MortgageWire Stories from 1999

FHA Hikes Loan Limits

For the second time in less than three months, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has raised the Federal Housing Administration single-family loan limit. (Read More)

COFI Falls 7 BP

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan Bank Cost of Funds Index for November was 4.691%, a decline of seven basis points from October's 4.762%. (Read More)

Freddie Speeds Mixed

Prepayment rates for Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage-backed securities were higher on cusp and premium issues in the latest reporting period, while new issue speeds declined for discount and current coupons, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Rock Financial on the Rise

Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, one of Michigan's largest non-depository mortgage banking firms, has seen its stock rise recently amid takeover speculation. (Read More)

PacificAmerica Cites Loan Sales, Debt Woes

PacificAmerica Money Center Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif., has announced that it sold approximately $104 million in loans in December to increase its liquidity and pay off the $46 million balance on its warehouse line of credit. (Read More)

WMF Shores Up Finances

WMF Group Ltd., Vienna, Va., has sold off its remaining loan inventory and secured an extension and waiver of defaults on its bank warehouse lines of credit and other credit facilities, according to WMF president and chief executive Shekar Marasimhan. (Read More)

1st Alliance Snags Warehouse Line

First Alliance Corp., a nonconforming lender based in Irvine, Calif., has received a $150 million warehouse line of credit with an affiliate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., New York. (Read More)

RFS Completes Long-Term Financing

RFS Hotel Investors Inc., Memphis, has completed a $95.8 million long-term secured financing with NationsBank. (Read More)

Judge Sets Date for Glendale Decision

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith announced Tuesday that he will issue his decision in the Glendale (Calif.) Federal Bank goodwill case on Friday, March 12 at 5 p.m. after the stock market closes. (Read More)

Fannie/Freddie User Fee Dead?

A budget proposal that surfaced last week to charge both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a $250 million user fee has apparently been dropped. (Read More)

Westcorp Slashes Mortgage Ops

Westcorp Financial Bank, Irvine, Calif., is slashing and restructuring its mortgage banking operations to put greater emphasis on subprime and nonconforming originations, according to Westcorp, the bank's parent. (Read More)

AU Transferability Stirs MBA Concerns

Initiatives that bring automated underwriting closer to brokers and enable them to shop AU scores among lenders have aroused the concern of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

Title Search Index Rises

The AFS Title Search Index rose 3.9% to a holiday-adjusted 201.1 for the week ended Jan. 1 from 193.5 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

Indian Housing Program Launched

BankAmerica Mortgage, San Francisco, and the Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority have launched a program aimed at providing affordable housing options for the Dry Creek and Stewarts Point tribes of Sonoma County. (Read More)

Fannie Issues $3-4B Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has announced the issuance of a $3.0-4.0 billion, 10-year Benchmark Note. (Read More)

1st American, Norwest Venture Completed

The First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., and Norwest Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, have announced the completion of the final phases of a previously announced joint venture. (Read More)

Interlinq Unveils New Secondary Market Tool

Interlinq Software Corp., Bellevue, Wash., has announced the release of a new product designed to maximize risk management and control for secondary marketing executives. (Read More)

New Home Sales Hit Record

New single-family home sales hit an all-time high in November, according to estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. government. (Read More)

Falcon Nominated for OFHEO Director

President Clinton has announced his intention to nominate Armando Falcon Jr., 38, to be director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Financial Services Bill Introduced

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach, R, Iowa, is introducing a financial services modernization bill (H.R. 10) again that will allow banks, insurance companies, and securities firms to affiliate in a holding company structure. (Read More)

FT Mortgage Buys McGuire

FT Mortgage Companies, Dallas, has acquired the Kansas-based McGuire Mortgage Co., which specializes in marketing and originating nonconforming and subprime loans. (Read More)

WMF Inks Pact With Greenwich

The WMF Group Ltd., Vienna, Va., has announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Greenwich Capital to originate, service, and securitize commercial loans. (Read More)

Applications Drop

Mortgage applications fell 3.2% for the week ended Jan. 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Fitch Joins Online Home Equity Source

Fitch IBCA Inc. has allied itself with Lewtan Technologies Inc., Waltham, Mass., to provide online information on home equity deals, Lewtan has announced. (Read More)

CMBS Deals Taken Off 'Watch' Status

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has removed four commercial mortgage-backed securities deals from Rating Watch-Down because Criimi Mae Services LP is being replaced as the special servicer. (Read More)

UFI Selling Two Portfolios

United Financial Inc., Denver, is selling two portfolios of servicing rights on conforming home loans. (Read More)

Amresco Considering Bids

Amresco Inc., Dallas, a commercial and subprime lender/servicer, is considering bids for the company, sources have told MortgageWire. When news of a possible sale broke late Wednesday, the firm's shares jumped $1.82, closing at $10.94. (Read More)

Stocks Slip After Dow Surge

Many mortgage lenders' share prices were down slightly Thursday morning as the Dow Jones industrial average fell, one day after most of them gained ground as the Dow soared 233.78 points to an all-time high of 9,544.97. (Read More)

Moody's: HEL ABS Market Faces Shakeout

The market for home equity asset-backed securities is likely to face a shakeout that will lead to less competition, better pricing on loans, and improved loan credit quality, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

Rates Decline

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.79% for the week ending Jan. 8 from 6.83% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

NAREIT Unveils Real-Time REIT Index

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts has introduced a real-time REIT index for institutional and individual real estate investors. (Read More)

MGIC Earnings Up 19%

MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, has reported earnings of $385.5 million ($3.39 per share) for the 1998, up 19% from the $323.8 million ($2.75 per share) recorded in 1997. (Read More)

New Century Taps Flanagan

New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., has announced the appointment of Patrick Flanagan to the newly created post of president of NC Capital Corp., a recently formed subsidiary that is chiefly responsible for New Century's secondary marketing activities. (Read More)

Cousins' CFO Retires

Cousins Properties Inc., Atlanta, has announced the retirement of Peter A. Tartikoff as chief financial officer. (Read More)

Mortgage Job Climb Continues

Thanks to continued low interest rates and a strong economy, mortgage industry employment hit another all-time high in December, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Read More)

Fannie Seasoned Premium Speeds Rise

Very seasoned premium Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities showed "remarkable strength" in the December prepayment report, while other issues showed little change, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Centura Buys Capital Advisors

Centura Banks Inc., Rocky Mount, N.C., has acquired Capital Advisors, a private commercial mortgage banking company based in Charlotte, N.C., that provides long-term real estate financing in the Southeast. (Read More)

Group Seeks Better CMBS Cap Treatment

The Capital Consortium is sending a letter to federal banking regulators asking them to move ahead with a proposal to give AAA-rated tranches of commercial mortgage-backed securities a 20% capital risk weighting. (Read More)

Moody's Sees Cautious CMBS Market

Reduced volume, smaller deals, and more conservative deal structures are in the offing for the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

REIT Rebound Predicted

A bullish forecast of 20%-22% average total returns for real estate investment trusts has been issued by BancBoston Robertson Stephens, San Francisco. (Read More)

HomeSide Expands Servicing Online

HomeSide Lending, Jacksonville, Fla., plans several initiatives that expand the products it offers servicing clients on its website (http://www.homeloan.com). (Read More)

Moody's: Private MBS Escaped Crunch

The private-label mortgage-backed securities market escaped the liquidity crunch that hit the asset-backed sector last year, and credit enhancement levels are likely to remain unchanged in 1999, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

Cousins Buys Atkins Group

Cousins Properties Inc., Atlanta, has acquired The Atkins Group Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based commercial real estate firm. (Read More)

Hanover Capital Renews Repo Facility

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., New York, has announced the renewal of a $150 million mortgage loan repurchase facility with Morgan Stanley. (Read More)

MuniMae Completes 2 Transactions

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has announced the conclusion of an investment in a $12 million tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond and the sale of three 20-year taxable term notes. (Read More)

Crescent To Trade on Nasdaq

Shares of the common stock of Crescent Banking Co., Jasper, Ga., will begin trading Jan. 12 on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol CSNT, Crescent has announced. (Read More)

Gramm Wants Fast Action on Reform

Sen. Phil Gramm, R, Texas, wants the Senate Banking Committee to approve a banking modernization bill by the end of February so it can be passed by the full Senate in March. (Read More)

Title Searches Fall 13%

The AFS Title Search Index fell 13.0% to 175.0 for the week ended Jan. 8 from a holiday-adjusted 201.1 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

UCFC Preferred Stock Downgraded

The preferred stock rating of United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has been downgraded to DP from CCC by the Chicago-based Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. (Read More)

1stPlus MBS Classes on RatingAlert

Eight classes of mortgage-backed securities issued by FirstPlus Financial Inc. home loan owner trusts have been placed on RatingAlert Negative by Fitch IBCA Inc. The Class B-2 tranches of the following securitizations are affected: FirstPlus Home Loan Owner Trust, Series 1997-2, 1997-3, 1997-4, 1998-1, and 1998-4, and FirstPlus Global Insurance Corp., Series 1998-2, 1998-3, and 1998-5. (Read More)

Delta Touts Positive Cash Flow

Delta Financial Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has announced that it expects to generate positive cash flow from its operations in the fourth quarter despite the market turmoil that has forced some subprime lenders to restructure. (Read More)

REIT Announces Management Changes

Chateau Communities Inc., Englewood, Colo., has announced the departure of its chief operating officer and the promotions of several senior vice presidents. (Read More)

MuniMae Buys Rev Bond

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has acquired a $1.96 million subordinate tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond related to a 264-unit apartment complex in Eagan, Minn. The 5% bond was purchased at a discount price of $1.35 million, including fees. (Read More)

