National Mortgage News articles from September 2006

National Mortgage News archives from September 2006

Inside Track.
September 4, 2006... EDITORIAL Bad RE News 4 OPEN FORUM The Housing Wail 4 STREET SMARTS Interest Rates Down Again 5 NMN.COM News Briefs 6 EQUITIES Earnings and Stocks 18 SECURITIZATION Roundup 19 ...

Top Five Servicers Near 50%.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The grinding wheel of servicing consolidation continued unabated in the second quarter with nation's top five residential firms increasing their market share to 48.7%. According to exclusive survey figures compiled by National...

Top Residential Servicers at 6/30/06.
September 4, 2006... (Dollars in Millions) Servicing Volume % Market Mkt Shr Rk Organization Name 6/30/06 6/30/05 Change Share % pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. $1,196,720...

Commercial/MF Up by 17%.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Originations of commercial and multifamily loans by mortgage bankers were up 17.3% in the second quarter, compared to the second quarter of last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The year-over-year increase...

New Conduit Gearing Up.
September 4, 2006... AUSTIN, TX -- Even though scores of mortgage bankers are heading for exits, Amherst Funding Group here, a relatively new comer to the conduit business, is jumping into the market with both feet. Not only that, but this month the conduit is...

GSE Liquidity Worry.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Passage of a Senate GSE bill could require Fannie Mae to reduce its giant mortgage portfolio to just $10 billion, limiting its ability to provide liquidity, according to the company's chief executive. "In our analysis, a...

Big Volumes For Alt-ABS.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- The alternative-A credit mortgage market saw record-setting volume in the second quarter of 2006 with issuance of alt-A securities increasing by about 33% to $101 billion from $76 billion in the first quarter of 2006, according to a...

A New Wave Offshore.
September 4, 2006... The third wave of mortgage offshoring appears to have transformed the business into something unlike what it originally was in some striking ways. Perhaps most notably: Although it continues to be known primarily for its staffing...

Banks Remain Hungry for Mortgage Assets and Construction Loans.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Banks and thrifts increased their investments in mortgage loans and securities in the second quarter, while construction lending remained brisk, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. FDIC-insured institutions...

HUD: Minorities Still Facing Bias.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development says that certain minority groups are continuing to be steered toward mortgage products that carry high note rates with excessive hidden fees. In a speech last week, HUD...

1st Horizon Warns on Home Loans.
September 4, 2006... MEMPHIS, TN -- First Horizon National Corp. here saw its share price get smacked around last week after stating that third-quarter earnings would be hurt by what it calls a "further deterioration" in the residential mortgage market. FHNC,...

NovaStar Completes $2 Billion MBS Deal.
September 4, 2006... KANSAS CITY, MO -- NovaStar Financial subsidiary NovaStar Mortgage Inc. has securitized $1 billion of nonconforming mortgages. Lead managers Deutsche Bank Securities, RBS Greenwich Capital and Wachovia Securities underwrote the transaction,...

PMI Repurchasing $345 MM in Stock.
September 4, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- The PMI Group here has inked a deal to buy back $345 million worth of its common stock through Goldman Sachs & Co. A spokesman for the company said the accelerated buyback commitment will offset a debenture program that...

Editorial: Glass Half Empty.(Editorial)
September 4, 2006... The recent spate of home sale numbers is the worst we can remember seeing, ever. While it's too soon to push the panic button, with interest rates on the 30-year again dropping below 6.5% recently, both national and local real estate numbers...

Open Forum: The Housing Market Wail.
September 4, 2006... After the release of the State of the Nation's Housing 2006 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, Mr. Retsinas, the president of the JCHS, has contributed a commentary on the ongoing struggle in the housing market and...

Rates Roll Back to Spring Levels, Easing Housing's Slowdown.
September 4, 2006... The long-term rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield has fallen notably in recently weeks and was trading at 4.78% at press time - quite a ways from the 5% range we saw not too long ago. Thus - as of last Thursday morning, based on the...

Roundup: San Diego Lender Tailors Loans for Mexican Market.
September 4, 2006... Finance North America, San Diego, has closed what it believes to be the first U.S.-style mortgage in San Miguel de Allende, a move that it said expands Americans' ability to use U.S. funding for property investments in Mexico. "American...

