National Mortgage News articles from June 2008

National Mortgage News archives from June 2008

FGIC Writeoff Hurts PMI.
June 2, 2008... WALNUT CREEK, CA -- The PMI Group here lost $274 million for the first quarter of 2008, because of a net loss of $172.5 million in its U.S. mortgage insurance operations. In addition, PMI, which has a 42% stake in troubled financial...

BoA Will Stay in TPO.
June 2, 2008... CALABASAS, CA -- Once Bank of America closes on its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. here, the combined mortgage operation will "selectively" continue to originate loans through brokers, according to a company official. BoA...

GSEs Continue to Grow Assets.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to grew their book of loan guarantees and loans held in portfolio, according to April data recently released for both firms. Fannie Mae's total business volume grew at a 6.7% annualized rate...

19 of 20 Markets Fall.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- Recent data on home sales and prices continue to paint a disturbing picture of the housing sector, with prices continuing to decline in much of the country. Perhaps the most disturbing news came on the home values front, with...

Pica to Buy CO Thrift.
June 2, 2008... BURLINGAME, CA -- Businessman R. Craig Pica, a principal in one of the largest remaining non-depository mortgage banking firms in the U.S., has filed a change of control application to purchase the privately held Colorado Federal Savings of...

Servicers And Their Yields At 4q 07.
June 2, 2008... Average Yield Portfolio Size Organization Name Location in 4Q 07 12/31/07 Paul Financial San Rafael, CA 9.40% $164 EMC Mortgage Lewisville, TX 8.06% $83,500 American Home Mortgage Servicing Irving, TX 7.41%...

Bank United of Florida Scaling Back Pay-Option Lending.
June 2, 2008... CORAL GABLES, FL -- BankUnited Financial Corp. here, a major player in the payment-option ARM market, is scaling back its production of these somewhat controversial loans. BUFC holds $7.4 billion in POAs on its balance sheet. The loans...

Chase's Housing Target on Track.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- In the first four years of its 10-year, $800 billion commitment to invest in affordable housing and small business development in underserved communities, Chase said it has already invested $338 billion. Of the $338 billion...

Clarification.(Correction notice)
June 2, 2008... Portellus Still For Sale In the May 12 issue, NMN reported that Fiserv bought LOS Portellus, but has learned from the agent representing Portellus that the technology is still for sale as Fiserv merely bought a license to use the...

MBS Giant Bear Stearns Becomes JPMorgan Subsidiary.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- Stockholders of Wall Street firm Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. approved its merger with JPMorgan Chase on May 29 with approximately 84% of shares voted in favor of the deal. In addition, JPMorgan Chase said it reached an agreement with...

Impac Exchanges Preferred Shares.
June 2, 2008... IRVINE, CA -- In an effort to improve liquidity, Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., a real estate investment trust headquartered here, is making an offer to the holders of its Series B and Series C preferred stock to exchange those shares for common...

Editorial: Good News, Bad News.(Editorial)
June 2, 2008... There's good news and bad news from an address given by the director of OFHEO to the annual meeting of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. The good news is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have raised enough capital to bankroll the entire...

Open Forum: Implications of the Housing Bust.
June 2, 2008... Excerpts of Mr. Pollock's recent testimony before the Joint Economic Committee are presented as our Open Forum. The severe housing and mortgage bust we are experiencing can best be understood as the inevitable deflation of a classic asset...

Inflation Signs Spur Yield Rise, MBS Extension Risk Concern.
June 2, 2008... The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield had risen above 4% to 4.10% at press time last Thursday, raising extension risk concerns in the mortgage-backed securities sector. "The market is reaching yields not seen since early this...

States Are Taking a Hard Look at Reverse Mortgage Lending.
June 2, 2008... AMELIA ISLAND, FL -- State banking regulators are moving to get in front of the anticipated rush to reverse mortgages before the backwards loans become a headache, both for consumers and the regulators senior homeowners depend upon to protect...

Banks Continue to Feel Pressure from Housing Downturn.
June 2, 2008... ROSEMONT, IL -- First-quarter performance for many lenders continues to reflect the challenges of managing credit weakness, resulting from exposure to the downturn in the residential real estate construction cycle. Taylor Capital Group...

