National Mortgage News back issues from November 2006:
Inside Track.
Nov 06, 2006 ... EDITORIAL Technology Graduation 4 OPEN FORUM The View from OFHEO 4 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Hip-Hop Summit 11 COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES New Deals 14 TECHNOLOGY IBM Takes on Palisades 15 ...
ABN Amro On Selling Block?
Nov 06, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV is contemplating selling its once-storied U.S. mortgage division, according to industry officials. At press time, a spokesman for ABN Amro Mortgage, Ann Arbor, Mich. - the nation's largest wholesale lender a few years ago - declined ...
Second Lien Volume Flat.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WASHINGTON -- Second-lien production was flat in the second quarter and there is growing evidence that piggyback loan structures are starting to lose market share to traditional mortgage insurance. According to exclusive survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News, the ...
Top 2nd Lien Servicers at June 30, 2006.
Nov 06, 2006 ... ($ in Millions) <Pre> 2nds Serviced% Rk Organization Name Locationat 6/30/06 at 6/30/05 Change 1 Bank of AmericaCharlotte, NC $78,306 $65,952 19% 2 Chase ...
Latinos See High Rejection.
Nov 06, 2006; ... LAS VEGAS -- A share of an estimated $200 billion in mortgages is up for grabs for any lender which can figure out how to safely evaluate the nontraditional credit habits of Hispanic families who desire to own a home, according to a group of Latino housing professionals. The ...
IndyMac Keeps Gaining Share.
Nov 06, 2006; ... PASADENA, CA -- IndyMac's earnings per share only grew by 3% in the third quarter from the same period last year, but the company's loan production market share continued to grow by a much higher rate. The company posted net income of $86.1 million, up 11%, and EPS of $1.19 in ...
B&C Wholesaler Closes.
Nov 06, 2006; ... WestWorks Mortgage, a privately held wholesaler based in Santa Ana, Calif., has closed its doors but is still honoring existing approvals and rate locks. Ron Wilsie, president of the company, confirmed the news, calling the shutdown "an orderly discontinuation of operation." ...
The Software Battle for Mortgage Broker Share Is Heating Up.
Nov 06, 2006; ... DUBLIN, CA -- The legal battle between rival broker loan origination vendors Calyx Software and Ellie Mae is over, but the market share battle continues, with Ellie Mae's Encompass making significant inroads in just the past year alone. According to SourceMedia's data division ...
Promotion Spotlight: Jim Judd.
Nov 06, 2006 ... Mr. Judd has been named head of Wachovia's retail mortgage and credit group. Joining the bank from the recently acquired World Savings of Oakland, he was promoted as part of a reorganization that led to the resignation of C.D. Davies who served as president of Wachovia Mortgage. Mr. Davies ...
Private Issuer Gets Head Start in Reverse Market.
Nov 06, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- Ginnie Mae recently said it intends to securitize Federal Housing Administration reverse mortgages, but one private issuer already has a head start on the federal secondary market agency. Seattle Mortgage Co., working with a private investor, securitized $135.5 ...
Editorial: Best in Class.(Editorial)
Nov 06, 2006 ... Congratulations are in order for the 2006 winners of the annual Technology Awards given out by our sister publication, Mortgage Technology, at the recent Chicago convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Our presentations at the University of Chicago had a fun ...
Open Forum: Getting GSE Reform Right.
Nov 06, 2006; ... Excerpts of Mr. Lockhart's remarks before the Hudson Institute Center for Employment Policy & Center for Housing Policy in Washington are presented as our Open Forum. The case for GSE reform is very strong given Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's mismanagement history and the risks ...
Experts Say States Should Do a Better Job Policing Appraisers.
Nov 06, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- A lack of enforcement at the state level is a major reason appraisals remain at the root of mortgage fraud, panelists at a symposium sponsored by the Appraisal Foundation said recently. A third of the states "are doing a great job" at responding to cases alleging ...
OpenClose User Base Triples as Company Targets Correspondents.
Nov 06, 2006; ... WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- As Beanstalk Networks' OpenClose platform approached the 30,000 mark for active users of its Web-based mortgage platform, the company has refined the software in the correspondent version that augments its wholesale and retail versions. At the MBA annual ...
