National Mortgage News articles from May 2007

National Mortgage News archives from May 2007

Inside Track.
May 7, 2007... EDITORIAL Meltdown Mess 4 OPEN FORUM OCC On Subprime 4 STREET SMARTS Three-Year Note 5 EQUITIES Earnings and Dividends 6 INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGES Brazil and Canada 9 TECHNOLOGY The Return...

$910MM GMAC Mortgage Loss.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- GMAC Financial Services lost $305 million in the first quarter, citing a big loss at its Residential Capital unit as the main culprit behind the downturn. GMAC Financial also said it had to inject $500 million of capital into...

Top Alt-A Servicers at 12/31/06.
May 7, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) Alt-A Servicing % Rk Organization Name Location 12/31/06 12/31/05 Change 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage San Francisco, CA...

Scratch and Dent Boom?
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Citigroup recently issued a $543 million bond backed by delinquent subprime loans, a sign that the "scratch and dent" securitization market is gathering steam. As one veteran trader put it: "Wall Street always finds a way to...

Another Wholesaler Stops.
May 7, 2007... INDIANAPOLIS -- Wholesale lender Millennium Funding Group here - a $1 billion a year producer - has stopped originating loans through mortgage brokers and other third parties, according to industry officials. A posting on MFG's website...

Freddie Losing Its COO.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac - unexpectedly - is losing its second highest executive, Eugene McQuade, a man who many thought would be its next chief executive officer. Last week, Mr. McQuade, currently serving as Freddie's president and chief...

2006 Cashouts Remain Strong.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Cash-out refinancings may have peaked last year when homeowners walked away from the closing table with $313.9 billion in their pockets to spend on cars, home improvements and vacations, according to data compiled by Freddie Mac....

A Cascade of Downgrades.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Rating agencies issued a blizzard of news releases during the week of April 23 and April 30 announcing downgrades and other rating actions on mortgage-backed and mortgage-related securities, many of them linked to subprime mortgage...

State Delays Foreclosures.
May 7, 2007... BOSTON -- Massachusetts has become the first state in the nation to order what is, in effect, a two-month ceasefire on foreclosures. Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick directed the commonwealth's Division of Banks to seek delays of up to two...

Mozilo to Take a Pay Cut in 2007: The company said Mr. Mozilo's compensation target was reduced 'to the top quartile.'.
May 7, 2007... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Financial Corp. here and chairman and chief executive officer Angelo Mozilo have agreed to a reduction in his base salary for fiscal 2007, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission....

House Panel Passes FHA Expansion Bill.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The House Financial Services Committee has approved a Federal Housing Administration reform bill that encourages more mortgage brokers to market FHA loans and raises the loan limits on these federally insured mortgages. The...

Senators Want 'Fiduciary Duty' for Brokers.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Three Democratic senators are sponsoring a bill to strengthen regulation of subprime lending and they are calling on Congress to appropriate $300 million for foreclosure prevention counseling that could help 300,000 distressed...

Editorial: More Signs of Meltdown.(Editorial)
May 7, 2007... The news in the subprime mortgage business continues to be bad. Now that first-quarter earnings season is fully upon us, we have been inundated with big losses related to subprime activity. Our ranking of the top 25 subprime lenders for 2006...

Open Forum: Subprime Trends Are Worrisome: Mr. Dugan's remarks before the National Foundation for Credit Counseling Spring Meeting in Washington recently are presented as our Open Forum.
May 7, 2007... This meeting today is especially important because of growing residential mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, especially in the subprime market. More than three quarters of all consumer credit counseling agencies are also serving as...

Treasury Note Frozen, S&D Heating Up, CRE Loans Cooling?
May 7, 2007... The Treasury Department has decided to discontinue the three-year note that has been used to some extent as a reference point in the mortgage market. An interpolated rate will likely be used in its place and the note has not been a major...

Letter.
May 7, 2007... To the Editor: Contrary to the headline and lead paragraph in Lew Sichelman's April 23 article, a turnaround in national housing production will begin well before 2011. Mr. Sichelman's story misrepresented my remarks when he reported...

Webster Bank Making Reforms after First Quarter Earnings Shortfall: The bank has closed People's Mortgage Company, scrapped mezzanine financing, and scaled back construction lending.(Financial report)
May 7, 2007... WATERBURY, CT -- Webster Financial Corp., the holding company for Webster Bank NA, said that the company's net income for the first quarter had dropped by nearly $9 million as compared to the same period last year, and nearly $3 million from...