Roundup: Outlook Mixed for GSEs.
June 2, 2008... CHICAGO -- An analyst at Zacks Investment Research says that while Freddie Mac's first-quarter results were "better than expected," she is concerned by the company's "increasing risk profile." Analyst Neena Mishra, in an interview...

Investors Bracing for Big Thornburg Loss.
June 2, 2008... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage, which plans to file first-quarter earnings results by June 2, said it is likely to report "a substantial net loss" once it finalizes its accounting for the first three months of 2008. Thornburg said "a...

Capmark Does $45MM in Financing.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- Capmark Finance Inc. recently originated a total of $45 million in financing for two projects. First, Capmark originated $10 million in a 5.68% fixed-rate, permanent financing for the acquisition of Grand Missouri MHC, a...

S&P/GRA CRE Indices Down.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's released the February results for its S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices, showing the rate of increase to be down slightly. The indices measure the change in commercial real estate prices by property sector and...

Most Renters to Stay Put.
June 2, 2008... ARLINGTON, VA -- In a sign that it might be hard for mortgage companies to find potential first-time homebuyers to be customers, two-thirds of those who currently rent say they do not plan to buy a home in the next year. The survey was...

Inspection Forms Get an Overhaul.
June 2, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Mortgage Bankers Association has completed the implementation of a new commercial/multifamily real estate property inspection form for various property types including office, retail, multifamily, health care, lodging and...

MBA: Commercial/Multifamily Originations Hit Record in '07.
June 2, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The commercial/multifamily originations market grew 19% in 2007 with mortgage bankers closing $507.7 billion in commercial/multifamily loans, according the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2007 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily...

HELP Tries to Stem FHA Defaults.
June 2, 2008... MELVILLE, NY -- The mortgage crisis is pushing more lenders to take a long-term, preventive approach to FHA loans and assistance offered to borrowers facing default or foreclosure. Lend America, New York's largest FHA lender, has partnered...

JV to Develop Retail Site.
June 2, 2008... PORT WASHINGTON, NY -- Cedar Shopping Centers Inc. has entered into a joint venture with Tristate Ventures, an affiliate of the Fameco real state group, for the development of a 137,000-square-foot shopping center on 18 acres to be anchored by...

Sovereign Raises $1.9 Billion.
June 2, 2008... PHILADELPHIA -- Sovereign Bancorp has completed equity and debt offerings that raised approximately $1.9 billion for the bank. "By proactively taking action to raise additional capital we feel we are well equipped to handle any further...

Roundup: Canada Vows to Improve Housing for 'First Nations'.
June 2, 2008... VANCOUVER, British Columbia-The government of Canada has signed an agreement with the province of British Columbia and the First Nations Leadership Council "to work together to develop a comprehensive approach to improve housing for First...

Farmer Mac Gets New Authority.
June 2, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The 2008 farm bill, which was enacted after Congress overrode a veto by President Bush, includes a provision that allows Farmer Mac to purchase and guarantee securities backed by rural utility loans. Farmer Mac, a...

Fitch Analyst Says Housing Decline May Extend into 2009.
June 2, 2008... NEW YORK -- The managing director and lead homebuilding analyst at Fitch Ratings, Robert Curran, said during a housing teleconference that few positive signs are showing up in the housing market, which is experiencing a steep cyclical decline,...

Freddie Sees Opportunities to Glean Portfolio Profits.
June 2, 2008... LONDON -- Speaking at an investors' conference here, Freddie Mac's chief financial officer, Buddy Piszel, said the company has added $100 billion of home loans to its portfolio since the beginning of the year. Moreover, the loans being...

Not All Home Prices Dropping.
June 2, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Depreciation may well be a concern in everyone's mind right now, but the scare of vanishing home equity has not hit home in one out of three metropolitan areas in the United States where home prices increased in the first quarter,...

CRE/MF Volumes Crash.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Commercial and multifamily loan originations plummeted 53% in the first quarter on a year-over-year basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA said its quarterly survey of commercial real estate and...

Overdues Hit Record.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The delinquency and foreclosure rates on home loans soared to new highs in the first quarter in yet another sign that the housing market's woes may be far from over. The bad news scored a hat trick, with the overall...