Allard To Chair Housing Panel

The Senate Banking Committee has selected Sen. Wayne Allard, R, Colo., to chair its new housing and transportation subcommittee, which will have jurisdiction over the Department of Housing and Urban Development and mass transportation issues. (Read More)

Mortgage Stocks Slide

Mortgage lenders' stock prices slid in Wednesday morning's trading following the lead of the Dow Jones industrial average, which plummeted more than 250 points in the first half hour of trading on news of the resignation of Brazil's central bank president and the nation's subsequent stock market plunge. (Read More)

Apps Soar as Adjusted Index Stays Flat

Mortgage applications skyrocketed 73.0% for the week ended Jan. 8 from the holiday-shortened previous week, but the Market Index rose only slightly on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Bell Emergis, Freddie Launch Web Pilot

Bell Emergis/Mpact Immedia, a subsidiary of Bell Canada, has launched a pilot Web-based loan origination service with nine lenders on Freddie Mac's GoldWorks electronic network. (Read More)

Freddie Prices $3B Reference Note

Freddie Mac has priced a $3 billion, five-year Reference Note with a 5.00% coupon. (Read More)

CharterMac Buys 2 Rev Bonds

Charter Municipal Mortgage Acceptance Co., New York, has acquired two tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds secured by multifamily affordable housing apartment complexes in Texas, CharterMac has announced. (Read More)

Fannie To Change MI Program

In his first speech as chairman of Fannie Mae, Franklin D. Raines has announced that the agency will introduce several changes in mortgage insurance requirements that will offer homebuyers "the best of both worlds: low downpayments and options to reduce their MI costs." (Read More)

Other Fannie-NAHB Details Emerge

Meanwhile, other details of the Fannie Mae-National Association of Home Builders initiative -- the first comprehensive effort of its kind between the two groups -- were becoming available in Dallas, where about 65,000 builders and allied professionals are attending the NAHB's four-day meeting. (Read More)

UCFC Line Downgraded; Firm Misses Payment

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has downgraded an estimated $650 million credit facility made by 22 banks to United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., the nation's 12th largest subprime lender, sources have told MortgageWire. One source familiar with the line of credit said the OCC has classified the bank line -- which is unsecured -- as "substandard 6." (Read More)

VA Seeking 'Systems' Fee

The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a sponsor for legislation that would give the agency the authority to collect a $25 fee per loan guaranteed from lenders. (Read More)

1stPlus Sells Consumer Finance Unit

FirstPlus Financial Group Inc., Dallas, has announced an agreement to sell all the assets of its FirstPlus Consumer Finance division to the Thaxton Investment Corp. of South Carolina for $51 million. (Read More)

Impact of Churning on Servicers Cited

Portfolio churning has a major impact on efficiency among mortgage servicers, Dan Brenneman of Alltel has told Faulkner & Gray's 1999 Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami Beach. (Read More)

Fannie Touts Record Year

Fannie Mae has reported record net income of $3.42 billion ($3.23 per share) for 1998, up 14.1% from $3.06 billion ($2.83 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Groups Protest FHA Foreclosures

Community housing groups are planning demonstrations in major U.S. cities Jan. 27 to protest rising Federal Housing Administration foreclosure rates and to urge the FHA to reform its appraisal practices. (Read More)

Webster Offering Mortgages Online

Webster Financial Corp., Waterbury, Conn., has begun offering mortgages over the Internet through a new subsidiary, Access National Mortgage LLC. (Read More)

20 New Empowerment Zones Designated

Vice President Al Gore has designated 20 new cities as empowerment zones, making them eligible for federal funds which can be used to finance neighborhood revitalization projects. (Read More)

Freddie To Redeem Preferred Stock

Freddie Mac will redeem all outstanding shares of its 6.72% fixed-rate non-cumulative preferred stock Feb. 12 at $25 per share (plus unpaid dividends accrued through the redemption date), the government-sponsored enterprise has announced. (Read More)

Mellon Selling Off Mortgage Assets

Mellon Bank said Friday it is selling off its $68 billion residential servicing portfolio and exiting the mortgage business altogether. (Read More)

Fannie Reveals MI Details

Fannie Mae's plan to lower mortgage insurance costs could save borrowers $1,100 to $2,250 over the first 10 years of a 30-year low-downpayment fixed-rate mortgage, according to Fannie Mae chairman Franklin D. Raines. (Read More)

Fannie Pushes All-in-One Pilot

In another Fannie Mae initiative announced at the NAHB convention, spokesman Howard Nelson said the government-sponsored enterprise is ready to give a big push to its slow-moving construction-to-permanent mortgage program. (Read More)

Regulators Debate MPF Risk

Federal regulators are trying to determine how much capital a lender originating loans through the Mortgage Partnership Finance program must hold against the "credit enhancement piece" that remains with the institution. (Read More)

Criimi Mae, Morgan Stanley Reach Accord

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has reached an agreement with Morgan Stanley & Co. International Ltd. under which they will suspend litigation and cooperate in the sale of two classes of investment-grade commercial mortgage-backed securities. (Read More)

Ocwen: 4Q Results Below Estimates

Ocwen Financial Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., has announced that its operating results for the fourth quarter will be below analysts' estimates. (Read More)

Fixed Rates Inch Up

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.83% for the week ending Jan. 15 from 6.79% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Saxon Taps New President

Michael L. Sawyer has been elected president of Saxon Mortgage Inc., Richmond, Va., by Saxon's board of directors. (Read More)

NASCOR Offers $700MM of MBS

Norwest Asset Securities Corp., Frederick, Md., has announced an offering of approximately $700 million of securities backed by fixed-rate, 20- and 30-year non-relocation mortgage loans. (Read More)

Fair Housing Settlement Stirs Reaction

While President Clinton proclaimed that Columbia National Inc. has entered into a five-year, $6.5 billion fair housing settlement, company officials cried that the government's characterization of the settlement is "inaccurate and very misleading." (Read More)

FHA Plans To Cut Home Costs

Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo has taken two more steps in an effort to make the Federal Housing Administration "the premier source of housing finance in the new millennium." (Read More)

Rank & File Builders Optimistic

The National Association of Home Builders is predicting a 5.4% drop in housing production this year, but builders attending the NAHB's recent convention in Dallas say they'll build more houses in 1999, not fewer. (Read More)

HUD Restricts Reverse Mortgage Fees

The Department of Housing and Urban Develop has issued a final rule to protect elderly homeowners who apply for Federal Housing Administration reverse mortgages from being scalped by estate planners and others for simple referral services. (Read More)

Freddie Unveils NAACP Alliance

Freddie Mac has announced an alliance with the NAACP to increase minority homeownership by expanding credit counseling, outreach and marketing efforts, and the availability of low-downpayment mortgage products with flexible underwriting guidelines. (Read More)

North American Names New CEO

Richard A. Mirro, president and chief operating officer of North American Mortgage Co., has been named to succeed Fred B. Koons as the company's chairman and chief executive officer as of July 1. (Read More)

MICA Launches New Website

The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America has launched a new website that explains how mortgage insurance works and the options available to borrowers. (Read More)

Freddie Reports Record '98

Freddie Mac has reported record net income of $1.70 billion ($2.31 per share), up 22% from $1.395 billion ($1.88 per share) for 1997. (Read More)

Mego Reports 1Q Loss

Mego Mortgage Corp., Atlanta, has reported a net loss of $2.5 million ($0.08 per share) for the fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30, 1998, compared with a net loss of $18.8 million ($1.53 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Associates Reports Record Year

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Texas, has reported record earnings of $1.22 billion ($1.75 per share) for 1998, up 19% from $1.03 billion ($1.48 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Fannie Announces Dividends

Fannie Mae has announced a common stock dividend of $0.27 per share for the fourth quarter, up from $0.24 for the previous four quarters. (Read More)

Chase Servicing Passes $200B Mark

The servicing portfolio of Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Edison, N.J., has surpassed $200 billion, the company has announced. (Read More)

5 CMBS Deals Taken Off 'Watch' Status

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has removed five commercial mortgage-backed securities deals from Rating Watch-Down because Criimi Mae Services LP is being replaced as the special servicer. (Read More)

OMB Drops Ginnie Privatization

The Clinton administration has dropped the idea of selling Ginnie Mae to the private sector, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

Single-Family Starts Fall

Single-family housing starts fell 1% in December to an annualized rate of 1,357,000 units, compared with November's rate of 1,367,000 units, according to the Commerce Department. (Read More)

Housing Market Index Falls

The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index fell in January after posting record highs the previous two months. (Read More)

Title Searches Up 12.2%

The AFS Title Search Index rose 12.2% to 196.4 for the week ended Jan. 15 from 175.0 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

Applications Rise 11.8%

Mortgage applications increased 11.8% for the week ended Jan. 15 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Norwest Cites Record Earnings, Originations

Norwest Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, has reported record earnings of $217.4 million in 1998, up 44% from the year before. (Read More)

WaMu Reports Record Year

Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, has reported record earnings of $1.49 billion for 1998 ($2.56 per share), up 68% from $885.1 million ($1.52 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Golden West's Earnings Rise

Golden West Financial Corp., the parent of World Savings, has reported net earnings of $434.6 million ($7.52 per share) for 1998, compared with $354.1 million ($6.13 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

REIT Closes $135MM Facility

Liberty Property Trust, Malvern, Pa., has closed a $135 million, two-year unsecured credit facility. (Read More)

