company's first-quarter loss narrowed to $6.4 million, down from a $49.8 million loss in the fourth quarter...

Roundup: Upgrades Far Outpace Downgrades in First Quarter.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- The number of rating upgrades in the first quarter for U.S. structured finance transactions was nearly triple that of a year earlier, with commercial mortgage-backed securities leading the way, according to Fitch Ratings. ...

Ameriquest Deal Downgraded.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes from two Ameriquest Mortgage Securities Inc. home-equity issues have been downgraded and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. Class M2 of series 2002-C and class M-4 of series 2002-3 were downgraded...

Argent Deal Downgraded.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes of Argent Securities Inc.'s ARSI series 2004-PW1 home-equity issue have been downgraded and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: class M9, from BBB-minus to BB;...

ACE HE Deal Downgraded.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Six certificates from two ACE Securities Corp. Home Equity Loan Trust subprime mortgage deals have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-HE1, class M-2, from A2 to Baa1, class...

ASC Deal Off Watch List.
June 12, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes of Asset Securitization Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1997-D5, have been removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The affected classes were classes A-2, A-3 and A-4. In...

NeighborWorks Touts Homeownership Month.
June 12, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Various entities are celebrating June, the month President Bush declared "National Homeownership Month" since 2002, with new products and housing events. NeighborWorks America and E*Trade Financial Corp. joined efforts to...

Brookfield Properties Teams Up with Equity Firm to Buy Trizec.
June 12, 2006... CHICAGO -- Brookfield Properties Corp., together with the Blackstone Group, is acquiring Trizec Properties and Toronto-based Trizec Canada in a transaction valued at a total of $8.9 billion. Brookfield, a New York-based office real estate...