Wholesale Exec Will Lead Fifth Third Mortgage.
Nov 06, 2006 ... CINCINNATI -- Bob Lewis has been promoted by Fifth Third Bank to be president of Fifth Third Mortgage Co., which he joined approximately one year ago to help build its wholesale channel. Prior to joining Fifth Third, Mr. Lewis worked for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, ...
Bank Regulators Issue Warnings.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators hit the convention circuit recently to scold mortgage lenders about the "slippage" in underwriting standards and extending risky loans to subprime borrowers. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan told the American Bankers Association's annual ...
News Analysis: Exotics Continue to Cut into Market Share of Fannie, Freddie: Interest-only and pay-option ARMs currently account for 31% of the loan origination market.
Nov 06, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- The popularity of "exotic" mortgages is continuing to eat away at the purchase loan market share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to an analysis of purchases by Fannie and Freddie conducted by this newspaper, the two congressionally chartered giants had a ...
Triad Guaranty Beats Earnings Forecast in 3Q: 'Our thesis on the entire space is grounded on the premise of improving MI penetration and premium rates.'.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Friedman Billings Ramsey, Arlington, Va., has maintained its market perform rating on Triad Guaranty Inc. here, even as third-quarter earnings per share for the mortgage insurer beat FBR's estimates by $0.03 and the consensus by $0.01. Triad earned $19.4 million, or ...
Latino-Owned Bank Exceeds Funding Goal as it Launches Business: 'Our customers will be able to call on us like family to be a trusted financial partner.'.
Nov 06, 2006; ... LOS ANGELES -- Promerica Bank has surpassed its initial funding goal of $20 million to $25 million and is now ready to move forward and open its doors as the first majority Latino-owned commercial bank to form in Los Angeles in 30 years. According to Maria Contreras-Sweet, ...
Hip-Hop Stars Advise Youth on Financial Savvy: 'It was wonderful to see so many young people express their views on such a relevant issue as financial literacy.'.
Nov 06, 2006; ... DALLAS -- The final free event of the 2006 "Get Your Money Right" series organized by the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network sponsored by Chrysler Financial to inspire 18- to 35-year-old at-risk youth to improve their life through financial empowerment and homeownership was again a success. ...
Experts Debate Liquidity Outlook for Commercial Realty Sector: 'When product types and geographic areas get overheated, the capital markets do a good job of self-policing.'.
Nov 06, 2006; ... NEW YORK -- At a recent "Realshare Structured Finance" conference here, participants discussed how the liquidity situation in the U.S. commercial real estate market will play out and also saw opportunities overseas. John Bralower, managing director, The Carlton Group, expects ...
Roundup: Developers to Buy Inland Retail REIT for $6.2 Billion.
Nov 06, 2006 ... CLEVELAND -- Developers Diversified, a retail real estate investment trust, is acquiring Inland Retail Real Estate Trust, a non-listed REIT, for a total price of about $6.2 billion. Developers Diversified is paying $14 per Inland share, and could pay upto $4 of this in ...
GE Veteran Launches Venture.
Nov 06, 2006 ... SOUTHBOROUGH, MA -- Jerry Quill, a former GE Real Estate managing director, has formed Charles Street Capital, a commercial real estate investment company. "Strong real estate fundamentals in many North American markets together with low financing costs continue to create ...
Prudential partners with Kimco.
Nov 06, 2006 ... PARSIPPANY, NJ -- Prudential Real Estate Investors is getting in on Kimco Realty Corp.'s previously announced acquisition of Pan Pacific Retail Properties, through a joint venture with Kimco. PREI is putting in a $1.1 billion equity investment, on behalf of institutional ...
GE Buys More Real Estate.
Nov 06, 2006 ... DALLAS -- Crow Holdings, a real estate investor representing the Trammell Crow family, is selling a portfolio of 147 assets to GE Real Estate, Norwalk, Conn., for $2.2 billion. The portfolio consists of 112 industrial buildings (9.3 million square feet), 19 retail properties ...
GE to Buy Restaurant REIT.
Nov 06, 2006 ... ORLANDO, FL -- GE Capital Solutions, a Danbury, Conn.-based asset management division of GE, is acquiring Trustreet Properties, a restaurant real estate investment trust, for a total of about $3 billion. The acquisition price includes a payment of $17.05 per Trustreet common ...