Yahoo! Revamps RE Site.
September 4, 2006... Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has announced an "extensive" revamping of its Yahoo! Real Estate website to provide consumers with new tools and services to buy, sell, or rent a home. The revamped site combines a database of more than 3 million...

Financial Freedom Gets Rating.
September 4, 2006... Fitch Ratings has assigned Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp. an RPS3-plus residential primary servicer rating for reverse-mortgage loans. Fitch said the rating is based on Financial Freedom's expertise in servicing reverse mortgages,...

Affordability Products Led Alt-A.
September 4, 2006... Affordability products dominated the alternative-A mortgage sector in the second quarter, pushing the issuance of alt-A securities to a record high after a brief downturn early in the year, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services....

Moody's Eyes Renaissance Deal.
September 4, 2006... The class B certificates from three Renaissance Home Equity Loan Trust subprime deals issued in 2002 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. The affected transactions are: series 2002-1, series 2002-2,...

Markit Buys Chasen.
September 4, 2006... Markit Group Ltd., London, a provider of data and services to the global financial markets, has announced the acquisition of Chasen Enterprises, a Peekskill, N.Y.-based provider of modeling for collateralized mortgage obligations and...

Lenders First Choice Names SVP.
September 4, 2006... Jim Brady has been named senior vice president of national title operations at Lenders First Choice, a provider of settlement services and title insurance headquartered in Simi Valley, Calif. The company said Mr. Brady was most recently a...

Simon Sells $1.1B of Notes.
September 4, 2006... Simon Property Group Inc., an Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust, has announced the sale of $1.1 billion of senior notes by its subsidiary operating partnership, Simon Property Group LP. The offering consisted of $600 million of...

REIT Renews $350M Revolver.
September 4, 2006... New Plan Excel Realty Trust, New York, has announced the renewal of its $350 million senior unsecured revolving credit facility and the addition of an accordion feature permitting its expansion to $500 million. The real estate investment trust...

Lehman/SASCO NIM Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... Four classes from four net-interest-margin securitizations issued by Lehman Brothers (SASCO) have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: SARM Net Interest Margin Notes, series 2005-5, class A, from A3 to...

MortgageHub Takes on Investor.
September 4, 2006... Conshohocken, Pa.-based MortgageHub has taken on a major investor - ISGN Technologies Ltd., a global enterprise software company. ISGN is also part of the K.K. Birla Group, an Indian industrial group. The group runs professionally managed...

70% See Worsening RE Market.
September 4, 2006... Seven in 10 investors believe that conditions in the real estate market are getting worse, according to a monthly UBS/Gallup index. The companies' Index of Investor Optimism indicates that 70% of respondents view conditions as worsening in the...

KB Home Opens N.O. Community.
September 4, 2006... Los Angeles-based KB Home has announced the beginning of sales in its first residential community in New Orleans. The company said it is the only national homebuilder currently building houses and seeking land permits in the...

Greystone Names HE Chief.
September 4, 2006... Steve Bredeson has been named director of home equity lending at Greystone Residential Funding Inc., a mortgage banking company based in Middleton, Wis. Mr. Bredeson has more than 25 years of experience as a banking executive in Chicago and...

Mortgage Vet Joins Board.
September 4, 2006... The CSI Cos., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based staffing firm, recently announced the addition of mortgage industry veteran Deane W. Hall to its board of directors. Mr. Hall has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including...

Saxon Classes Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... Three subordinate certificates from three subprime securitizations issued by Saxon Asset Securities Trust in 2001 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: series 2001-1, class MF-2, from Ba2 to Ba3;...

AHM Is Buying Bank for $16M.
September 4, 2006... MELVILLE, NY -- Mortgage banker American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. here has agreed to buy Flower Bank FSB, Chicago, for $16 million. By purchasing the single-branch thrift, the fast-growing and acquisition-minded American Home obtains...

RE Sale Raises $500M for Mills: Mills said proceeds will be used to pay down part of a senior term loan with Goldman Sachs.
September 4, 2006... CHEVY CHASE, MD -- The Mills Corp. is selling its interests in some overseas properties to Ivanhoe Cambridge, a Canadian property investor, and expects to net about $500 million from the sales. The real estate investment trust is currently...

Home Equity Deals Downgraded by Fitch.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Four classes from three subprime Renaissance Home Equity Loan Trust residential mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. P:The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-1, class B, from BBB to BBB-minus...