M&T Bank's Earnings Drop: 'Clearly our results for the first quarter fell well short of our intended expectations.'.
May 7, 2007... BUFFALO, NY -- With the effects of the subprime meltdown in the residential market also being felt in the alt-A sector, M&T Bank Corp.'s earnings report for the first quarter of 2007 reflects the impact that has had on the its bottom line. ...

Farm Credit System Sees Higher Income.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- The Farm Credit System earned $654 million in the first quarter, up from $554 million for the same period last year. "The system continued to generate strong earnings during the first quarter of 2007," said Jamie Stewart,...

National City Writes Down B&C Residual Assets.
May 7, 2007... CLEVELAND -- In the fourth quarter of last year, National City Corp. booked a big gain on the sale of its subprime home loan unit, but in the first quarter of 2007, that same transaction resulted in some charges to the company's earnings. ...

Alt-A Weakens SunTrust's Results.
May 7, 2007... ATLANTA -- The tumult in the mortgage marketplace stemming from the spread of the subprime meltdown to the alt-A sector has turned up on yet another lender's balance sheet. SunTrust Bank Inc. reported first-quarter 2007 net income available to...

Countrywide Target Lowered.
May 7, 2007... ARLINGTON, VA -- Analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey still recommend the shares of Countrywide Financial Corp., but FBR lowered its earnings estimate and target share price in the wake of Countrywide's first-quarter financial performance. ...

Home Loans also Hurt Flagstar.
May 7, 2007... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp saw its first-quarter earnings fall to less than half of the company's first-quarter 2006 earnings as lower net interest income, lower gain-on-sale revenue and loan servicing charges took a toll on results. ...

U.S. Investors See Potential in Brazil's Market: Some believe that Brazil could start securitizing mortgage loans within the next 10 to 12 months.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Prospects for Brazilian homebuilding and financing have seen relative improvement and have started to generate some cautious optimism that may point to potential U.S. investment opportunity in the region. "Following a period of...

PMI Gets Permission to Expand Business in Canadian Market.
May 7, 2007... WALNUT CREEK, CA -- Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has given the Order to Commence and Carry on Business to PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Canada, the Toronto-based subsidiary of The PMI Group Inc. here. The...

Canada's B&C Loans Are Strong.
May 7, 2007... TORONTO -- Last year was a challenging one for third-party-originated mortgage providers in the U.S. subprime/nonconforming niche, but related concerns appear to have done little if anything to slow Canada's neighboring domestic market for...

Chase in Debut of Chinese Language Housing TV: 'We are making the concept very relevant from a cultural perspective so it will resonate with them.'.
May 7, 2007... ISELIN, NJ -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. here has taken the lead in reaching out to Chinese-American markets by launching the first-ever housing TV series in Cantonese and Mandarin. "When it comes to expanding markets or emerging markets,"...

Equity Residential Sees Lower Gains.
May 7, 2007... CHICAGO -- Equity Residential reported net income of $126.2 million for the first quarter (earnings per share of $0.40), compared to net income of $377.8 million (EPS of $1.25) for the first quarter of 2006. The multifamily real estate...

Partnership Buys Eagle Hospitality.
May 7, 2007... COVINGTON, KY -- AP AIMCAP, a joint venture of two private equity firms, is acquiring Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust for $13.35 per share in cash. The real estate investment trust reports that the purchase price is about 21% higher than its...

Ventas Buys Senior Housing REIT.
May 7, 2007... LOUISVILLE, KY -- Ventas has completed the acquisition of Sunrise REIT, a Toronto-base investor in senior living communities, for $1.96 billion, an increase from the initially proposed price of $1.8 billion. The acquisition price includes...

IFC Expanding Branch Identity: The program gives small and mid-sized lenders access to new products and the ability to lend in multiple states.
May 7, 2007... TROY, MI -- Interactive Financial Corp. here has built itself up through its "model branch" program. Its recruiting efforts were aimed at a single branch or a successful group of loan officers. Now, said Hunt Gersin, president and chief...

Doral Financial Settles Suit for $129 Million.
May 7, 2007... SAN JUAN, PR -- Doral Financial Corp. here has settled a consolidated securities class-action lawsuit stemming from its 2005 restatement of financial earnings from prior years. As part of the settlement, Doral and its insurers will pay an...