BofA Unit Provides Credit Facility

Bank of America Community Development Bank, San Diego, has provided a $43 million credit facility to finance a 440-unit apartment complex in Chula Vista, Calif., the largest credit facility the bank subsidiary has ever extended for the construction of an affordable housing project. (Read More)

Misallocations Cited in MBS Downgrades

Ratings on the senior classes of 15 Western Federal Savings and Loan Association securitizations (and on the subordinate classes of four) have been downgraded and are under review for possible further downgrade, Moody's Investors Service has announced. (Read More)

Fed Confirms Strong Mortgage Activity

Demand for residential mortgages remains strong throughout the nation, according to a Federal Reserve Board report on current economic conditions known as the Beige Book. (Read More)

Fannie/NAACP Partnership Launched

Fannie Mae and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have announced a new economic partnership to help at least 20,000 African-American families become homeowners over the next five years. (Read More)

Lazio Named to Leadership Post

Majority leader Dick Armey, R, Texas, has selected Rep. Rick Lazio, R, N.Y., and Rep. Jim Talent, R, Mo., to be assistant majority leaders -- a new position -- and advise Rep. Armey on legislative scheduling, strategies, and policy issues. (Read More)

Dime's Earnings Nearly Double

Dime Bancorp, New York, has reported net income of $237.1 million ($2.06 per share) for 1998, compared with $121.7 million ($1.12 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

PMI's Volume Up 82%

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., San Francisco, wrote $27.8 billion of new insurance in 1998, up 82% from $15.3 billion in 1997, according to the company's parent, The PMI Group Inc. Net income for the year totaled $190.3 million ($6.04 per share), compared with $175.3 million ($5.23 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

CMAC Earnings, Volume Rise

CMAC Investment Corp., Philadelphia, has reported net income of $91.1 million ($3.72 per share) for 1998, up 21% from $75.0 million ($3.06 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Amerin Earnings Up 26%

Mortgage insurer Amerin Corp., Chicago, has reported net income of $51.2 million ($1.92 per share) for 1998, up 26% from $40.8 million ($1.54 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Triad Earnings Climb 41%

Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C. -- another mortgage insurer -- has reported net income of $24.4 million ($1.76 per share) in 1998, up 41% from $17.2 million ($1.26 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Farmer Mac Earnings Rise

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., Washington, D.C., has reported net income of $5.7 million for 1998, compared with $4.6 million in 1997. (Read More)

IndyMac Reports 4Q Loss

IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has reported a net loss of $73.7 million ($0.98 per share) for the fourth quarter and net income of $33.8 million ($0.48 per share) for the year. (Read More)

MERS Announces Big Registrations

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., McLean, Va., has announced that it got off to a fast start this year with a bulk registration of 39,427 loans from PNC Mortgage Corp. of America. (Read More)

UFI Brokering $193MM Portfolio

United Financial Inc., Denver, is brokering a $193 million Colorado/National Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae/Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio. (Read More)

HUD Misses YSP Deadline

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has missed a Jan. 21 congressional deadline for issuing a policy statement on yield spread premiums, but a YSP policy statement is expected to be issued soon. (Read More)

Growing Effect Seen From Fannie MI Move

Fannie Mae's decision to lower mortgage insurance coverage requirements for loans originated on Desktop Underwriter will have "a moderate short-term effect, but a growing long-term effect" on private mortgage insurers, according to a report by Standard & Poor's. (Read More)

EMB Gets New Warehouse Line

EMB Mortgage Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., has received a new warehouse line of credit from Priority Bancorp Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. (Read More)

DeGeorge Seeks New Capital Source

DeGeorge Financial Corp., Cheshire, Conn., has announced that a dispute with its principal source of working capital has led to severe liquidity problems and the company is seeking an alternative source of financing. (Read More)

Culver Named Prez at MGIC Investment

Curt S. Culver has been named president of MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, and chief executive officer of its principal subsidiary, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. William H. Lacy has been elected chairman of MGIC Investment and will remain CEO of MGIC Investment and chairman of MGIC. (Read More)

Rates Dip

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.78% for the week ending Jan. 22 from 6.83% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Astoria Reports Merger-Related 4Q Loss

Astoria Financial Corp., Lake Success, N.Y., has reported a net loss of $55.5 million ($1.11 per share) for the fourth quarter and net income of $45.0 million ($0.74 per share) for 1998. (Read More)

GreenPoint Reports Higher '98 Earnings

GreenPoint Financial Corp., New York, has reported net income of $149.5 million ($1.92 per share) for 1998, compared with $147.6 million ($1.86 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Downey Cites Record Earnings

Downey Financial Corp., Newport Beach, Calif., has reported a record net income of $58.0 million ($2.05 per share) for 1998, up 28.2% from $45.2 million ($1.61 per share). (Read More)

Irwin Reports Rise in '98 Earnings

Irwin Financial Corp., Columbus, Ind., has reported net income of $30.5 million ($1.38 per share) in 1998, up from $24.4 million ($1.08 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Interlinq Earnings Up

Interlinq Software Corp., Bellevue, Wash., has reported net income of $541,000 ($0.10 per share) for its fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31, up 52% from $357,000 ($0.07 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

RE Investment Firm Goes Public

Real estate investment company Asia Properties Inc., Spokane, Wash., has completed its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will begin trading its common stock under the symbol ASPZ on the over-the-counter market. (Read More)

Resales End Year on Record Note

Existing single-family home sales hit an all-time high of 4.78 million units in 1998 thanks in part to a flurry of late buying activity in December, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. (Read More)

MBA Makes '99 Forecast Rosier

Home sales and housing starts will decline by only 4% this year from 1998's record levels, according to the latest forecast by David Lereah, the chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

T R-Roslyn Merger Back on Track

The directors of T R Financial, Garden City, N.Y., have withdrawn the notice delivered to Roslyn (N.Y.) Bancorp Inc. on Dec. 29 to terminate their Agreement and Plan of Merger. (Read More)

ACS Sub Wins HUD Servicing Contract

ACS Government Solutions Group Inc., Dallas, has been re-awarded the servicing contract for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 312 rehabilitation loan program. (Read More)

BoA Mortgage $5B Shelf Okayed

A shelf registration statement allowing the issuance of up to $5 billion of mortgage-backed securities by Bank of America Mortgage Securities Inc. has been made effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Read More)

Mack-Cali's Credit Facility Expanded

Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Cranford, N.J., has obtained a $100 million increase in its unsecured credit facility, bringing the total to $1 billion, the company has announced. (Read More)

Israeli RE Deal Announced

Ampal-American Israel Corp. has reported that Koor Tourisms Enterprises has acquired its affiliate Radison Moriah Hotels chain in a jointly offered tender with the Sheraton International chain. (Read More)

$1B Michigan Lender Closes Doors

MCA Mortgage Corp., Southfield, Mich., a $1 billion producer of conventional and subprime loans, has closed its doors. (Read More)

Countrywide Chairman To Step Down

David S. Loeb will step down as chairman of the board of Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., Calabasas, Calif., but will retain his position as president, Countrywide has announced. (Read More)

Title Searches Fall

The AFS Title Search Index fell 9.1% to 178.5 for the week ended Jan. 22 from 196.4 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

1st Mortgage Becomes Mortgage.com

First Mortgage Network announced that the company has changed its name to mortgage.com. (Read More)

EMB Gets New Facility, Names Prez

EMB Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., has negotiated a new financing facility of $7 million consisting of cash and income-producing assets. (Read More)

Carver Expects 3Q Loss, Fires CEO

Carver Bancorp, New York, the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, will report a net loss in the $5-7 million range for the third quarter of its fiscal year as a result of chargeoffs in its consumer loan portfolio and reconciliation problems associated with the conversion of its data processing systems to an internal system. (Read More)

Golden State Reports 4Q Loss

Golden State Bancorp Inc., San Francisco, the parent of California Federal Bank, has reported a fourth-quarter loss of $55.2 million ($0.40 per share) and net earnings of $247.8 million ($3.04 per share) for the year. (Read More)

Charter One Incurs 4Q Loss

Charter One Financial, Cleveland, the holding company for Charter One Bank FSB, has reported a net loss of $18.3 million ($0.10 per share) for the fourth quarter and net income of $215.4 million ($1.26 per share) for 1998. (Read More)

Advanta Reports '98 Results

Advanta Corp., Spring House, Pa., has reported net income of $35.4 million for 1998, excluding a gain of $412.5 million from to the sale of its consumer credit card division and certain restructuring charges. (Read More)

Warehousers, Others Check Ties to MCA

Warehouse lenders and other firms that did business with the failed MCA Mortgage, Southfield, Mich., are now checking their books to see what effect the firm's collapse will have on them. (Read More)

Homeownership Rate Hits Yearly High

The homeownership rate rose to a record annual high in 1998 of 66.3%, up from 65.7% in 1997. (Read More)

Applications Fall 8.9%

Mortgage applications fell 8.9% for the week ended Jan. 22 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

GE Improves CashSaver Program

GE Capital Mortgage Corp. has expanded its 97% LTV mortgage insurance program for cash-strapped homebuyers so that participating lenders can finance the remaining 3% downpayment, plus counseling services, through the payment of a one-time, 50-basis-point delivery fee. (Read More)

1st Union Drops B&C Gain on Sale

First Union Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has announced that it is eliminating gain-on-sale treatment for B&C-related securitizations in order to reduce potential earnings volatility. (Read More)

CheckFree, Countrywide Ink Web Pact

CheckFree, Atlanta, and Countrywide Home Loans Inc., Pasadena, Calif., have announced an agreement that will enable Countrywide customers to use online electronic billing and payment through a central website of their choice. (Read More)