Consumer Advocates Question 'Suitability' of Some Products: The AARP is among the groups challenging the sale of 'expensive or risky loan products.'.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The increasing use of adjustable-rate mortgage products is leading consumer advocates to consider the concept of suitability as a way to hold lenders accountable and to secure redress for borrowers that are harmed. "The...

Freddie and Partners Expand Incentive Program in New Orleans.
September 4, 2006... NEW ORLEANS -- After the initial success of the program, Freddie Mac, Chase, Standard Mortgage Corp., Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation have expanded a joint initiative to assist current members of the...

Road Home Program Gets Off the Ground.
September 4, 2006... BATON ROUGE, LA -- The first homeowners from The Road Home pilot program have received financial assistance for their losses from Hurricane Katrina. It is estimated that 42 applicants will receive compensation of almost $1.5 million in the next...

ABC Names Regional SVP.
September 4, 2006... RENO, NEV -- Sheryl Heffernan has been named senior vice president of the West region of American Brokers Conduit, the wholesale division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust. Ms. Heffernan...

BrokerWatch Tool Targets Fraud: 'We cannot turn a blind eye to the reality that broker fraud does take place.'.
September 4, 2006... CARLSBAD, CA -- BasePoint Analytics LLC, the makers of FraudMark, has released a product called BrokerWatch that has enabled lenders using it on a pilot basis to ferret out the less than 10% of the brokers that cause most of their fraud and...

Urban Homebuilder Sees Higher Sales Volume: Strong sales in New Jersey have offset weakness in the Florida condo conversion market.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Tarragon Corp., an urban homebuilder specializing in the development and marketing of high-density residential communities, reported homebuilding sales for the second quarter ended June 30 of $143.1 million, up from $133.3 million...

Promotion Spotlight: Kathleen Kerstetter.
September 4, 2006... Ms. Kerstetter has been named president of Aegis Home Equity, Aegis Mortgage Corp.'s second mortgage division. Prior to becoming president, she served as vice president and general manager of Aegis Home Equity, a role she has held since AHE's...

Analyst Rates Freddie as a Buy.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- The government-sponsored enterprises are still in the midst of cleaning up their accounting practices and adapting to a new regulatory environment, but at least one prominent stock analyst believes that Freddie Mac's stock looks...

First Internet to Buy Landmark.
September 4, 2006... INDIANAPOLIS -- First Internet Bancorp and Landmark Financial Corp. and their boards have agreed to a deal in which the former will acquire the latter in an all-cash transaction. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of...

Zacks Highlights Challenges Facing Housing Sector: 'The housing market tends to move in slow motion, and I doubt we are anywhere close to the end of the troubles.'.
September 4, 2006... CHICAGO -- Zacks recently put a spotlight on the deteriorating conditions in the housing sector on its daily analyst blog, a feature that allows stock analysts to discuss news and events affecting particular companies and industries. ...

Roundup: ICNB Adds Market Maker.
September 4, 2006... IONIA, MI -- ICNB Financial Corp., the parent company of Ionia County National Bank and Austin Mortgage Co., has added the investment banking firm of Ferris Baker Watts Inc. as a market maker in the company's stock. Founded in 1934, ICNB...

Long Beach Deal Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Five classes of the Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust series 2002-1 subprime mortgage deal have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: group 1, class I-M2, from BBB to BB, and class I-M3, from CCC/DR2 to...

SASCO Series Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two classes of Structured Asset Security Corp. Amortizing Residential Collateral Trust series 2002-BC9 have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Class M4 was downgraded from BBB to BB-plus, and class B was downgraded from...

'Speculators' Exit Housing Market: Inflation concerns have dampened the performance of bonds issued by home builders.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Housing market participants are eagerly monitoring every word spoken by Federal Reserve officials while speculators and investors are backing away from the housing market. And that's shaping the prevailing mood in the housing...

Roundup: Mortgage Deals Face Higher than Expected Credit Losses.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Eight classes from five Ameriquest Mortgage Securities Inc. securitizations have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrades were as follows: series 2003-1, class M-4, from Baa3 to B1; series 2003-2, class M-3,...

MH Deal Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class A-6 of Access Financial's series 1996-1 securitization of manufactured housing contracts has been downgraded from AA-minus to A-minus by Fitch Ratings. In addition, the ratings on six classes from two Access manufactured...