Warehouse Lenders May Embrace E-Mortgages.
May 7, 2007... ATLANTA -- Historically, warehouse lenders have been thought of as an e-mortgage hindrance. E-mortgage pioneers held their loans before selling them to a responsive investor or putting them in portfolio. However, a recent partnership has...

Brokers Are Warming Up to VOIP.
May 7, 2007... DOVER, NH -- While Voice Over Internet Protocol may seem too cutting edge to even think about, it is proven technology that some mortgage brokers like Simplified Lending here are having a great deal of success with. Gone are the days when VOIP...

Off-Shoring Continues to Grow.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- While the mortgage industry has trailed other industries in terms of adopting offshoring practices, a new study by Deloitte Consulting LLP here predicts that will soon change, and those lenders that take a long-term, hands-on...

Vacation, Investment Purchases Decline as Share of Market.
May 7, 2007... Purchases of second homes accounted for 36% of all home sales in 2006, down from 40% the previous year, as investment-property activity fell sharply, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of investment properties fell 28.9%...

S&P Sees 'No Signs of Turnaround' for Troubled Housing Markets.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's says its most recent monthly data on housing prices indicate that housing prices continue to stall or fall nationwide. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed that in its 10-city composite, prices were...

Weak Demand Hurts FEMA Home Provider.
May 7, 2007... ADDISON, AL -- Cavalier Homes Inc. reported lower comparative revenue and a loss for the first quarter ended March 31, reflecting an ongoing weakness in industry HUD-code shipments and the absence of shipments in the current-year quarter of...

American Home's Earnings Drop as Gains on Loan Sales Weaken.(Financial report)
May 7, 2007... MELVILLE, NY -- First-quarter net earnings at American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. here were down 44%, as secondary marketing issues and delinquencies affected the real estate investment trust. There was also a loss in the value of its...

AMCORE's Net Down by 21%.
May 7, 2007... ROCKFORD, IL -- AMCORE Financial's earnings per share fell to $0.35 for the first quarter of this year, down 16% from the same period last year. The company reported net income of $8.2 million, down 21% from the prior-year period. The...

Moving to Outside Representative Can Cause Some Complications.
May 7, 2007... Mirk2nd: (I am an inside) rep moving to the outside. (Do you have) any advice? I've been with the same lender for four-and-one-half years and I'm staying with them. I used to work in production so I know my guidelines pretty well. Just want to...

More Layoffs at Loan Center of CA.
May 7, 2007... SUISUN, CA -- Loan Center of California here, a wholesaler that specializes in nonprime products, recently trimmed 23 more workers from its staff. The layoffs follow a reduction of 20 workers that occurred in late March. At its peak, the...

UBS to Shut Down Dillon Read.
May 7, 2007... NEW YORK -- UBS has made plans to shut down its Dillon Read Capital Management unit after noting that the division saw "negative trading revenues" of "approximately 150 million Swiss francs ($123 million) in the context of difficult market...

Builder, Title Company Reach Settlements with HUD on RESPA Charges.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached two settlement agreements with a New Mexico builder and a Florida title insurance company for violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. As a result of...

Partners Help La. Homebuyers.
May 7, 2007... NEW ORLEANS -- Federal, state and private entities have entered into a unique $47 million partnership designed to provide needed capital for affordable and mixed-income housing developers operating in Louisiana's Go Zone-designated parishes....

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
May 7, 2007... MIEC Index: 124.8 Change: -0.9 Company 5/3/2007 4/26/2007 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi Ratio American Home (AHM) 22.33 23.69...

Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
May 7, 2007... B&C Stock Price Index: 124.7 Change: -0. Company 52 52 5/3/2007 Wkly. % Chg. P/E wk/lo wk/hi % Chg. Ratio Delta Financial Corp (DFC)...

All Fund National Manager Out.
May 7, 2007... TACOMA, WA -- All Fund Mortgage here, a net branch operator that has been slow in paying its managers, has named a new national branch director, Fallon Vaughan, a former vice president for Wells Fargo. According to a statement All Fund sent to...

Some Servicers Endorse Senator's Stance on Foreclosures: 'These principles represent a critical step in preserving homeownership and economic opportunity.'.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has succeeded in getting a select group of mortgage lenders and servicers to endorse the objective of early intervention to help subprime borrowers avoid foreclosure through...

