National Mortgage News articles from March 2006

National Mortgage News archives from March 2006

Inside Track.
March 6, 2006... EDITORIAL Managing REO 4 OPEN FORUM Bank Realty Holdings 4 STREET SMARTS MBS Prepayments 5 EQUITIES Top Dividend Yields 13 PMI APPS Drop January applications for private...

2005 B&C Volume Breaks Record.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Subprime funders originated a record $809 billion in home mortgages in 2005, a 28% increase from the year before, according to newly released figures from the Quarterly Data Report. Almost one in every four mortgages...

Subprime Set Yet Another Record in 2005.
March 6, 2006... ($ in Billions) The Total Res. % of ARM B&C B&C % Year Prod. loans funded Vol of Total 2005 $3,320 47% $807 24.3% 2004 $2,847 48% $632 ...

Portfolio Growth Slowing.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Commercial banks and thrifts abruptly stopped adding single-family loans and mortgage-backed securities to their portfolios in the fourth quarter in response to rising short-term interest rates and a flattening yield curve. ...

Top Residential Originators in Q4 '05.
March 6, 2006... ($ 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 Bank of America 6 CitiMortgage,...

Analysis: Suit Blames Fannie's Board.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Even though the Rudman report absolves Fannie Mae's directors of wrongdoing in regard to the GSE's $11 billion accounting scandal, a shareholder lawsuit lays blame on its entire board - including current CEO Daniel Mudd - saying...

Bond: Is it Time to Shut FHA?
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., threw cold water on Bush administration proposals to revive the Federal Housing Administration single-family program and suggested it may be time to phase out the FHA program or privatize it. ...

Fannie Buys Weak in Month.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Two new reports - one on GSE loan purchases and another on home sales - indicate that mortgage bankers are facing a rocky road in the months ahead. Last week, Fannie Mae reported loan acquisitions of $51.1 billion in January,...

Accounting Woes Force PHH, Saxon to Delay Financial Reports.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two publicly traded mortgage lenders - one prime, the other subprime - are delaying financial disclosures because of valuation and accounting concerns. PHH Corp., Mount Laurel, N.J., which owns the nation's 10th largest...

ECC to Suspend 1st Qtr. Dividend.
March 6, 2006... IRVINE, CA -- The troubles continue for ECC Capital Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust that originates nonconforming mortgages, as the company said it would not pay a dividend on its common stock for the first quarter of 2006. ...

Two Former Countrywide Executives Settle On Trading Charges.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commissioned has charged two former Countrywide Financial Corp. executives with insider trading in a case that sprang from short trading of the company's stock just prior to the public release of...

Huntington Merges With Unizan Financial.
March 6, 2006... COLUMBUS, OH -- Huntington Bancshares Inc. here completed a merger with Unizan Financial Corp. of Canton, Ohio. As a part of the deal, shareholders of Unizan will receive a set portion of Huntington's common stock. The Federal Reserve...

Editorial: Managing REO.(Editorial)
March 6, 2006... Managing real estate-owned assets is going to become more of a problem for lenders if rates keep rising, home values ease off their meteoric rises or the economy cools off to any degree. All three of these factors have been put forward as...

Open Forum: Bank Realty Holdings a Concern.
March 6, 2006... Excerpts of Gov. Bies' remarks at the Financial Services Institute in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. As you are likely aware, the U.S. banking agencies recently issued for public comment supervisory guidance on...

Home Price Appreciation May Quicken Discount MBS Prepayments.
March 6, 2006... New reports from Countrywide Securities Corp. and Bear Stearns suggest that recent double-digit run-ups in home price appreciation will have more effect on the prepayment rates of discount and par-coupon mortgage-backed securities than the...

Louisiana Turns to CDBG Funding for Hurricane Katrina Recovery.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Mississippi and Louisiana are preparing to use Community Development Block Grant funds to help rebuild hurricane-damaged homes and provide buyouts for homeowners who want or have to move. Grants of up to $150,000 will be...