CSFB CMBS Classes on Review.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Seven classes of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp. commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2005-CND2, have been placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. The affected...

Fannie Prices Benchmark Notes.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae has priced $3 billion of 5.25% 10-year Benchmark Notes due Sept. 15, 2016. The issue (CUSIP: 31359MW41) was priced at 99.395 to yield 5.329%, 38 basis points more than comparable 10-year Treasury notes, the...

GMAC CMBS Classes Downgraded.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class M of GMAC Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc. series 1998-C2 has been downgraded from CCC/DR4 to CC/DR4 by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also upgraded one class and affirmed the ratings on 11 other classes in the deal. The...

Private Equity Funds Fuel REIT Acquisition Deals.
September 4, 2006... NEW YORK -- Fueled by the availability of capital from private-equity investors and relatively low interest rates, mergers and acquisitions in the real estate investment trust world are coming on thick and fast, reflecting a trend that is...

Grants Will Aid Katrina Rentals.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has earmarked $973 million in disaster emergency funding to be invested in the long-term recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas. ...

NAR: CRE Strong Heading into '07.
September 4, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A leading indicator for the commercial real estate market maintained by the National Association of Realtors shows that improvement in commercial property sectors will continue into 2007, according to the NAR. The NAR's...

People.
September 4, 2006... CALIFORNIA Brea-ResMAE Mortgage Corp. has appointed Ed Ainbinder as regional vice president for the state of New York. Prior to joining ResMAE, Mr. Ainbinder was a senior sales manager for Washington Mutual Specialty Home Loans, having...

MortgageHub to Become Dominant.
September 4, 2006... CONSHOHOCKEN, PA -- MortgageHub here is primed to make a big impact in moving the industry toward a more electronic environment. The mortgage technology vendor has taken on a significant investor in ISGN Technologies, an enterprise software...

LSSI and Del Mar Prepare for E-Notes.
September 4, 2006... POWAY, CA -- While many admit that mainstream electronic mortgage adoption isn't likely for another two to five years or more, vendors like LSSI and Del Mar Database are preparing their customers today by taking integration further. Ultimately...

Dynatek and DocuTech Focus on Mid-Tier.
September 4, 2006... LIVONIA, MI -- With origination volumes decreasing, small and midtier lenders are being hurt the most. As a result, Dynatek has partnered with DocuTech to make it easier for these lenders to outsource their document needs to focus more on...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
September 4, 2006... MIEC Index: 151.1 Change: -0.1 Company 8/24/2006 8/31/2006 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi From Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 30.04 30.80...

H&R Block Books Mortgage Losses.
September 4, 2006... KANSAS CITY, MO -- H&R Block Inc. here expects to record a $102.1 million provision for losses in the current quarter related to its subsidiary, Option One Mortgage Corp. The company's stock price dropped from trading to levels just above...

LynxBanc Serves Overseas Buyers.
September 4, 2006... BOCA RATON, FL -- LynxBanc Mortgage Corp. here has added to its offerings the ability to arrange multicurrency mortgage facilities for international buyers purchasing homes in South Florida by working with the United Kingdom-based Lloyds TSB...

Inside Track.
September 11, 2006... EDITORIAL Five Years Later 4 OPEN FORUM Housing and Inflation 4 STREET SMARTS Five Years and Counting 5 TECHNOLOGY E-Signatures 6 GRAPEVINE POed at Option Loans 10 AFFORDABLE HOUSING ...

Merrill Lynch Is Buying B/C Lender 1st Franklin.
September 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- In a deal that will make it the second largest Wall Street funder of subprime loans, investment banking powerhouse Merrill Lynch & Co. has agreed to buy First Franklin Financial Corp., San Jose, Calif., and two affiliates for a...

Subservicing Unit Closing.
September 11, 2006... GREENSBORO, NC -- Wendover Financial Services is exiting the residential subservicing arena and will close its headquarters here, National Mortgage News has learned. A spokeswoman for the parent company, Electronic Data Systems of Plano,...

Residential Jumbo Lenders in Q2 2006.
September 11, 2006... ($ in Millions) Jumbo Production % Market Rk Organization Name Q2 2006 Q2 2005 Change Share 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage $21,627 $20,909 ...