ResCap Refis $60B Debt.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Trying to maintain liquidity as the mortgage industry continues to struggle, Residential Capital Corp. late last week completed a $60 billion restructuring of its debt and credit facilities. Among other things, ResCap and its...

MetLife Buys FHNC Assets.
June 9, 2008... BRIDGEWATER, NJ -- Thirteen years ago insurance giant MetLife said goodbye to mortgage banking. Last week it re-entered the business by agreeing to purchase the national lending business of First Horizon National Corp. of Memphis. "MetLife...

BeckmannOut at Citi.
June 9, 2008... O'FALLON, MO -- Bill Beckmann, president of CitiMortgage, will leave the unit by the end of June, National Mortgage News has learned. In a memo, Citigroup said Mr. Beckmann is stepping down "to spend more time with his family." A...

Top Residential Servicers At 3/31/2008.
June 9, 2008... Servicing Volume % Market Mkt Shr Rk Organization Name 3/31/08 3/31/07 Change Share % pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. (1) $1,484,157 $1,351,598 10% 15.58% +0.33% 2 Wells Fargo & Co. $1,482,466...

Bad Loans Rise Fast at Banks.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Banks and thrifts posted $19.3 billion in earnings for the first quarter, down 46% from a year ago, as rising levels of troubled real estate loans forced the depositories to set aside $18.5 billion for expected loan losses, the...

Thornburg Delays Financials Again.
June 9, 2008... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage Inc. here, a troubled real estate investment trust based here, said it needs more time to file its first-quarter earnings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission and estimated that it will do so by...

Triad Appeals to Keep GSE Approval.
June 9, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- If its appeal is denied, Triad Guaranty Inc.'s mortgage insurance subsidiary would be suspended as an approved mortgage insurer by Freddie Mac. The appeal had to be made in writing by May 29; it has been filed but no...

Detwiler Returns to Old Role.
June 9, 2008... GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO -- Mike Detwiler will be returning to the role of CEO at LOS vendor Mortgage Cadence here, replacing Michael Hammond. The company has made news over the past year after closing a string of very high-profile hires....

Cutbacks at Accredited Home Lenders.
June 9, 2008... SAN DIEGO -- Subprime wholesale lender Accredited Home Lenders here has laid off an untold number of workers, National Mortgage News has learned. A spokesman for the company confirmed the cutbacks, noting, "The restructure was done in...

Editorial: Troubling Numbers.(Editorial)
June 9, 2008... The ratio of mortgage insurance cures to defaults decreased to 53.6% for April, the second time it has dropped so low this year, according to the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America. Having a default number nearly twice as high as the number of...

Open Forum: Prospects for Recovery.(Conference notes)
June 9, 2008... Excerpts of Mr. Kroszner's remarks at the recent Conference of State Bank Supervisors Annual Conference in Amelia Island, Fla., are presented as our Open Forum. I would now like to discuss some of the actions the Federal Reserve is taking...

S&P Eyes Street Post-Bear as Well as Some Large Banks.
June 9, 2008... In the wake of Bear Stearns' woes, Standard & Poor's financial institutions analysts are looking at some other Street firms with increased concern and also are worried about a few large banks given what S&P sees as unusual recent-vintage...

HUD: Closing Costs Too High.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Looking to bolster its case for Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act reform, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is promoting a study done by the Urban Institute, which said many Americans overpay by thousands of...

HECM Letter Specifies What Lenders Should Not Do.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a Mortgagee Letter regarding the use of non-Federal Housing Administration approved mortgage originators to participate in the origination of Home Equity Conversion...

Staff Wear Jeans for Charity.
June 9, 2008... BOCA RATON, FL -- Employees of WCS Lending LLC are taking the time to give back to their community and to help others across the country by raising money for local and national charities. A few months ago, the company decided to do...

CIT Group Disputes Rationale for Recent Ratings Downgrade.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Citing issues with its home lending business, CIT Group Inc. here has had its senior unsecured rating cut from A3 down to Baa1. CIT issued its own rebuttal to the downgrade, touting the liquidity the company has raised. "In...

Mission Capital Acts as Advisor.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Mission Capital Advisors LLC, a commercial, residential and consumer loan and asset sale advisor here, is accepting bids for a $108 million portfolio of 20 subperforming and nonperforming commercial mortgage loans that are secured...