People.
May 7, 2007... CALIFORNIA Newport Beach-DRI Management Systems has appointed Ellie Vincenti to the position of director of client relations. Prior to joining DRI, she worked with CitiMortgage as part of the DRI support team. Ms. Vincenti will be...

Fannie Warns on '06 Earnings.(Financial report)
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae's profit rose to $6.3 billion in 2005, up almost 28% from $5 billion in 2004, but the company advised that it expects to see 2006 earnings decline when it completes its financial report for last year. Much of the...

Blakely to Leave Fannie Mae at End of Year.
May 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae's chief financial officer, Robert Blakely, will leave his post when Fannie Mae files its final historical financial report later this year and be replaced by Stephen Swad, the company said last week. Mr. Swad will...

Inside Track.
May 14, 2007... EDITORIAL Secondary Concerns 4 OPEN FORUM Thrifts Still Matter 4 STREET SMARTS GSEs Benefit from Woes 5 HOUSING SCENE The One-Page Form 6 INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGES European Office Markets 8 ...

Subprime Vols Way Off.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Subprime production - as expected - cratered in the first quarter, according to preliminary survey results compiled by National Mortgage News. Based on origination surveys received thus far, some subprime funders saw...

Residential Originators in Q1 '07 (Sample).
May 14, 2007... ($ in Millions) Origination Volume % Rk Organization Name Location Q1 '07 Q1 '06 Change 1 1st National Bank of Arizona Tempe, AZ $1,667 $1,677 -1% 2 Ace Mortgage...

Brokers Doing More Prime.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- A survey conducted for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers found industry participants doing more fixed-rate product of a higher credit quality in January 2007 than they had for the previous year. The survey was...

Top Subprime Funders And Their Woes.
May 14, 2007... Lender Subprime Subprime-related Name Vol. in '06 Problems/Status Report 1. HSBC Finance $52,585 Huge bad debt reserves, closing offices, layoffs 2. New Century $51,600 Filed for BK, cannot sell wholesale...

Builders Seeing More Challenges.
May 14, 2007... BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI -- Homebuilders across the country continued to experience challenging operating conditions for the quarter ended March 31. Housing markets at the national and local levels saw lower demand coupled with higher levels of...

CA Net Branch Operator Closes.
May 14, 2007... IRVINE, CA -- Net branch operator Dana Capital Corp. here has closed its doors after being hit with hefty licensing-related fines, according to past employees of the firm. At its peak, Dana Capital had 800 branches and was processing up to...

Dead B&C Firms and Closed Platforms.
May 14, 2007... ($ in Millions) Lender Market Date of What Name Share Demise Happened 1. Acoustic Home Loans. 0.29% 4/'06 Buybacks forced parent to fold them 2. Alliance Home Funding na 12/'06 Va. bank...

NCRC Alleges that Novastar Discriminated against Minorities, Disabled.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has filed a lawsuit against subprime lender Novastar, charging the company discriminated against minorities wanting to purchase row houses and to individuals wanting to purchase adult...

PNC Will Buy ARCS Commercial.
May 14, 2007... PITTSBURGH -- PNC Financial Services is acquiring Calabasas Hills, Calif.-based ARCS Commercial Mortgage in a bid to add on Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac Program Plus capabilities. The terms of the acquisition, which is also expected to...

HUD Providing Kansas Relief.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development will speed federal disaster assistance to tornado-ravaged Kiowa County, Kan., and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following recent...

Freddie Advises Servicers on Tornado Forbearance.
May 14, 2007... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac is reminding its servicers they have the discretion to provide up to a year's worth of mortgage relief to borrowers with homes damaged by the tornados that ripped through Greensburg, Kan., and other towns that...

Editorial: Part of the Solution.(Editorial)
May 14, 2007... No one who was around for it will forget the way the secondary market agencies, particularly Fannie Mae, kept the mortgage business liquid back in some very dark days during the 1980s. Now the question is, how can the secondary market as a...

Open Forum: The Future of Community Banks.
May 14, 2007... Mr. Reich's remarks to the New Jersey League of Community Bankers in Scottsdale, Ariz., recently are presented as our Open Forum. Community banking is about service, belonging and doing something to make a difference in people's lives. What...

Subprime/Alt-A Emigration Returning MBS Volume to GSEs?
May 14, 2007... Among the latest implications of recent subprime woes are signs that the migration from agency mortgage-backed securities into the private-label market has reversed somewhat. "Forward supply of agency MBS has surged in May and June....