ICII Reports Net Loss in '98

Imperial Credit Industries Inc., Torrance, Calif., has reported a net loss of $73.6 million ($1.93 per share) for 1998, compared with net income of $85.9 million ($2.10 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Roslyn & T R Report Higher Earnings

Roslyn Bancorp Inc., Roslyn, N.Y., the holding company for Roslyn Savings Bank, has reported record net income of $52.4 million ($1.36 per share) for 1998, compared with $33.4 million for 1997. (Read More)

New Century Earnings Surge

New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., has reported net earnings of $31.1 million ($2.03 per share) for 1998, up from $17.7 million ($1.40 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Long Beach Reports Record Earnings

Long Beach Financial Corp., Orange, Calif., has reported record net earnings of $8.9 million ($0.39 per share) for the fourth quarter, up 22% from $7.3 million ($0.28 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

API Retires Founders' Shares

Asia Properties Inc., San Diego, has reported that it has retired 1.4 million shares of its founders' stock into API's treasury. (Read More)

HUD Blames High Foreclosure Rate On ARMs

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is blaming high FHA foreclosure rates on its adjustable-rate mortgage program, particularly in California, but protesters in 17 cities are not buying this argument. (Read More)

MGIC Unveils 2 MI Programs

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, has introduced two monthly premium programs in response to Fannie Mae's decision to roll back coverages. (Read More)

Subprime Delinquencies Hit Peak

Serious delinquencies among subprime mortgage loans rose to their highest level ever at the end of September, even as serious delinquencies fell among higher credit quality loans, according to the Mortgage Information Corp., San Francisco. (Read More)

FTC Eyes Title One Lenders

The Federal Trade Commission, which is already investigating allegations of "predatory" lending on the part of subprime lenders, is now eyeing the marketing practices of Title One firms. (Read More)

Fixed Rates Decline

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.74% for the week ending Jan. 29 from 6.78% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Fannie Led MF Tax-Exempt Enhancers

Fannie Mae was the nation's largest provider of credit enhancement for multifamily tax-exempt housing bonds in 1998, the government-sponsored enterprise has announced. (Read More)

RBMG Reports Record '98

Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group Inc., Columbia, S.C., has reported record net income of $48.7 million ($2.07 per share) for 1998, up from $21.8 million ($1.05 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

CRE Info Service Changes Name

Comps InfoSystems Inc., San Diego, has announced that its corporate name will be changed to Comps.com to reflect its shift to the Internet as a primary delivery platform. (Read More)

America 1st Urges Rejection of Tender Offer

The management of America First Mortgage Investments Inc., New York, is urging the company's stockholders to reject an unsolicited tender offer by IG Holdings Inc. to buy up to 2% of its common stock. (Read More)

FHA Eyes Higher MF Servicing Fees

The Federal Housing Administration is considering a change in its small loan program that would allow FHA lenders participating in a massive multifamily debt restructuring program to collect larger servicing fees. (Read More)

GOP Rejects FHA ARM Expansion

House Republicans have excluded language expanding the Federal Housing Administration's adjustable-rate mortgage program from a newly drafted "homeownership" bill because of extraordinarily high default rates associated with ARMs. (Read More)

High-LTV Securitizations Tail Off

Lenders securitized a record $8.4 in high-LTV residential loans in 1998, but the liquidity crunch that hit the home equity market this past fall has slowed securitizations. (Read More)

BankUnited Eyes Restructuring

BankUnited Financial Corp., Coral Gables, Fla., has announced that the continuation of high prepayment levels on its adjustable-rate mortgage portfolio has prompted management to consider restructuring the company. (Read More)

New MI Sets Monthly, Yearly Records

Private mortgage insurance companies finished 1998 with a bang, setting a new record in December for net primary new insurance written. (Read More)

Ratings Lowered, Raised on MBS Deal

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has downgraded one class and upgraded two classes of CBA Mortgage Corp.'s Series 1993-C1 securitization. (Read More)

1st Alliance Earnings Drop in '98

First Alliance Corp., Irvine, Calif., has reported net income of $14.2 million ($0.73 per share) for 1998, down from $32.8 million ($1.49 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Hanover Capital Reports '98 Loss

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., New York, has reported a net loss of $4.9 million ($0.77 per share) for 1998, compared with net income of $499,000 ($0.15 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

LTC Urges Rejection of Tender Offer

LTC Properties Inc., Oxnard, Calif., has urged shareholders to reject unsolicited tender offers by Emerald Bay Investors LLC to buy up to 2.5% of its Series A and Series B preferred stock. (Read More)

Bank United Files for $500MM Note Program

Bank United, Houston, has filed with the Office of Thrift Supervision to establish a $500 million medium-term note program. (Read More)

Clinton Proposes $28B HUD Budget

President Clinton's fiscal 2000 budget calls for an additional $2.5 billion in spending at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with most of the agency's programs receiving modest funding increases. (Read More)

Budget Seeks Flood Insurance Fee

The president's budget proposal calls for a $15 charge on all mortgage originations and refinancings to update and modernize the Federal Emergency Management Agency's inventory of flood plain maps. (Read More)

Amresco, LaSalle Form Alliance

Amresco Inc., Dallas, and LaSalle National Bank, Chicago, have announced the formation of a strategic alliance under which commercial mortgages originated by Amresco will be funded by LaSalle and securitized by LaSalle's securities affiliate, ABN AMRO Inc. The alliance will enable the companies to leverage their balance sheet capabilities and their infrastructure of originators, due diligence officers, closers, and attorneys, the companies said. (Read More)

Fannie, Calyx Unveil 'Technology Pak'

Fannie Mae and San Jose, Calif.-based Calyx Software have joined forces to provide lenders with technology that bundles Desktop Underwriter with hardware and origination software. (Read More)

1stPlus Adopts New Accounting Method

FirstPlus Financial Group Inc., Dallas, has announced that it will adopt a new methodology for valuing its retained interests from securitizations. (Read More)

Aames Gets NYSE 'Distress' Exception

The New York Stock Exchange has agreed to permit Aames Financial Corp., Los Angeles, to issue 75,000 shares of a newly designated preferred stock without having to seek shareholder approval, the subprime lender has announced. (Read More)

COFI Declines

The Eleventh District Cost of Funds Index for December stood at 4.655%, a decrease of nearly 4 basis points from November's 4.691%. (Read More)

Moody's Eyes Ratings on IndyMac Deal

The ratings of IndyMac's 1997-1 manufactured housing securities are being reviewed for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

UFI Offering 2 Servicing Portfolios

United Financial Inc., Denver, is offering two portfolios for sale. (Read More)

New Home Sales Dip, But Hit Annual Record

New single-family homes sold at a record pace in 1998, despite a brief slowdown in homebuying activity in December, according to estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Read More)

Conservator Named for MCA

Michigan has appointed B.N. Bahadur as conservator to MCA Mortgage, a conventional/subprime lender-servicer that failed last month. (Read More)

Freddie Speeds Slower

Prepayment rates for most Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities slowed moderately in the latest reporting period, with discount speeds remaining strong amid continued vitality in the economy and the housing market, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Title Searches Up 13.5%

The AFS Title Search Index continues to yo-yo between about 175 and around 200, rising 13.5% to 202.5 for the week ended Jan. 29 from 178.5 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

1stPlus Sells Sub's Assets

FirstPlus Financial Group Inc., Dallas, has announced the sale of all the assets of its subsidiary FirstPlus Consumer Finance Inc. to Thaxton Investment Corp. The sale price was approximately $51 million, subject to a $4 million hold-back and a possible downward adjustment chiefly related to the amount of the subsidiary's shareholders' equity as of Jan. 31, 1999. (Read More)

IndyMac Unveils Website for Brokers

IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has launched e-MITS.com, a full-service website for mortgage brokers. (Read More)

Loan Comparison Software Released

United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co., Greensboro, N.C., has released the beta version of 10-03 EZ Compare, new loan comparison software aimed at helping mortgage professionals understand various mortgage insurance options. (Read More)

CBL Announces Promotions

John N. Foy has been promoted to vice chairman of the board and treasurer of CBL & Associates Properties Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Stephen D. Lebovitz has been promoted to president. (Read More)

Chastain Reports 4Q & '98 Losses

Chastain Capital Corp., Atlanta, has reported a net loss of $7.6 million ($1.03 per share) for the fourth quarter, the company's third quarter of operations. (Read More)

NovaStar Reports '98 Loss

NovaStar Financial Inc., Westwood, Kan., has reported a net loss of $21.8 million ($2.71 per share) for 1998 as a result of a fourth-quarter net loss of $27.4 million ($3.37 per share). (Read More)

UFI Brokering Fannie/Freddie Portfolio

United Financial Inc., Denver, is brokering the sale of a $232 million Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac non-recourse servicing portfolio. (Read More)

UCFC Flirting With Bankruptcy?