Senior Housing Properties Selling Shares.
June 9, 2008... NEWTON, MA -- Senior Housing Properties Trust here has priced a public offering of 17 million common shares at $21.09 per share. Settlement of the share offering was scheduled to occur late last week. SNH said it expects to use the net...

Illinois Testing Loan Database.
June 9, 2008... SPRINGFIELD, IL -- The Illinois House bill that established an anti-predatory lending database and pilot program for residential mortgage loans in Cook County, Ill., is back, but slightly revised with new anti-predatory lending standards. ...

Indianapolis Is Affordable.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- At the top in the first quarter and for the 11th consecutive time, Indianapolis maintained the "most affordable major U.S. housing market" title according to the National Association of Home Builders & Wells Fargo Housing...

Survey Finds Americans Financially Illiterate.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Recent survey findings highlight a growing need for financial education and credit counseling that helps customers avoid default and foreclosure, which in a backhanded manner also helps financial institutions survive in a...

Reverse Mortgages Are Hot, but There Are Some Alternatives.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Reverse mortgages are being held out as an excellent way for house-rich but cash-poor seniors to tap into their equity without having to sell and move to another place. And they may well be a good choice for some people. But there...

Roundup: MFA Plans to Raise $278 Million with Latest Offer.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- MFA Mortgage Investments here has priced a new public offering of 40 million of its common shares at $6.95 per share. The offering is expected to raise gross proceeds of $278 million. MFA has granted underwriters 30 days to...

Builders Are Still Facing Headwinds.
June 9, 2008... COLUMBUS, OH -- First-quarter results reflect that homebuilder margins and earnings remain under pressure. M/I Homes Inc. here recorded a net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 of $22.2 million, or $1.58 per common share, which...

Grapeviners Discuss What Originators Must Do to Survive.
June 9, 2008... JustplainMarvin: Your ideas to survive. My first: Make fliers with your info and cut half-inch strips at the bottom with your phone number. Most supermarkets have pinup board areas, especially near the bathroom areas. I have actually received...

Appraising/Valuing Assets: A Closer Look.
June 9, 2008... The business of appraising and valuing mortgage-related assets these days is all about taking a closer look at things. This is true not only in the sense that the business is all about scrutinizing loans and the properties securing them but...

Fraud Seen Playing Large Role in Loan Contract Breaches.
June 9, 2008... Risk mitigation firm Digital Risk LLC, Maitland, Fla., has found 50% to 60% of the subprime and alternative-A mortgages from the last few years that it has examined due to contract breaches contain significant misrepresentation or fraud,...

Technology Provides One Route to Appraisal Independence.
June 9, 2008... Given recent happenings around the Home Valuation Protection Program and the proposed Code of Conduct, it is becoming increasingly important to prove that lenders have a system in place that allows for appraisal independence. Technology is one...

Providing Stable Footing for Borrowers, Loan Value.
June 9, 2008... HAUPPAUGE, NY -- Stable Footing here has begun offering a patented, voluntary homeowner protection plan as a marketing product to mortgage lenders with the aim of respectively better protecting the value of lenders' loans and borrowers' credit...

OCC Dislikes New Appraisal Policy.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The chief supervisor of national banks is urging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator to scrap a set of appraisal reforms the two GSEs have agreed to implement as part of a settlement with New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo....

Preston Confirmed as HUD Secretary.
June 9, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Senate has confirmed Steven Preston to be the new housing secretary and to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the last seven months of the Bush administration. Although Mr. Preston has little...

Fitch Downgrades CIFG's Ratings for Europe and America.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- The London office of Fitch Ratings here has downgraded the insurer financial strength ratings of CIFG Guaranty and its affiliates CIFG Assurance North America Inc. and CIFG Europe from A- to CCC. "The downgrade is based, in...

S&P Cuts Rating on Ambac, MBIA.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Rating Services has lowered its financial strength ratings on Ambac Assurance Corp. and MBIA Insurance Corp. to AA from AAA, and placed them on CreditWatch with negative implications. S&P also lowered the...

Cuomo Pressures Rating Agencies.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has reached agreements with Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service Inc. and Fitch Inc. that change, among other things, how the three ratings agencies are compensated by investment banks...