Simplifying Consumer Protection Laws Remains Politically Difficult.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Sometimes is doesn't take a village. For decades now, government and industry alike have been calling for updated and simplified rules governing the mortgage lending process. But try as they might - and to their credit, they...

Bank of America Offers No-Fee Home Loan to Existing Customers.
May 14, 2007... CHARLOTTE, NC -- In commercial banking, one of the goals is to be able to cross-sell your existing customers on a number of products. At the mortgage banking level this goal has been a difficult one to obtain. Now Bank of America here is trying...

Franklin Cites Mortgage Strength.
May 14, 2007... HOUSTON -- Franklin Bank Corp., the parent company of Franklin Bank SSB, reported net income of $6.2 million for the first quarter 2007. In its business update, Franklin said the company's single-family portfolio has an overall average FICO...

Moody's Sees Reasons for Caution on European Office Markets.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- European office markets during the second half of 2006 got a "yellow" light from the London office of New York-based Moody's Investors Service, while Europe's industrial markets during the same time period were given a "green" light...

Roundup: Nonconforming Loans Dominate Actions.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- Twelve classes from 10 issues of Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust residential mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings and nine classes have been placed on Rating Watch Negative. Fitch also affirmed the...

Delta Financial's Loan Production Rises Despite Decline in Earnings.
May 14, 2007... WOODBURY, NY -- Delta Financial Corp. here saw its net earnings decline for the first quarter even as the nonprime lender increased its year-over-year origination volume by 31%, setting a new quarterly record. For the period ended March...

Astoria Sees Lower Income.
May 14, 2007... LAKE SUCCESS, NY -- Astoria Financial Corp. here, the holding company for Astoria Federal Savings & Loan Association, reported net income of $35.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared to $48.9 million for the 2006 first quarter. ...

Zenta Brings 'KPO' to Industry.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- Boasting offshoring credentials for the mortgage industry going back to 2000, Global Realty Outsourcing, Blackheath Financial and Zenta - formerly H-Cube - said that they are uniting under the Zenta brand to offer BPO and KPO...

Prepay Rates Stabilize in April.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- Prepayment rates for 30-year mortgages in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities were little changed in April, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. "Improving seasonal factors supporting housing...

Selected 30-Year Fixed-Rate Prepayments.
May 14, 2007... ((For March Period) Cpn Year WAC Fctr Apr'07 Mar '07 Fannie Mae 6.00 2006 6.56 .913 13.7 12.3 Fannie Mae 6.00 2005 6.51 .724 17.4 17.5 Fannie Mae ...

Moody's Sees CMBS Strength Peakin.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- The performance of commercial mortgage-backed securities may be peaking, according to Moody's Investors Service, as the real estate cycle runs its course. This means that the last few years of low loan delinquencies and strong...

Wachovia's Earnings Rise.(Financial report)
May 14, 2007... CHARLOTTE, NC -- Wachovia posted double-digit earnings growth in the first quarter and said its acquisition of Golden West Financial, a major adjustable-rate mortgage lender, is going smoothly. Ken Thompson, Wachovia's chairman and CEO,...

Credit Costs Rise On Citi's Portfolio.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- Citigroup said its credit costs increased by $1.26 billion in the first quarter, driven in part by higher credit costs in its domestic consumer lending division. Citi said that the increase in credit costs reflected net losses...

Repurchases Bode Well for FirstFed.
May 14, 2007... ARLINGTON, VA -- FirstFed Financial Corp., the third largest Los Angeles-based financial institution, is poised to benefit from aggressive share repurchases as it shrinks its balance sheet in response to an inverted yield curve, according to...

FTSE Adds Real Estate ETFs.
May 14, 2007... NEW YORK -- FTSE Group, a provider of global indexes, has licensed Barclays Global Investors to create five new iShares Exchange Traded Funds that track the FTSE NAREIT U.S. Real Estate Index Series. FTSE and NAREIT (the National...

Integra Unloads Servicing Rights.
May 14, 2007... Evansville, IN -- Integra Bank sold mortgage servicing rights for a $600,000 gain in the first quarter, helping the bank to post a 12.2% increase in earnings from the year-earlier period. The company also posted a $200,000 gain on...

Mortgage Industry Weighs in on Proposed REMIC Changes.
May 14, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Mortgage Bankers Association and a number of other commercial real estate-related trade groups have sent a comment letter to the IRS relating to possible amendments to real estate mortgage investment conduit regulations. ...