Prepays Slowing On B&C Product.
March 6, 2006... ARLINGTON, VA -- Slower prepayments of subprime fixed- and adjustable-rate residential mortgage-backed securities, which started in January, compared to December 2005, are expected to persist in February, "based on increases in subprime...

Banks Hone in on Construction & Development Loans.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Residential construction and development lending at banks and thrifts continued to accelerate in the fourth quarter as new home sales are starting to slow and the housing market appears to be cooling. The Federal Deposit...

Countrywide Can Issue $2.44 Billion.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- Countrywide Financial can issue up to $2.44 billion of hybrid securities, according to the Federal Reserve limit on hybrid issuance. That's the conclusion of CreditSights, an analysis firm here. The Fed places a limit on...

Roundup: Impac Expands Its Commercial Mortgage Loan Menu.
March 6, 2006... NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- Impac Multifamily Capital, a subsidiary of Impac Mortgage, has been renamed Impac Commercial Capital, to better reflect the company's expanded offerings. The mortgage real estate investment trust reports that henceforth...

Mills Considers Alternatives.
March 6, 2006... ARLINGTON, VA -- The Mills Corp., a retail real estate investment trust, is looking at a possible sale of the company as it contemplates some strategic alternatives. The REIT is working on a restatement of its financial statements for the...

Garth Leaving AMAC.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- John Garth, chief operating officer of American Mortgage Acceptance Co., is leaving the company, AMAC reports. Mr. Garth will leave by the end of March to "pursue other opportunities." AMAC is a real estate investment trust...

Harbor Deal Downgraded.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- The class B notes issued by HarbourView CDO III Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation that includes mortgage-backed securities, has been downgraded from CCC to C by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also affirmed the rating on the class A...

Flagstar Achieves Tier 1 Status.
March 6, 2006... DETROIT -- Flagstar Bancorp Inc. was named among 84 Freddie Mac servicing companies recognized with its 2005 tier-one performance ranking. The ranking is given when a high level of customer service in investor reporting and default management...

MortgageFlex Expands Platform.
March 6, 2006... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- MortgageFlex has long produced systems to aid loan originators, but now the Florida-based technology firm is expanding its Internet-based platform to support mortgage servicing as well. And executives from MortgageFlex...

MBA Awards Diversity Scholarships.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Four mortgage professionals have been awarded "Path to Diversity" scholarships by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Each of the four scholars will receive a $2,495 voucher to use on residential and commercial real estate...

Servicer Certification Is Growing.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- After being in existence for a year, the Certified Mortgage Servicer program has had nearly 600 people registered for it, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association during its National Servicing Conference and Expo. ...

Doral Says Net Earnings Overstated by $694 MM.
March 6, 2006... SAN JUAN, PR -- Doral Financial Corp., one of Puerto Rico's major mortgage lenders, has completed the restatement of its financial results, a process that shaved $694.4 million from the company's retained earnings through the end of 2004 as the...

Is Real Estate a Potential Problem?
March 6, 2006... OLDWICK, NJ -- U.S. commercial banks and thrifts closed out last year with solid operating performance and balance sheet strength, but 2005 also saw bank performance "leveling off" from the highs of previous years, according to an analysis by...

Beverly Hills Will Restate For 2004.
March 6, 2006... CALABASAS, CA -- Beverly Hills Bancorp will restate its earnings for 2004 after its audit committee caught errors related to its investment in real estate mortgage investment conduits and the company's computation of net operating losses. ...

Wells, WaMu Get 'Positive' Upgrade.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- Standard and Poor's has raised its rating outlook from "stable" to "positive" for a number of banking companies, including mortgage giants Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual. In the case of Wells Fargo, S&P said the upgrade...

Fitch Affirms Astoria's Outlook.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has affirmed the long-term issuer default rating and short-term rating for Astoria Financial Corp. and Astoria Federal Savings & Loan at "BBB-plus" and "F2," respectively. The rating agency said the ratings...

Grubb & Ellis Realty Unveils IPO at $6.
March 6, 2006... NORTHBROOK, IL -- Grubb & Ellis Realty Advisors has priced an initial public offering of 20,833,334 units at $6 per unit for expected total proceeds of about $106 million (after underwriting discount and commissions). Each unit consists of...