NYC Apartment Deal Fetches $5.4B.
Nov 06, 2006 ... NEW YORK -- MetLife has sold the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town complex here for $5.4 billion to a joint venture between BlackRock Realty and Tishman Speyer. The complex includes over 11,000 units, making it the largest apartment complex here, according to MetLife, ...
IBM Strikes Deal to Buy Palisades' Web-Based Lending Technology.
Nov 06, 2006; ... ARMONK, NY -- In a move likely to solidify its position in mortgage technology, IBM has agreed to acquire New Jersey-based Palisades Technology Partners, an IBM partner that offers a comprehensive Web-based multichannel lending platform. Terms of the transaction, expected to ...
Lenders Snap Up Free LOS Product.
Nov 06, 2006 ... BELLEVUE, WA -- TeraVendo said that its LoanAce LOS software has reached the 1,000-user mark among mortgage companies, less than three months after LoanAce debuted Aug. 1, 2006. To date, said Jeff Cunio, president of TeraVendo Inc., 5,100 users have gone to the website to ...
Some Believe Recorders Are No Longer an E-Mortgage Barrier.
Nov 06, 2006; ... NEW YORK -- While many have contended that county recorders are a hurdle to e-mortgage adoption, that is no longer the case. About 50% of loans done today can be e-recorded, and county recorders are waiting for lenders to realize the benefits and embrace this technology shift in mortgage ...
Astoria's Earnings Fall on Tighter Margins and Servicing Charge.
Nov 06, 2006 ... LAKE SUCCESS, NY -- Astoria Financial's earnings fell as a sometimes inverted yield curve ate into the company's net interest margin and led to a valuation adjustment to the company's mortgage servicing asset, the company said. Astoria reported net income of $41.1 million, or ...
North Fork Bank's Earnings Decline.
Nov 06, 2006 ... MELVILLE, NY -- North Fork Bancorporation, parent of GreenPoint Mortgage, earned $203 million in the third quarter, down from $237 million in the third quarter of last year. Earnings per share fell to $0.44 from $0.50 in the year-earlier period. The bank said that it is ...
Franklin Bank Sees Lower Residential Volume.
Nov 06, 2006; ... HOUSTON -- Third-quarter results for Franklin Bank Corp., the parent company of Franklin Bank SSB, revealed that its commercial loan portfolio increased 65% to $1.5 billion compared to the same period a year ago. According to the company, as of Sept. 30, 37% of total loans were commercial ...
South Dakota Bank Buys Servicing.
Nov 06, 2006 ... SIOUX FALLS, SD -- HF Financial Corp. earned $1.1 million in the third quarter, up from $1 million in the year-earlier period. The company's bank subsidiary also completed the purchase of servicing rights on mortgages held by the South Dakota Housing Development Authority. Net interest ...
Ryland's Earnings Contract by 25%: Ryland said its capture rate for mortgages made to homebuilding customers was 82.2%.
Nov 06, 2006 ... CALABASAS, CA -- The Ryland Group here said that its consolidated net earnings decreased 25.5% for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 to $87.9 million, or compared to $118 million for the same period in 2005. The homebuilding segments reported pretax earnings of $141.3 million ...
FDIC Revamps Deposit Insurance.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WASHINGTON -- For banks and thrifts, the days of free deposit insurance are coming to an end now that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has completely revamped the premium assessment system. Starting next year, all FDIC-insured banks and thrifts will have to pay at least a 5 ...
People.
Nov 06, 2006 ... CALIFORNIA Laguna Hills-SLMC Mortgage appointed two regional sales managers and a chief credit officer. Steven J. Finn was appointed regional sales manger. He has over 25 years in the mortgage industry in both sales and operations and has held senior sale management ...
Failure to File Quartely Report Lands KB Home on Watch List.
Nov 06, 2006 ... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has placed KB Home on Rating Watch Negative. The change is due to the company's inability to make a timely filing of its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Aug. 31 with the Securities and Exchange Commission and consequent need to negotiate waivers with its banks and ...
NVR's 3rd Quarter Earnings Decline.