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, the nation's 12th-largest subprime lender, moved a step closer to bankruptcy Wednesday morning by announcing that it will fail to be in compliance with covenants of an $850 million bank facility. (Read More)

Preferred Sold; Kazeminy Out of Mortgages

Florida investor Nazar Kazeminy has liquidated most of high-LTV lender Preferred Mortgage, Irvine, Calif., selling roughly $300 million in loans to U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, sources have told MortgageWire. (Read More)

Associates Loses Round With FTC

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Tex., has lost its first round with the Federal Trade Commission and now the subprime lender is petitioning the full commission to limit an investigation of its lending practices. (Read More)

Aames Amends Consent Solicitation

Aames Financial Corp., Los Angeles, has announced that holders of a majority of its 9.125% senior notes due 2003 have consented to a waiver of the change-of-control provisions in the notes' indenture. (Read More)

REIT, TIC Acquisition To Merge

Irvine Apartment Communities Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., and TIC Acquisition LLC have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which TIC will acquire all common shares of IAC for $34 per share in cash. (Read More)

Wilshire Seeks OK of Restructuring

Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc., Portland, Ore., has begun to solicit the approval of its noteholders and shareholders for a previously announced restructuring plan. (Read More)

TIS Hails Strategic Stock Buy

TIS Mortgage Investment Co., San Francisco, has announced the purchase of stock from one of the real estate investment trust's major owners and the reselling of those shares to a new investor. (Read More)

MGIC Upgrades Internet Software

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. has released a new version of its MGIC/Link Servicing software that allows home loan lenders to perform virtually every task associated with mortgage insurance billing, payment, and reporting through the Internet. (Read More)

Crestar Adds Discussion Features to Website

Crestar Mortgage, Richmond, Va., has added two new features to its website -- the bulletin board discussion room and the chat room -- that enable all servicing customers, nonservicing customers, and brokers/correspondents to interact with each other online and to discuss mortgage-related topics. (Read More)

IndyMac Taken Off RatingAlert

The rating on IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc.'s ability to meet senior debt obligations has been affirmed at the low-end investment-grade rating of BBB-minus and removed from RatingAlert Negative, Fitch IBCA Inc. has announced. (Read More)

Fannie Prices $4B Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has priced a $4.0 billion five-year Benchmark Note due Feb. 13, 2004. (Read More)

Headlands Reports Higher Earnings

Headlands Mortgage Co., Larkspur, Calif., has reported pro forma net income of $30.0 million ($1.54 per share) for 1998, compared with pro forma net income of $22.4 million ($1.60 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Speaker Cites B&C Delinquency Worries

There is "one more shoe to drop" in the subprime business, and that is delinquencies, according to the top executive of one nonconforming lender. (Read More)

UCFC Debt Downgraded, With Eye on Default

United Companies Financial Corp.'s $225 million of senior unsecured debt has been downgraded from B to CCC-minus by Fitch IBCA Inc., indicating that default is a possibility. (Read More)

Amresco, Morgan Stanley Ink CMBS Pact

Amresco Inc., Dallas, has entered into a definitive agreement with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to originate, sell, and service commercial mortgage loans for securitization. (Read More)

Applications Surge

Mortgage applications surged 19.9% for the week ended Jan. 29 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Freddie Completes MF/Gold PC Swap

Freddie Mac has announced a $62 million swap of a Gold PC for eight multifamily mortgages originated by Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. The negotiated transaction was structured to take advantage of Freddie Mac's defeasance option. (Read More)

NovaStar Mortgage Sells $165MM of Loans

NovaStar Financial Inc., Westwood, Kan., has announced that its affiliate NovaStar Mortgage Inc. has sold $165 million of mortgage loans to an unnamed unaffiliated entity that will use them as collateral for asset-backed bonds. (Read More)

Rock Financial Reports Higher '98 Earnings

Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, Mich., has reported pro forma net income of $12.2 million ($0.84 per share) for 1998, compared with pro forma net income of $7.4 million ($0.51 per share) for 1997. (Read More)

Industry Jobs Set Another Record

Low interest rates and a robust economy pushed mortgage industry employment to yet another all-time high in January. (Read More)

Fannie/Ginnie Speeds Drop Across the Board

Prepayment rates for Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities declined across the board in the January reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

New FHA Appraisals Raise Concerns

As the Department of Housing and Urban Development tries to complete a revision of its appraisal procedures, industry groups want important changes to reduce their potential liability. (Read More)

3 UCFC MH Classes Downgraded

Three manufactured housing securities enhanced by a limited guarantee from United Companies Financial Corp. have been downgraded from B to B-minus by Fitch IBCA Inc. The rating action follows Fitch IBCA's recent downgrade of UCFC's senior unsecured debt from B to CCC-minus. (Read More)

UGRIC Unveils 2 MI Products

United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co., Greensboro, N.C., has unveiled two new mortgage insurance programs that will match coverage levels for 90% and 95% loan-to-value loans recently announced by Fannie Mae. (Read More)

Olson Estimates HEL Growth at 8.1%

The origination of home equity products grew an estimated 8.1% in 1998 and will grow nearly as fast this year to hit $315 billion, according to Wholesale Access's Home Equity Industry Annual Report. (Read More)

HomeSide To License GHR Technology

HomeSide Lending, Jacksonville, Fla., will license GHR Systems technology to distribute loan information through HomeSide's website, the companies have announced. (Read More)

Rates Inch Up

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate crept up to 6.75% for the week ending Feb. 5 from 6.74% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Capstead Reports Big Loss

Capstead Mortgage Corp., Dallas, has reported a net loss of $234.8 million ($4.22 per share) for 1998, compared with net income of $159.9 million ($2.62 per share) in 1997. (Read More)

Low-Price Pool Insurance: Illegal in NY?

New York insurance regulators have ruled that "underpricing" pool insurance on loans sold into the secondary market may be illegal. (Read More)

Gramm Cuts FHLB Amendments

An initial draft of a Senate financial services modernization bill includes only one Federal Home Loan Bank amendment to benefit small commercial banks. (Read More)

OMB Extends Review of GSE Cap Rules

The Office of Management and Budget has extended by two weeks its three-month review of a risk-based capital rule that could increase Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's capital requirements. (Read More)

Home Equity ABS Surged in '98

The issuance of home equity asset-backed securities surged 28.7% in 1998, leading the ABS sector to a 7.1% increase overall, according to The Bond Market Association. (Read More)

Dynex Senior Unsecured Debt Downgraded

Dynex Capital Inc.'s $100 million of 7.875% senior unsecured debt due 2002 has been downgraded from BB-minus to B by Fitch IBCA Inc. and remains on RatingAlert with negative implications. (Read More)

Annaly, Liberty Form Alliance

Annaly Mortgage Management Inc., a New York-based mortgage real estate investment trust, has announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Liberty Capital Inc., a privately held, Ohio-based financial services holding company. (Read More)

Patriot Amends Investor Letter of Intent

Patriot American Hospitality Inc., Dallas, has announced the amendment of certain terms of its Dec. 15 letter of intent with an investor group that has proposed an equity investment in the company. (Read More)

Fannie Bought $1.92B in Tax-Exempt MRBs

Fannie Mae invested more than $1.92 billion last year in tax-exempt single-family mortgage revenue bonds issued by housing finance agencies, the government-sponsored enterprise has reported. (Read More)

Mortgage.com Licenses AU Tech

Mortgage.com, Austin, Texas, has licensed ARC Systems LT2k, an automated underwriting system for subprime loans that are originated through the Internet. (Read More)

Alltel Touts Year-End Processing Feat

Alltel completed year-end processing of 14.2 million mortgage loans in a record 31 hours, the company has reported. (Read More)

Chase Buying First Town

Chase Manhattan Mortgage, Edison, N.J., has signed a deal to buy First Town Mortgage Corp., Secaucus, N.J., a $1.8 billion-a-year originator, MortgageWire has learned. (Read More)

Could GSE Cap Rules Hurt 'Low-Mod' Market?

Fewer "low-mod" borrowers would be able to obtain a home mortgage if the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight forces Fannie Mae to increase its capital threshold, according to company CEO Frank Raines. (Read More)

Title Searches Up

The AFS Title Search Index rose 5.8% to 214.3 for the week ended Feb. 5 from 202.5 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

Moody's: Net Brings New CMBS Risk

The ripple effects of Internet retailing could make investing in commercial mortgage-backed securities riskier, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

MERS Loans To Enter MBS Arena

Several dealers are said to be in the running to be the first to issue a rated security backed by loans in which the original mortgagee and nominee for the lender is the Mortgage Electronic Registration System. (Read More)

Will 5 Servicers Corner 80% of Market?

The nation's five largest servicers could control up to 80% of the market by the end of the next decade, a key housing finance executive predicted recently. (Read More)

Principal Buys $4B in Servicing

Principal Residential Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, has purchased $4 billion of servicing rights for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac home loans from Flagstar Bank FSB. (Read More)

SPFC, Criimi Mae Bonds Gain

Notes issued by Southern Pacific Funding Corp. and Criimi Mae Inc. were among the top gainers in January in the Moody's Bankrupt Bond Index. (Read More)

Doubt Cast on Prospects for HR 10

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D, Pa., the second-highest ranking Democrat on the House Banking Committee, doubts that a financial modernization bill (H.R. 10) will pass the House anytime soon. (Read More)

FHA Implementing New REO Plan

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is close to implementing a new marketing and management process for its Federal Housing Administration single-family real estate owned inventory. (Read More)

Fiserv Buys RF/Spectrum

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has announced the acquisition of RF/Spectrum Decision Science Corp., an Oakland, Calif.-based provider of mortgage analysis and risk-management software systems. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 3.4% for the week ended Feb. 5 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Banks Tighten CRE Loan Standards

The pull-back from commercial real estate lending that started in August is continuing, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey of senior bank lending officers. (Read More)

OTS OKs Lutheran Bank

The Office of Thrift Supervision has approved the acquisition of a small Minneapolis thrift by the Lutheran Brotherhood Financial Corp., an insurance company. (Read More)

Duff Downgrades UCFC Debt

United Companies Financial Corp.'s senior unsecured and subordinated debt ratings have been lowered to CCC from B and B-minus, respectively, by Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago. (Read More)