WaMu Seeking Funds Oversees.
September 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Industry giant Washington Mutual, Seattle, is planning to tap European capital markets by launching the first covered bond program collateralized by U.S. residential mortgage collateral. The move marks a "significant departure...

NatCity 'Committed to A'.
September 11, 2006... CLEVELAND -- In the wake of National City's decision to sell its highly profitable subprime division, market rumors began to circulate that it might consider lopping off part of its conventional business as well. Last week, the company...

Signs Point to Layoffs.
September 11, 2006... Employment in the mortgage industry has been at a fairly high level all year, but a drop in originations and a recent jobs report point toward coming layoffs. Mortgage originations were unexpectedly strong in the second quarter. But in...

53% of Blacks Got Subprime.
September 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- More than one-half of all African-American borrowers received conventional subprime mortgages in 2005, according to a Consumer Federation of America study. CFA analyzed a sample of the 2005 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data...

RBC Capital Prepares to Enter U.S. CMBS Market: 'The CMBS program also complements many of the real estate financing products we already offer.'.
September 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- RBC Capital Markets has launched a commercial mortgage lending business in the U.S. and has appointed Dan Smith to head the group. RBCCM, a division of Toronto-based RBC Financial Group, reports that the real estate mortgage...

NAR Expects Home Prices to Fall: A Federal Reserve report also found widespread indications that residential real estate markets have weakened.
September 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Realtors expects housing prices will dip below last year's levels for a few months due to slower-than-expected sales and rising inventories. NAR's projection is just the latest in a spate of bad...

NetBank and Irwin Appear Poised to Complete Servicing Deals.
September 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Two large servicing packages - with combined receivables of $35 billion - are expected to close in the next few weeks, according to investment banking officials. Sources said Citigroup Mortgage, O'Fallon, Mo., has expressed...

CharterMac Drops Capri Option Deal.
September 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- CharterMac subsidiary CM Investor is not going to act on its option to purchase a 49% interest in Capri Capital Advisors, in exchange for a $6 million termination fee from Capri Capital Advisors. In a related transaction, Capri...

Conn. Bank Buys Mortgage Firm.
September 11, 2006... WILLIMANTIC, CT -- Savings Institute Bank & Trust Co. here is buying Fairfield Financial Mortgage Group Inc., Danbury, Conn. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Over the last 12 months, FFMG has originated over $386.1 million. It has...

Editorial: Ghosts of 9/11.(Editorial)
September 11, 2006... The five-year anniversary of 9/11 today makes us wonder, especially those of us in New York, if that awful day of devastation and loss could be repeated. Kudos to our anti-terrorist efforts that have certainly deterred some planned...

Open Forum: A Primer on Inflation.
September 11, 2006... Excerpts of Mr. Fisher's remarks at the recent 6th Annual Real Estate Symposium, North Dallas Chamber of Commerce in Dallas are presented as our Open Forum. On the national level, recent data indicate that housing markets weakened further...

Looking at 9/11 Five Years Later: Remembering and Moving On.
September 11, 2006... After the passage of five years I suppose there are days when, despite my proximity to the event, I have to admit that I almost forget about how terrorists killed close to 1,000 bond market participants - including a number of mortgage...

Broker Pilots Electronic Signatures to Get Clear Competitive Edge: 'We want to do everything we can to implement a paperless file. We don't want to fax or e-mail or UPS.'.
September 11, 2006... SEBRING, FL -- While using electronic signatures may seem like cutting-edge technology that isn't going to be practical for years to come, brokerages like Fairway Independence Mortgage, are piloting e-signature use today. Fairway sees this...

The Benefits of Looking at Newer Technologies: 'Technology should be able to ... market your company and serve as ... integrated contact management.'.
September 11, 2006... CHARLOTTE, NC -- While the mortgage industry in general is very skittish when adopting newer technologies, that doesn't mean the benefits aren't there. Technologies like automated underwriting, for example, were considered cutting edge at one...

One Class of SARM Deal Downgraded.
September 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- Class A of SARM Net Interest Margin Notes, series 2005-5, has been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's said the rating action was based on the performance of the Structured...

Thrift to Exit Oversight Deal.
September 11, 2006... BOWIE, MD -- The Washington Savings Bank here said it has reached an agreement to terminate a supervisory agreement with the Office of Thrift Supervision. OTS terminated the supervisory agreement, which had been in effect since March 2004,...