Nov 06, 2006 ... RESTON, VA -- NVR Inc., a national homebuilder and mortgage banker, reported diluted earnings per share for its third quarter ended Sept. 30 decreased 19% and net income decreased 32% when compared to the 2005 third quarter. Net income for the 2006 third quarter was $129.3 ...
Fannie Mae Patent Alarms Industry.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WASHINGTON -- Industry groups are pressing Fannie Mae to give up the rights to a patent on an origination process for customized mortgages for fear it could stifle innovation and competition in the mortgage market. Seven trade groups are calling on Fannie to take immediate ...
Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
Nov 06, 2006 ... MIEC Index: 136.3 Change: -3.9 <Pre> Company 10/19/2006 11/2/2006 Wkly.52 52 % Chg. P/E% Chg. wk/lo wk/hi From Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 30.00 28.68 - 4%27.25 31.95 5% 14.7 ...
Fannie Purchases Hit High for Year.
Nov 06, 2006 ... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae acquired $66.59 billion in mortgages during September, its best purchase month of the year. On a sequential basis, loan acquisitions rose 36%, but compared to September 2005, purchases fell 6%. September tends to be a good month for secondary ...
Cash-Out Financing at 16-Year High: Refinancing continues at a higher frequency than historically would have been the case given the rise in mortgage rates.
Nov 06, 2006 ... MCLEAN, VA -- Cash-out transactions accounted for 89% of Freddie Mac-owned loans that were refinanced in the third quarter, the secondary market agency reported. That's the highest level of cash-out refinancing reported in 16 years. Freddie Mac also revised its estimate of ...
Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
Nov 06, 2006 ... B&C Stock Price Index: 201.3 Change: -4.0 <Pre> Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 11/2/2006 Wkly. %Chg. P/E % Chg. From Ratio Delta Financial Corp (DFC) 6.41 10.09 8.97 0%40%...
CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
Nov 06, 2006 ... A headline on page 23 of the Oct. 30 issue of NMN misidentified the location of Washington Federal Savings. The thrift is based in Seattle, not in Virginia as the ...
Mortgages Swing FBR to 3Q Loss.
Nov 06, 2006 ... ARLINGTON, VA -- Friedman, Billings Ramsey here reported a third-quarter net after-tax loss of $67.4 million, or $0.39 per share, in large part due to a $146.8 million non-cash mark-to-market write-down in the value of its real estate investment trust's mortgage loan portfolio. ...
Inside Track.
Nov 13, 2006 ... EDITORIAL Georgia in Mind 4 OPEN FORUM Big Ben Chimes4 STREET SMARTS Prepays and TPOs 5 TECHNOLOGY Whale of a Tale 12 HOT STAT Stable Rates and refinancings remained ...
H&R Block May Sell B&C Giant.
Nov 13, 2006 ... NEW YORK -- H&R Block Inc. is considering selling Option One Mortgage Corp., Irvine, Calif., one of the nation's largest subprime lenders and servicers. The tax preparation company also initiated cost-cutting measures at the lender and has hired Goldman Sachs as an advisor. ...
Huge Changes In Congress.
Nov 13, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- By winning control of the House and Senate in last Tuesday's elections, Democrats will set the agenda in the next Congress and housing issues are expected to be at the forefront. The housing agenda of the Republican-controlled Congress focused mainly on GSE reform ...
NetBank Closes B&C Unit, LIME.
Nov 13, 2006 ... ATLANTA -- NetBank Inc. here last week pulled the plug on its Meritage Mortgage subprime affiliate, but agreed to transfer many of the account executives working there to another company. NetBank, which is in the throes of restructuring its entire mortgage business, also will ...
3rd Quarter Losses in Subprime.
Nov 13, 2006; ... NEW YORK -- The third quarter 2006 was not kind to a trio of subprime mortgage lenders, with one of the three firms, Saxon Capital Inc., taking a loss for the period of $26.4 million, or $0.53 per share. The Glen Allen, Va.-based firm, structured as a real estate investment ...
50-Year Goes Toward Alt-A.
Nov 13, 2006; ... IRVINE, CA -- Fifty-year term products, which not long ago raised eyebrows about how long is too long a term for residential mortgage loans, are becoming mainstream and embraced by the prime loan market. BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp., a direct wholesale mortgage lender ...