FBR Ends '05 With Red Ink.
March 6, 2006... ARLINGTON, VA -- Investment banking firm Friedman Billings Ramsey Group lost $170.9 million in 2005, with a previously disclosed writedown of its mortgage-backed securities portfolio serving as the main cause of the company's disappointing...

Mortgage Stocks Among Dividend Leaders.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- A number of mortgage companies are among the top dividend yielding stocks in the financial services industry, according to a compilation by Dow Jones Newswires. The highest dividend yields in the "financial services" sector...

People.
March 6, 2006... CALIFORNIA Costa Mesa-Secured Funding has promoted Michele Moses to vice president of operations. Ms. Moses has more than 23 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry and has industry expertise in the servicing, wholesale...

Mortgage Fraud: Prevent, Detect, resolve.
March 6, 2006... Given the 150% increase in mortgage fraud complaints made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the past fiscal year, many lenders have seen significant losses. It is becoming increasingly important for mortgage companies to be armed with...

A More Comprehensive Approach Is Crucial.
March 6, 2006... With volume expected to fall between 10% to 15% this year, there will be more instances of appraiser fraud to ensure that the deal gets done, which will make automated tools like those offered by Hansen Quality all the more critical for...

Income Verification Tools Are a Must-Have.
March 6, 2006... With the increasing climate of creative mortgages including stated docs and stated-income loans, Jay Meadows, chief executive officer of Rapid Reporting, says the mortgage industry is seeing a decreased emphasis on paperwork, which only spells...

Pair Educating LOs on the Frontline.
March 6, 2006... PENSACOLA, FL -- Advantage Credit International is partnering with Mortgage Fraud Awareness LLC, a mortgage fraud consulting firm as a part of a long-term initiative to combat mortgage fraud. "Now we are upping the ante, as we recognize...

Regulatory Changes Cause Concern.
March 6, 2006... WALTHAM, MA -- Record residential mortgage-backed securitization volumes and thinner margins have driven the mortgage industry to new valuation services that target fraud reduction, faster turnaround and lower costs. The new and extensive...

New Federal 'Stop Fraud Act' Coming.
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., along with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has introduced a mortgage fraud bill entitled the Stop Fraud Act. The act would provide increased funding for federal enforcement and...

New Measure for GSE Portfolios?
March 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration may be softening its approach to portfolio limits by giving a new GSE regulator a new way of measuring the appropriate size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios. A high-ranking Treasury...

Lawsuit Aims to Block County's Lending Law.
March 6, 2006... ROCKVILLE, MD -- The American Financial Services Association, a national trade group representing mortgage lenders, has filed a lawsuit in a Maryland Circuit Court to prevent Montgomery County from enforcing an ordinance that would allow the...

Rising Inventories.
March 6, 2006... Metro Area Jan. '06 Jan. '05 Pct. Change Washington, D.C. 17,561 7,047 149.2 Miami 18,299 9,230 98.3 Los Angeles 3,450 1,834 ...

Colton: Rising Inventory Of Homes Not Dramatic.
March 6, 2006... PARK CITY, UT -- Although the inventory of unsold new homes is approaching an all-time high, the problem, though serious, isn't as bad as it seems, a seasoned housing market observer said here last week. For one thing, Kent Colton, a senior...

Publicly Traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
March 6, 2006... B&C Stock Price Index: 209.7 Change: 5.5 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 3/2/2006 Aames (AIC) 5.36 10.35 5.86 Delta Financial Corp (DFC) ...

Fitch Affirms Strength of Six MIs.
March 6, 2006... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings here has affirmed the insurer financial strength ratings on six of the seven private mortgage insurance companies. The move came as the company said it would not be implementing its new insurance industry notching...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
March 6, 2006... MIEC Index: 158.0 Change: -1.3 (part 1 of 2) Company 2/23/2006 3/2/2006 Wkly. % Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 28.59 29.27 ...