Prices Still Falling in Most Areas.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Global Insight, an economic forecasting and analysis firm, says that home values fell in 84% of the nation's housing markets during the first quarter of 2008, but the firm's analysts say that the market correction may be laying the...

Roundup: Fitch Provides Outlooks for U.S. Single-Family MBS.
June 9, 2008... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings plans to provide rating outlooks on U.S. structured finance bonds in response to a positive reception to its rating outlooks for European structured transactions. Fitch introduced the outlooks in June 2007 to...

People.
June 9, 2008... CALIFORNIA Beverly Hills-Kennedy Wilson said that Zazell V. Dudley has joined Kennedy Wilson's Fund Management Group as managing director for the Northwest Louisiana Community Development Fund I. The recently created $40 million fund...

Texas Bank Is Recapitalized.
June 9, 2008... AUSTIN, TX -- Guaranty Financial Group Inc. here has completed a $38.4 million recapitalization transaction through a private placement to Robert Rowling, who is the chairman of an investment company TRT Holdings. The investment, involving...

First Quarter Volume Falls 30%, B/C 95%.
June 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Thanks to refinancings, residential lenders funded $525 billion worth of loans in the first quarter, a slight increase from the previous period but a 30% decline from the same quarter a year ago. Subprime production was almost...

SEC Raps Ratings Agencies.
June 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission wants the credit rating agencies, accused of conflicts of interest that exacerbated the subprime mortgage mess, to publicly disclose how they rate mortgage-backed securities, including...

Thornburg Loses $3.3B.
June 16, 2008... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage here, reeling from mark-to-market and impairment charges, reported a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss. But CEO Larry Goldstone said much of the loss reflects a number of "nonrecurring and accounting...

'Pare Down RESPA Rule'.
June 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- If the Department of Housing and Urban Development really wants to finalize a RESPA rule by year-end, it should pare down the proposal and focus solely on improving the good-faith estimate, according to industry groups. HUD...

Ginnie May Break MBS Record.
June 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- With the resurgence in government-backed mortgage lending, Ginnie Mae is on course to issue some $200 billion in securities in fiscal 2008, and might even surpass its previous record of $216 billion. In the first eight months...

Top Residential Originators In 1Q 08.
June 16, 2008... Origination Vol. % Market Mkt Shr Rk Organization Name 1Q 08 1Q 07 Change Share % pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. (1) $73,013 $114,964 -36% 13.90% -2.62% 2 Wells Fargo & Co. $65,991 $67,860 -3%...

Cutbacks at Accredited, New CEO Named.
June 16, 2008... SAN DIEGO -- Subprime lender Accredited Home Lenders here has laid off an untold number of workers, National Mortgage NewsOnline has learned. Meanwhile, the company named Jeff Walton its new chief executive, effective immediately. He...

MI Firms Face More Woe.
June 16, 2008... NEW YORK -- Last year, Fitch Ratings here declared, "will likely prove to be one of the worst underwriting years in the modern history of the U.S. mortgage industry." The company made the statement in a report where it downgraded the insurer...

Chase Rewards Checking Customers.
June 16, 2008... NEW YORK -- Checking account customers of Chase will receive breaks on the interest rate of their new mortgage or home-equity loan or line of credit under a new rewards program designed for them to expand their relationship with the bank. ...

Senate May Vote This Week On Landmark FHA-GSE Bill.
June 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The chances the Senate will vote on a landmark housing bill this week seem to be improving even though major issues still have to be worked out between House and Senate Banking Committee leaders. The committee leaders are...

Editorial: Signs of Spring.
June 16, 2008... The bad news for the mortgage business just keeps coming. Commercial and multifamily mortgages have joined the subprime, alt-A and jumbo niches in crashing. The latest employment figures, at 356,800 for the mortgage banking/broker industry in...

Open Forum: Financial Education Is the Key.
June 16, 2008... Mr. Steel's recent remarks on subprime lending and financial literacy before the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy are presented as our Open Forum. We have seen financial innovation in the mortgage market. We have seen how...

Rates and Rate-Indicative Bond Yields Spike During Week.
June 16, 2008... The long-term rate-indicative Treasury yield was back above 4.10% and approaching 4.20% as of press time last Thursday, the same week average fixed mortgage rates jumped to their highest level in nearly eight months. The yield was at 4.19%...