Amresco Reports $100MM 4Q Loss

Amresco Inc., Dallas, has reported a net loss of $103.6 million ($2.27 per share) for the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $19.8 million ($0.53 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Freddie Prices $4B Reference Note

Freddie Mac has announced the pricing of a $4 billion, two-year Reference Note with a 5.00% coupon. (Read More)

Fannie Adds New Website Features

Fannie Mae has announced the addition of new features to its website that are aimed at helping multifamily lenders. (Read More)

HUD Readies Broker Fee Policy

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to release a policy statement on mortgage broker compensation, possibly by Feb. 12 or early next week. (Read More)

Reg Relief Bill Opens Door to Referral Fees

The Senate Banking Committee has unanimously approved a regulatory relief bill that would allow mortgage lenders to pay non-settlement providers, such as airlines and credit card issuers, referral fees that are currently prohibited by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. (Read More)

1st Stage of Investment in Aames Completed

Capital Z Financial Services Fund II LP, New York, and certain purchasers designated by it have purchased $76.5 million in newly created convertible preferred stock in Aames Financial Corp., Los Angeles. (Read More)

Freddie Unveils New 2nd Mortgage Product

Freddie Mac has announced a new second mortgage product for existing Freddie Mac multifamily first mortgages. (Read More)

Laureate Agrees To Buy Lane Noland Assets

Laureate Realty Services Inc., Charlotte, N.C., and the Pittsburgh-based Lane, Noland, Smith & Co. Inc. have announced an agreement in principle under which Laureate would acquire the assets of Lane Noland. (Read More)

Criimi Mae EVP Resigns

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has accepted the resignation of Frederick J. Burchill, its executive vice president of acquisitions. (Read More)

Bankers Systems Inks New Deal

Bankers Systems Inc., Campbell, Calif., has agreed to market Contour Software's mortgage lending solutions to financial institutions nationwide. (Read More)

Fixed Rates Creep Up

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.77% for the week ending Feb. 12 from 6.75% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Impac Commercial Reports 4Q Loss

Impac Commercial Holdings Inc., Santa Ana Heights, Calif., has reported a loss of $2.6 million ($0.30 per share) for the fourth quarter, compared with earnings of 3.1 million ($0.38 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Block Enters Conventional Market

H&R Block, the Kansas City, Mo., tax preparation company that already owns a nonconforming lender, is entering the conventional mortgage business. (Read More)

Finet Launches Finet.com

Finet Holdings Corp., Walnut Creek, Calif., has launched Finet.com, which incorporates online mortgage services for homebuyers, brokers, and lenders into what Finet is calling "America's Home Finance Network." (Read More)

Mortgages Rival Auto Lending at CUs

Mortgage lending continued its growing role in credit unions' operations in 1998 and now rivals auto lending in importance. (Read More)

WMC Names New EVP

William M. Jacobs has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of WMC Mortgage Corp., Woodland Hills, Calif. Mr. Jacobs was previously chief executive officer of GN Mortgage and chairman of the board and CEO of Guaranty Asset Protection Services. (Read More)

S&P Issues 1st 'Strong' Servicer Ratings

Standard & Poor's issued its first-ever "strong" ratings for a commercial mortgage master servicer to First Union Capital Markets Group and GMAC Commercial Mortgage. (Read More)

AIMCO Sells $125MM of Stock

Apartment Investment and Management Co., Denver, has announced the sale of five million shares of its Class K convertible cumulative preferred stock for $125 million. (Read More)

BNC Obtains $50MM Warehouse Line

BNC Mortgage Inc., Irvine, Calif., has received a $50 million warehouse facility from Bank United, Houston. (Read More)

Impac Mortgage Reports Losses for 4Q, '98

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Santa Ana Heights, Calif., has reported a loss of $8.1 million ($0.33 per share) for the fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $34.8 million ($1.70 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

HUD Wants Early Disclosure of YSPs

A long-awaited policy statement by the Department of Housing and Urban Development recommends - but does not mandate - full and clear disclosure of all mortgage broker compensation as early as possible in the lending process so that the borrowers can shop.This early disclosure of broker compensation should be made even before the good faith estimate is provided, according to a draft of HUD's Statement of Policy Regarding Lender Payments to Mortgage Brokers. (Read More)

FHA Steering Disclosure Proposed

Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed new disclosures that are intended to prevent lenders from steering borrowers into Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. (Read More)

Modernization Bill Excludes FHLB Reforms

Senate Banking Committee chairman Phil Gramm, R., Texas, excluded language reforming the Federal Home Loan Bank system from a draft version of the financial modernization bill released on Tuesday. (Read More)

Freddie Relaxes Bankruptcy Rules

Freddie Mac is making it easier for persons who have filed for bankruptcy or lost a house to foreclosure to buy a home. (Read More)

Freddie Has Banner Affordable Housing Year

Freddie Mac financed more than 221,000 rental housing units last year, achieving all of its affordable housing requirements along the way. (Read More)

Fannie Has Record Year for MF

Fannie Mae announced that it has participated in financing for $15.5 billion of multifamily housing in 1998. (Read More)

CMBS Issue Hit Record $78B

Despite the financial crisis that rocked the global capital markets last fall, a record $78.3 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities were issued in 1998. (Read More)

GMAC Largest Commercial Servicer

With a portfolio of $52.2 billion, GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. was the nation's largest servicer of commercial and multi-family loans in 1998. (Read More)

ContiFinancial Announces Third Quarter Results

ContiFinancial lost $58.8 million and $167.0 million for the three and nine months ended December 31, 1998, respectively. (Read More)

Delta Earnings Exceed Expectations

Delta Financial Corp. announced that it exceeded First Call consensus earnings per share estimates for the fourth quarter of 1998 and turned cash flow positive from operations for that period. (Read More)

Gulf Pacific Changes Name

Gulf Pacific Mortgage, a division of First Tennessee Bank N.A., is changing its name to First Horizon Equity Lending. (Read More)

NovaStar Expands Relationship with First Union

Westwood, Kansas-based NovaStar Financial, Inc. has announced that new agreements significantly expand its relationship with First Union National Bank, Charlotte, N.C., and its affiliates. (Read More)

Latin American Website Enters Agreements

Latin American financial website Zona Financieria, which provides online lending and real estate information, has reported that it has entered into strategic partnerships with ImageNet Networks and Orientation.com. (Read More)

Carver Bancorp Revises Financial Results

Carver Bancorp, Inc., New York, has revised a previously released announcement that indicated that the company lost $5.1 million for the first nine months of its fiscal year ending December 31, 1998. (Read More)

Patriot Negotiates With Investor Group

Dallas-based Patriot American Hospitality, Inc., one of the nation's largest hotel real estate investment trusts, has announced that it has extended a letter of intent with an investor group which had previously proposed making a substantial equity investment in Patriot until February 26, 1999 at 5 p.m. (Read More)

Single Family Starts Strongest in 14 Years

Single-family starts rose 1% in January to their highest level in 14 years, according to estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

Activity Down, Interest Rates Above 7% Says MBA Survey

According to the MBA's weekly Mortgage Application Survey, applications for the week ending February 12 increased 4% from the previous week, but total dollar volume was down 1.6%. (Read More)

HUD Awards Servicing Contract

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has hired a joint venture of Deloitte & Touche and Clayton Group of Shelton, Conn., to take over the servicing of 13,000 nonperforming single family loans left over from the Federal Housing Administration's old assignment program. (Read More)

HUD Recruits CRA Advocate

Later this year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will reset the affordable housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the department has recruited a community reinvestment advocate, Allen Fishbein, to work on this project. (Read More)

Countrywide Goes to Europe

Through a joint venture agreement with Woolwich, plc, Countrywide Home Loans, Calabassas, Calif., will provide mortgage services to Woolwich and other UK-based lenders. (Read More)

Fidelity National Posts Record Earnings

Fidelity National Financial, Inc., Irvine, Calif., announced fourth quarter 1998 earnings of $29.4 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, an 81.8% increase over the $13.2 million the company earned in the fourth quarter of 1997. (Read More)

BofA Top Small Business Lender

Bank of America, Atlanta, is the nation's top lender of government-guaranteed small business loans by more than a 2-to-1 margin, according to figures from the SBA. (Read More)

AccuBanc's Munford Moves to Colorado

James K. Munford, president and chief operating officer of AccuBanc Mortgage Corporation since 1995, announced his decision to leave those positions and relocate to Colorado as president of the company's Rocky Mountain division. (Read More)

RE E-commerce Company Appoints President

Real Estate Industries, Inc., an online provider of mortgage solutions to lenders and consumers, has appointed Kathy Nunnally Anemogiannis as its new president. (Read More)

JE Roberts Is Strong Special Servicer

J.E. Robert Companies has received a top commercial mortgage special servicer ranking from the rating agency Fitch IBCA. (Read More)

Equifax Upgrades Bankruptcy Model

Equifax, Atlanta, has added "neural network" technology to the latest edition of its bankruptcy prediction tool, Bankruptcy Navigator. (Read More)

Fixed-Rate Mortgage Rates Rise Again

According to Freddie Mac's most recent Primary Mortgage Market Survey, fixed-rate mortgage rates rose again slightly for the third week running. (Read More)

Aegon To Buy Transamerica Corp.