Colo. Senate OKs Foreclosure Act.
March 6, 2006... DENVER -- Continuing the trend among states considering and enacting legislation aimed at reducing fraudulent activity in connection with foreclosure rescue or bailout programs, the Colorado Foreclosure Protection Act has been introduced in the...

Inside Track.
March 13, 2006... EDITORAL Privatize This Program 4 STREET SMARTS Agency Fixed Rate IOS Cheap 5 COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES CRE Returned 34% In 2005 10 EUITIES...

Private MI Firms Lose Share.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage insurers have been complaining for years about business they've lost to "piggyback" loans but their days of griping may be waning. Thanks to rising interest rates - in particular on the short end - home-equity loans,...

MI Written as a % of Total Production.
March 13, 2006... ($ in Billions) The New MI policies Total residential MI written as year written in year production in year a % of new production 2005 $268 $3,320 8.07% ...

MD Predatory Law on Hold.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A Maryland Circuit Court last week halted - for now - an ordinance on discriminatory lending that had caused 50 lenders to consider pulling out of the state's most prosperous county, Montgomery. And on the same day that the...

'Exotics' Volume Continues to Boom.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Even though federal regulators are warning about the risk of payment-option ARMs and interest-only loans, mortgage bankers aren't backing away from the products one bit. According to exclusive survey figures compiled by...

Residential IO Lenders in Q4 2005.
March 13, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage 2 Countrywide Financial Corp. 3 EMC Mortgage (1) 4 Aurora Loan Services, Inc. (AA) (2) 5 ...

HUD Silent on RESPA Reform.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development continues to work on Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act reform but it has decided not to share its approach with industry groups until it issues a proposed rule. This decision...

Lydian Buys WellFound.
March 13, 2006... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Combine the integration, architecture and data extraction capabilities of WellFound Decade and the secondary market clients and services of Lydian Data Services and you get the newly formed Lydian Technology Group that could...

Fannie to Hold Investor Call.
March 13, 2006... Fannie Mae will host a conference call for investors today, Monday, March 13, at 4 p.m. Eastern time following the filing of a "Form 12b-25" with the SEC relating to the company's 2005 results. Fannie Mae president and CEO Dan Mudd will host...

OFHEO No Comment on GSE Bill.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Even though the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight likes many aspects of pending GSE legislation, the agency is still refusing to comment on a final bill's main sticking point - the ability of a regulator to shrink the...

Finance Board Seeks to Penalize FHLBs For Mortgage Investments.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Housing Finance Board is proposing to substantially increase retained earnings at 12 Federal Home Loan Banks and to penalize the banks from investing in mortgage assets. Industry officials representing FHLBank...

Three-Year High For Fixed Rates.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 6.24% to 6.37% over the seven-day period ended March 9, representing its highest level since September 2003, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. ...

Editorial: Privatize This Program.(Editorial)
March 13, 2006... Congress should take the disgracefully run title status report program on American Indian property transfers away from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and place it into the hands of either tribally run title plants or the private title insurance...

Open Forum: GSEs Need to Focus on Mission.
March 13, 2006... Excerpts of Mr. Quarles' remarks to Global Association of Risk Professionals in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum. Macroeconomic conditions in the United States have been quite favorable - GDP growth at 3.5% last year and...

Agency Fixed-Rate IO MBS are Cheap, Say Credit Suisse Analysts.
March 13, 2006... Analysts at Credit Suisse are bullish on the future of the fixed-rate agency interest-only MBS, according to a report published recently by the Wall Street dealer. Credit Suisse notes that fixed-rate IO MBS recently account for more than 70% of...

Washington State Proposes Bill Seeking to License Loan Officers.
March 13, 2006... EDMONDS, WA -- In order to ensure consumer protection and to reduce fraud, a house bill has been passed in Washington, which involves loan officer licensing and expanded examination authority by the Department of Financial Institutions. ...

Seattle FHLBank Reports 4Q Loss.
March 13, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle reported a $9.1 million loss in the fourth quarter but the financially troubled bank ended the year in the black with a $1.7 million profit. "Based on its 2005 results, the Seattle bank...