A Lower Limit? OFHEO Won't Say.
Nov 13, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- Could the conforming loan limit fall in 2007? The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight isn't saying. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac always maintained that under the law, they did not have to lower the limit on loans the two government-sponsored ...
Conforming Loan Limits.
Nov 13, 2006 ... <Pre> 1980 $93,750 1981 98,500 1982 107,000 1983 108,300 1984 114,000 1985 115,300 1986 133,250 1987 153,100 1988 168,700 1989 187,600 1990 187,450 ...
Loan Buybacks Remain the Talk of the Industry.
Nov 13, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- It appears that the tidal wave of loan buyback requests plaguing the nonconforming sector is showing no signs of slowing down. According to interviews with investment bankers, due diligence executives, warehousers and others, buyback requests are still a huge ...
Fiserv Touts New Web-Based Tools.
Nov 13, 2006; ... BROOKFIELD, WI -- As one move toward implementing the new Fiserv 2.0 strategic vision, Fiserv Lending Solutions has just launched a new suite of Web-based add-on tools for users of its easyLENDER LOS system. The new toolset, called easyWEB, offers to streamline loan officer and broker ...
Freddie Expands Technology Effort.
Nov 13, 2006; ... MCLEAN, VA -- As an extension of Freddie Mac's new technology strategy to buy instead of build, the GSE is branching out by opening smaller regional offices to tap local labor brain trust instead of locating all its technology initiatives in its corporate headquarters here. At ...
Commerce Velocity Rolls Out ASP-Based End-to-End Network: 'Some of the Wall Street investors want to bring their lenders onto the platform.'.
Nov 13, 2006; ... IRVINE, CA -- In the wake of its announcement of a new ASP-based loan origination offering, Commerce Velocity here has been picked over rivals to have Allen, Texas-based BSM Financial LP, a $3-billion-a-year lender that expects to be up and running with the Commerce Velocity CQ system by ...
Editorial: Disaster Averted.(Editorial)
Nov 13, 2006 ... Georgia has the dubious distinction of being the first state to have had a predatory lending law put on its books a few years back. North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico and other states followed, lenders abandoned these states in a well-publicized panic, and a full-blown hue and cry ...
Open Forum: Subprime Questions & Concerns: Excerpts of Mr. Bernanke's remarks at the Opportunity Finance Network's Annual Conference in Washington are presented as our Open Forum.
Nov 13, 2006; ... The growth of subprime mortgage lending is one indication of the extent to which access to credit has increased for all households, including those with lower incomes. In 1994, fewer than 5% of mortgage originations were in the subprime market, but by 2005 about 20% of new mortgage loans ...
Eyeing Prepays and Freddie's Third-Party Origination Disclosures.
Nov 13, 2006; ... Long-term mortgage rates as tracked by Freddie Mac had jumped a bit before subsiding and rate-indicative long-term bond yields as tracked by Yahoo! Finance had drifted lower at press time as the market buzzed with speculation about election results and loan limits. Since there ...
Fidelity's Empower LOS Migrates to .NET Technology Platform.
Nov 13, 2006; ... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Fidelity is looking to stand out in the eyes of large lenders looking hard at investing in a new loan origination system by migrating its Empower system to a .NET framework. "As interest rates rise and volume continues to fall, lenders are looking at ...
A Second Chance for LEM?
Nov 13, 2006; ... WASHINGTON -- Conflicting feedback on the need to create location-efficient mortgage loans gets an in-favor vote from a recent first-of-its-kind study showing urban families in search of affordable housing tend to lose their housing finance gains to higher transportation costs. ...
Housing vs Transportation Costs.
Nov 13, 2006 ... (Expenses as a share of income) Typical Household Budget in 28 Metropolitan Areas <Pre> All Households Working Families Incomes $20,000-$50,000 Housing 27.4%27.7% Transportation 20.2%29.6% Food ...
Boomerang Web Tool Brings in Business for InterFirst's Brokers.
Nov 13, 2006; ... ANN ARBOR, MI -- More than 1,500 mortgage third-party originators are now using the Boomerang Web presentation tool offered exclusively to InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending's approved brokers, said ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. Since AAMG becoming the exclusive Boomerang distributor in ...