AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Mortgage Scene: Mega Servicers Start Your Engines: The Refi Boom Is at the Door.(refinancing)(Brief Article)
One of the nicest things about the mortgage banking industry is its ability to surprise. Not only is the residential finance sector constantly evolving (thanks, in part, to technology) but just when you think you might have a half-way decent idea of where rates are headed, you get smacked upside the head with a new spike, or a precipitous drop.
So, now that 30-year fixed-rate conventional loans are going for under 7% with no points, the betting is that 2001 very well could turn out to be a $1.5 trillion production year, second only to 1998's record $1.55 trillion year.
Whether we will actually reach the $1.5 trillion threshold is another matter, but several economists are betting that the Federal Reserve will cut rates another 100 to 200 basis points over the next few months, that is, as long as evidence keeps piling up that the U.S. economy is in for an ugly slowdown. The big question facing lenders and servicers is whether the anticipated cuts are already figured into the bond market and mortgage rates. Is it?
For now, one thing is certain: mortgages rates likely will stay under 7% for the first quarter and the more that number creeps down the more refis will swell. For Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Chase Manhattan Mortgage, and Bank of America Mortgage - all of which are members of the $300 billion-plus servicing club - this unexpected refi boom will create havoc for their servicing managers.
How much havoc the current boom will create is a matter for Wells, Chase and BofA to decide. Yes, these firms are hedged and all have fairly large production operations. But how well hedged are they? And how good are their production networks? The bigger question might be: how much of their servicing is going to skip out the back door and wind up at the competition?
If the big three are smart (and we assume that they are), they'd be out there in the marketplace gearing up production to capture clients ...
- REFI BOOM HEADACHES: FleetBoston takes hit on sale of servicing portfolio, but...
- Magazine article from: US Banker Muolo, Paul June 1, 2001 700+ words
...owned "mega" servicers (Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America)-are seeing housing...havoc in the bulk servicing market, the refi boom is causing the "flow" servicing market...make a living selling bulk servicing the refi boom is causing problems, yes. But every...
- Who'll gain most from the refi boom? (refinancing mortgages)
- Magazine article from: US Banker Muolo, Paul April 1, 1998 700+ words
...Pasadena, CA ($171.3 billion); Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Edison, NJ...mortgage banking firm in the midst of a refi boom is never an easy thing to do," notes...Even though Norwest, Countrywide and Chase are the top residential lenders, all...
- Handling the refi boom. (refinancing market)(includes related articles on...
- Magazine article from: Mortgage Banking Schneider, Howard May 1, 1998 700+ words
Lenders faced a full-fledged refi boom when rates sank to the lows reached in...closed. But technology made this year's refi boom easier to handle than previous booms...the end of 1997, we would have a mini refi boom," says Joe Bowen, executive vice president...
- Refi Boom Goes Sonic.
- Magazine article from: National Mortgage News Sinnock, Bonnie January 22, 2001 700+ words
...levels have catapulted even further into "refi boom" territory than experts expected, approaching...the previous week. During the last refi boom, the index breached the 3000 mark...the year, which is would prolong the refi boom. David Lereah, the National Association...
- A Refi Boom Is a Refi Boom, Right? Wrong.(Brief Article)
- Magazine article from: Mortgage Banking CULVER, CURT June 1, 2001 700+ words
...term refinancing. The 1998--1999 refi boom was a different story. From December...percent. Prior to the 1998--1999 refi boom, however, interest rates were above...flooded the market to refinance, and the refi boom itself became front-page news. In...
- Refi Boom Might Still Have Some Legs.
- Magazine article from: Mortgage Servicing News Cornwell, Ted July 1, 2005 700+ words
It was supposed to end. The refi boom, that is. Wake me up when it's over. To be sure, refinancing...the 40% mark, that's above historical trends for a post-refi boom environment. But with the average coupon on outstanding mortgages...
- Refi Boom Leads to Hard Calls on Tech Spending.
- Magazine article from: American Banker Quinn, Lawrence Richter January 23, 2002 700+ words
...systems failure occur, the effects would be magnified during a refi boom. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America reports that...platoons of employees who may have to be laid off when the refi boom ends, Mr. Colligan said. Good technology investments might...
- Aging refi boom nudges delinquency rate up. (Brief Article)
- Magazine article from: American Banker Kulkosky, Edward September 22, 1994 700+ words
...serviced." "Loans originated during the initial phases of the refi boom are now two and a half to three years old. History has shown...uptrend now seems likely as loans written during the peak of the refi boom move into the danger period. Many observers also fear that...