Prepayment Rate Rises Modestly.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Prepayment rates for conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in agency mortgage-backed securities recorded "modest gains" in the February reporting period, according to Bear Stearns & Co. Overall speeds for 30-year collateral...

Selected 30-Year Fixed-Rate Prepayments.
March 13, 2006... (For February Period) Cpn Year WAC Fctr Feb '06 Jan '06 Fannie Mae 5.50 2005 5.99 .938 7.9 7.0 Fannie Mae 5.50 2004 5.93 .747 12.3 11.4 Freddie Mac 5.50...

Boomers Fueling Sun Belt Demand.
March 13, 2006... TUSCON, AZ -- The Sun Belt states have long been a magnet for retirees, but as the first wave of baby boomers retire, the real estate investment community is noting a huge shift in demand for properties in Southern states. "Sales have been...

Soundview Deal Downgraded.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class B of Soundview Home Equity Loan Trust series 2000-1 has been downgraded from BBB to BB-plus by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on nine classes in two Soundview transactions. The downgrade was attributed...

Questions & Answers.
March 13, 2006... About Macquarie Mortgages USA Macquarie Mortgages USA Inc. is a member of the Macquarie group and is headquartered in Memphis, TN. Macquarie Mortgages USA makes its innovative range of products and programs available to homebuyers through...

MIT Index Finds Commercial Real Estate Returned 34% in 2005.
March 13, 2006... CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The MIT Center for Real Estate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has released a commercial real estate index that tracks the investment performance of commercial properties. According to this index, commercial...

Analyst: TCF Faces HE Risk.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- TCF Financial, a Minnesota-based savings institution, has a "higher risk loan portfolio" than some of its peers, according to analysts at CreditSights. Specifically, TCF's exposure to fixed-rate home-equity loans that have...

Roundup: G REIT Shareholders Approve Property Liquidation Plan.
March 13, 2006... G REIT Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., has announced stockholder approval of a plan of liquidation, involving the sale of 25 properties, that is expected to take up to two years. G REIT said the net liquidation value is estimated at somewhere between...

Roundup: Losses on Ameriquest HE Deal Exceed Expectations.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes from two Ameriquest Mortgage Securities Inc. home-equity issues have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The affected securities are class M2 of series 2002-C and class M-4 of series 2002-3. ...

C-BASS Classes Downgraded.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Three classes from two Credit Based Asset Servicing and Securitization LLC mortgage loan securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and four classes from two other C-BASS transactions have been placed on Rating Watch...

GE Deal Downgraded.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of GE Capital home-equity loan pass-through certificates, series 1997-HE4, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Class M was downgraded from AA to A, and class B1 was downgraded from CC to C. Fitch also affirmed the...

Goldman Deal on Review.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Classes B-1 and B-2 of GS Mortgage Securities Corp. residential mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2003-HE1, have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. In addition, four classes from two other GSAMP...

Mid Ocean Deal Downgraded.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of notes issued by Mid Ocean CBO 2000-1 Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation that includes mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Classes A-2 and A-2L have been downgraded from B-minus...

Salomon Deal Downgraded.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M of Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities VII Inc., series 2000-C2, has been downgraded from CC to C by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also upgraded six classes in the transaction and affirmed the ratings on six others. The...

Most Builder Profits Come from Land Acquisition and Development.
March 13, 2006... PARK CITY, UT -- It's the land, stupid. Despite what homebuilders say about improved customer satisfaction and cutting their costs, the most important key to their profitability lies in land acquisition and development, according to ongoing...

Housing Prospects Remain Sound.
March 13, 2006... PARK CITY, UT -- In the fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady wins the race. And so it will be in housing, says a staff member at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard. Well, not slow and steady. Rather fast and...

Fitch Downgrades 1 & Upgrades 6 Classes.
March 13, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class L of LB Commercial Mortgage Trust's commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1998-C1, has been downgraded from CC to C by Fitch Ratings. Additionally, Fitch upgraded six classes and affirmed the ratings on...