Transamerica Corp. announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Dutch insurer Aegon for $9.7 billion. (Read More)

Avondale and New South Federal Form Alliance

Chicago-based Avondale Funding Corp. has announced a new alliance with New South Federal Savings Bank, Birmingham, Alabama. (Read More)

Partnership on Commercial Venture

The Mills Corporation, Arlington, Virginia, has entered into a 5 year, $750 million commitment with Kan Am USA, a significant unit holder of the REIT and joint venture partner, to fund future development projects. (Read More)

Billion Dollar Servicing Deal for Sale

United Financial, Inc., Denver, is brokering the sale of an estimated $600 million to $1 billion of Fannie Mae loan servicing rights in a forward bulk offering. (Read More)

Freddie Offers Reward to Top Servicers

Freddie Mac, McLean, Va., is offering financial incentives designed to reward servicers that receive the company's top ranking for loan administration performance. (Read More)

Tech Firm Launches Internet-based AU

Affinity Technology Group, Inc., Columbia, S.C., has launched decisioning.com, a service that will deliver outsourced loan decisioning to Internet lenders. (Read More)

Fitch Downgrades RFMSI

Fitch IBCA has downgraded Residential Funding Mortgage Securities Inc., RFMSI series 1993-S30 class B1 to the speculative grade rating of B from the speculative grade rating of BB. (Read More)

Nomura Downgraded

Fitch IBCA here has downgraded Nomura Asset Securities Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass through certificates, series 1996-MD5 $24.4 million class S-1 to BBB- from BBB. (Read More)

Online Community Adds Relocation Service

Didax Inc., the creator of crosstalk.com, a Christian Web community (http://www.crosstalk.com), has announced an agreement with Home Buyers Fair, Inc. to provide a suite of online relocation services to its members through a co-branded site with that firm's Homefair.com. (Read More)

EMB To Repurchase Shares

EMB Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., has announced that it has arranged an investor group that will purchase 400,000 shares of its preferred convertible stock in the amount of $900,000. (Read More)

Fear of GSEs Spurs Coalition Formation

Fearing a loss of business to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, different factions of the mortgage industry are forming a coalition to pressure Congress to crack down on the two, MortgageWire has learned. (Read More)

YSP Policy Sits on Cuomo's Desk

For several days the final version of the policy statement on mortgage broker compensation has been sitting on the desk of Housing secretary Andrew Cuomo unsigned. (Read More)

UFI Brokered $70 Billion in Servicing Last Year

United Financial Inc., which recently sponsored a mortgage servicing conference in Steamboat Springs, Colo., said it brokered the sale of 68 mortgage servicing transactions involving $70 billion in mortgage loans last year and performed 307 valuations of mortgage servicing portfolios involving $552 billion in loans. (Read More)

Providian Financial to Acquire Getsmart.com

The board of directors of Burlingame, Calif.-based Getsmart.com have approved the sale of the company to Providian Financial Corporation. (Read More)

Freddie and NAR Team Up to Provide AU Education

The National Association of Realtor and Freddie Mac have joined forces to educate home buyers and real estate practitioners about the use of credit scoring and automated underwriting in the home mortgage origination process. (Read More)

Transamerica spinoff possible?

Ratings agency Fitch IBCA sees positive implications in Dutch insurer Aegon's pending acquisition of Transamerica, but in a statement about putting some Transamerica debt on "RatingAlert Positive" status, Fitch noted that Aegon has characterized Transamerica's non-life insurance businesses as "non-core" but did not say whether or not it will sell those subsidiaries, such as Transamerica's real estate information service division, which includes flood and tax services for the mortgage lending industry. (Read More)

IMC Signs Change of Control

IMC Mortgage Co., the ailing subprime lender based in Tampa, Fla., has entered into a merger agreement with Greenwich Street Capital Partners II LP, an affiliate of Citigroup, New York. (Read More)

Monsen: High-LTV Loan Guidelines Changing

High-LTV pioneer Gordon Monsen, chairman and CEO of Internet Mortgage Cos., says changes in loan guidelines seem to portend improvement in the performance of loans with high loan-to-value ratios. (Read More)

Hamilton Securities Counterattacks

Attorneys for Hamilton Securities Inc. are going on the offense to force the federal government to stop a three-year investigation into the Washington firm that conducted $9.5 billion in notes sales for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Read More)

HUD Keeps Indian Mortgage Program

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday withdrew a proposed rule that would have permanently suspended its Section 248 loan guaranty program for Native Americans. (Read More)

PMI To Offer ACH Option

Lenders will soon be able to receive mortgage insurance policy claim payments via an automated clearing house disbursement rather than by check, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. has announced. (Read More)

New Software Expands Servicing Options

PMI Mortgage Insurance also announced the release of pmiWeb-Connect, a browser-based program that gives lenders immediate access to their PMI-insured loans by connecting to the company's loan servicing system via the Internet. (Read More)

Port Plans Sale of Underused Land

The Port of Oakland, an independent department of the City of Oakland, plans to sell off 73 acres of underutilized land located in the Oakland Airport Business Park near the Oakland International Airport. (Read More)

Block Mortgage Revenues Rise

H&R Block Inc., Kansas City, Mo., has reported that revenues for its mortgage operations rose 111.4% to $79.3 million for the fiscal third quarter ended Jan. 31, chiefly because of improved results at subsidiary Option One Mortgage Corp. Option One reported revenues of $69.1 million, a 107.8% increase, and earnings of $24.3 million, H&R Block said. (Read More)

NHEMA Backs Coalition To Curb GSEs

The National Home Equity Mortgage Association says it will join a "growing" coalition of mortgage lenders and trade groups that are uniting to pressure Congress to limit the activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Read More)

OFHEO Defends Capital Proposal

A proposal to set risk-based capital standards for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not impede their ability to meet their public missions, including their affordable housing goals, according to Mark Kinsey, acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Rock, Michigan National Form Alliance

Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, Mich., and Michigan National, Farmington Hills, Mich., have formed a strategic alliance aimed at delivering a full range of residential mortgage products. (Read More)

Chicago MPF Program Exceeds $1B

The Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank's Mortgage Partnership Finance Program has now exceeded $1 billion in business, passing the "aggressive" target estimated for the program, according to the chairman and chief executive officer of the bank, Alex Pollock. (Read More)

Mortgage Stocks Mixed After Dow Surge

Mortgage lenders' stocks were mixed in Tuesday morning's trading, one day after most posted modest gains as the Dow Jones industrial average soared 212.73 points to 9552.68. (Read More)

BofA Expands Zero-Down, Flex Products

Bank of America has announced the expanded availability of two 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage products aimed at offering greater flexibility to low-income and first-time homebuyers. (Read More)

BankAmerica MH Classes Downgraded

Classes B-1 and B-2 of BankAmerica Manufactured Housing Contract Trust's pass-through certificates, series 1996-1 have been downgraded and removed from RatingAlert negative by Fitch IBCA Inc. The rating on Class B-1 was lowered from BB to B and the rating on Class B-2 was lowered from B to CCC. (Read More)

Title Search Index Up Slightly

The AFS Title Search Index inched up 0.9% to 219.2 for the week ended Feb. 19 from 217.2 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Service. (Read More)

REIT Amends Pact With Investor Group

Patriot American Hospitality Inc., whose stock is paired and traded along with the shares of its operating company, Wyndham International Inc., recently amended its letter of intent with an investor group that has committed to make a $1.0 billion equity investment in the company. (Read More)

Aames Reports $196MM Loss

Aames Financial Corp., Los Angeles, has reported a net loss of $195.7 million ($6.27 per share) for its fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with net income of $9.2 million ($0.29 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Argentine Bank To Use Imaging Tech

One of Argentina's largest mortgage banks, Banco Hipotecario SA, plans to use imaging technology to convert 250,000 records, each containing about 120 to 140 pages of information, to electronic form. (Read More)

Fannie Slams OFHEO Chief Over RBC

Fannie Mae has slammed its chief safety and soundness regulator, Mark Kinsey, accusing the acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of having an "anti-market bias" and views that are "at odds" with those of the Clinton administration. (Read More)

Rubin: De-Link FHLB Reform, Modernization

The Clinton administration is opposed to piecemeal reform of the Federal Home Loan Bank system that would only encourage more system lending to small banks, according to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. (Read More)

Virtuallender.com To Buy HomeSmart.com

Online mortgage banker Virtuallender.com Inc., San Bruno, Calif., has signed a letter of intent to acquire HomeSmart.com, a Web-based real estate publication and referral network. (Read More)

Chicago Title Buys Island Title

Chicago Title Insurance Co., Chicago, has purchased the business of Island Title Co., Oak Harbor, Wash. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Read More)

HUD Tracks Condition of MF Portfolio

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has just completed a physical review of a portion of its multifamily portfolio and found that the vast majority of the properties it insures are in good working order. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 11.1% for the week ended Feb. 19 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

3 Freddie Servicers Get Tier 1 Rank

CBS Mortgage Corp., the Savings Bank of Utica, and Crossland Mortgage Corp. will be the first top-performing servicers to receive financial benefits under a recently announced Freddie Mac performance incentive program. (Read More)

Expert Says Now's the Time for IPOs

An expert on initial public offerings has advised privately held companies looking to raise capital that now is a good time to consider an IPO. (Read More)

SSR Realty Buys MF Complex

SSR Realty Advisors, White Plains, N.Y., has acquired a 252-unit class A apartment property in Renton, Wash., for $27 million from an unidentified limited liability company on behalf of an institutional client. (Read More)

RFC Sent $2B in Subprime Loans Via DU

Fannie Mae has reported that Desktop Underwriter has helped Residential Funding Corp. generate $2 billion in nonconforming loan purchases through its automatedunderwriting system, AssetWise, which lenders can access via DU. (Read More)

TBMA Launches Euro Bond Website

The Bond Market Association has posted a new website containing information about the activities of the association's European Securitisation Forum and data on initiatives designed to stimulate the further growth of Europe's bond market. (Read More)

Fannie/Freddie Cap Proposal Delayed Again?

The Office of Management and Budget may seek another extension before it completes its review of a risk-based capital standard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Read More)

Resales Hit Another Record

Existing single-family home sales hit another record in January thanks to continued low interest rates and a healthy economy, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. (Read More)

MBS Jolted by Fears of Rising Rates

Lower-coupon mortgage-backed securities were jolted late Wednesday by fears that interest rates may rise. (Read More)

FHLB Bills Introduced

Companion Federal Home Loan Bank reform bills have been introduced in the House and the Senate and the sponsors hope to get most of the provisions included in a financial services modernization bill that the House and Senate banking committees are expected to vote on next week. (Read More)

Top 25 Servicers Control 51% of Loans

MBA president Donald Lange says the top 25 mortgage servicers now control 51% of all loans outstanding, almost three times the number the top 25 lenders controlled in 1990. (Read More)

Freddie To Pilot Automated Reimbursement

Freddie Mac has announced that it will begin piloting a free automated reimbursement request process on its GoldWorks network in March. (Read More)

Rates Rise

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.89% for the week ending Feb. 26 from 6.82% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Superior Completes $525MM HEL Deal

Superior Bank FSB, Montvale, N.J., has completed a $525 million securitization of fixed- and adjustable-rate home equity loans. (Read More)

LION Gets New CEO

Sam Ringer, a co-founder of Plenum Communications Inc., Seattle, has been promoted to chief executive officer and president of Lenders Interactive Online Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Plenum. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering $12MM Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering a $12 million Freddie Mac/private investor servicing portfolio. (Read More)

FHA Nearing Guaranty Cap

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking the Office of Management and Budget to increase its single-family loan guaranty level for 1999 because the agency is quickly approaching the $110 billion cap approved by Congress. (Read More)

HUD YSP Statement Expected Monday

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to release a policy statement on mortgage broker compensation on Monday that will recommend, but not mandate, early disclosure of mortgage broker compensation at the pre-application stage. (Read More)

HCS Selling NE Lender

Hamilton, Carter, Smith, Beverly Hills, Calif., is selling a Northeastern residential lender that produces $350 million in product annually. (Read More)

Virtuallender Ices HomeSmart Deal

Virtuallender.com Inc., San Bruno, Calif., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire HomeSmart.com on the heels of a recently announced letter of intent to make the acquisition. (Read More)

Home Values Rose 8% in '98

Home values rose by 8% nationwide in 1998, outpacing the general inflation rate, according to a report from First American Real Estate Solutions. (Read More)

FHLB Importance Growing for Small Banks

Nearly half of community banks believe the Federal Home Loan Banks will become a "very important" source of funding over the next three years, according to a survey by Grant Thornton. (Read More)

Moody's: Thrift Ratings May Diverge

Credit ratings in the thrift industry may be facing a period of wider divergence, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

SPG To Buy Mall Portfolio

Simon Property Group, Indianapolis, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire a portfolio of up to 14 regional malls from New England Development Co. for $1.725 billion. (Read More)

Tri-National To Buy 120-Unit Condo

International real estate development and management company Tri-National Development Corp. has agreed to acquire Portal Del Mar, a 120-unit condominium development in Baja California, Mexico. (Read More)

Advanta Unit Prices $800MM Deal

Advanta Mortgage Conduit Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanta Corp., Spring House, Pa., has priced an $800 million mortgage loan securitization. (Read More)

Oakwood Prices $300MM Note Offering

Oakwood Homes Corp., Greensboro, N.C., has priced a $300 million offering of senior notes in five-year and 10-year tranches. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering $17MM Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering a $17 million private investor servicing portfolio. (Read More)

Feedback

Talk about razor-thin margins! (Read More)

Subprime Lender UCFC Goes Ch. 11

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., the nation's 19th largest residential subprime lender, has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. (Read More)

OMB Delays Fannie/Freddie Cap Rule

The Office of Management and Budget has delayed for up to 30 days its release of a risk-based capital standard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Read More)

HUD Issues YSP Policy Statement

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued its long-awaited policy statement on mortgage broker compensation in the March 1 Federal Register. (Read More)

FHFB: Cut Mortgage Cap Requirements

Federal Housing Finance Board Chairman Bruce Morrison has called on federal banking regulators to lower bank capital requirements on mortgage activities and bring them into line with the two housing government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Read More)

MBS Fall Again

Mortgage-backed securities fell again Monday morning after recovering somewhat Friday, and were down just shy of half a point at noon, according to Bridge/Telerate. (Read More)

REITs Announce Merger

Duke Realty Investments Inc., Indianapolis, and Weeks Corp., Atlanta, have announced a merger pact that will create a diversified real estate investment company with a total market capitalization of more than $5.2 billion. (Read More)

MI Activity Slowed in January

Activity for mortgage insurance companies slowed significantly in January, as both primary insurance written and applications were down by nearly 25% each when compared with December figures. (Read More)

COFI Falls 5 BP

The Eleventh District Cost of Funds Index fell nearly 5 basis points in January to 4.608% from December's 4.655%. (Read More)

Imperial To Sell ICI Stake

Imperial Bancorp, Los Angeles, has agreed to sell its 24% stake in Imperial Credit Industries to Leucadia National Corp., New York, for $9.25 per share. (Read More)

Calyx Unveils New Program

Calyx Software San Jose, Calif., has announced its Preferred Point Partner Program, which provides new ways to interface with Point for Windows, a mortgage origination software program. (Read More)

Criimi Mae-Linked Merrill Deals Off Review

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has removed all classes of the Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Inc., Series 1995-C3 commercial mortgage-backed securities deal from Ratings Watch-Down. (Read More)

3 RE Firms Buy LA's Century Plaza

The Pivotal Group and DMB, both based in Phoenix, and the Boston-based investment fund AEW Partners LP III have jointly acquired the 1,046-room Century Plaza Hotel and Tower in Los Angeles from an unidentified seller for $260 million. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering Fannie/Freddie Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering a $75 million Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac servicing portfolio. (Read More)

MCA Creditors Getting Claims Info

Creditors of MCA Financial Corp. and its 11 operating units are receiving claim forms and other information on filing claims against the mortgage company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 10. (Read More)

OMB Underestimates FHA Defaults

The Office of Management and Budget has consistently underestimated single-family defaults in the Federal Housing Administration insurance program, according to a House Banking Committee budget document. (Read More)

New Home Sales Fall in January

Sales of new single-family homes fell for the second consecutive month in January after posting a record high in November, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Read More)

Schosberg Leaving ACB

Paul A. Schosberg, president of America's Community Bankers, will leave the Washington-based trade group at the end of the year, the ACB has announced. (Read More)

Thrifts Break Origination Record

Thrift institutions originated a record $318.4 billion in mortgages in 1998, according to figures released by the Office of Thrift Supervision. (Read More)

FHLB Reform Added to Gramm Bill

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R, Texas, has included Federal Home Loan Bank reforms in an updated version of his financial modernization bill. (Read More)

Freddie Speeds Fall Across the Board

Prepayment rates for Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities fell across the board in the latest reporting period, with a consistent percentage decrease across vintages among the most refi-sensitive coupons, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Title Searches Plunge

The AFS Title Search Index dropped 16.2% to 183.6 for the week ended Feb. 26 from a holiday-adjusted 219.2 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

North American Buys T&N

North American Mortgage Corp., Tampa, Fla., has purchased T&N Mortgage Inc., Monroe, La. The price paid was not disclosed. (Read More)

Surge of Web Originations Predicted

In five years the Internet should account for 10%-20% of mortgage originations, according to a recent research report from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. (Read More)

Paired REIT Announces Revamp

Patriot American Hospitality Inc., Dallas, has announced a comprehensive restructuring plan. (Read More)

PNC Closes $67.5MM Construction Loan

PNC Real Estate Banking, a unit of PNC Bank, has closed a $67.5 million construction loan to an affiliate of Rockrose Development Corp. to finance the conversion of the building at 99 John St. near Wall Street in Manhattan. (Read More)

Cap Trust Sub To Buy CMBS Portfolio

Capital Trust Inc., New York, has reported that its subsidiary CT-BB Funding Corp. has agreed to acquire a portfolio of speculative-grade BB rated commercial mortgage-backed securities from a Deutsche Bank affiliate. (Read More)

LSI Introduces ValuCert

A one-page summary of borrower and market value information aimed at expediting the appraisal underwriting process has been introduced by Lender's Service Inc., Coraopolis, Pa. LSI said the report, ValuCert, is a summary of a Uniform Residential Appraisal Report or a Fannie Mae 2055 report. (Read More)

SONYMA Lowers Interest Rate

The State of New York Mortgage Agency has lowered the interest rate on its Low Interest Rate Mortgage Program from 5.75% to 5.50%, New York Gov. George E. Pataki has announced. (Read More)

Apgar Worries About GSE Expansion

Federal Housing Administration Commissioner William Apgar said he is "worried" about the impact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have on other businesses if they expanded into nontraditional activities, like self-insurance and subprime lending. (Read More)

Baker Presses OMB on Cap Rule

House Banking subcommittee chairman Richard Baker, R. La., is pressuring the Office of Management and Budget to end its four-month review of a risk-based capital standard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and release it to Congress and the public. (Read More)

Advanta Announces Forsythe's Departure

Carl Forsythe, the former president and chief executive officer of Advanta Mortgage, has left the company and will not be replaced, Advanta Corp. has announced. (Read More)

Applications Jump

Mortgage applications jumped 29.8% for the week ended Feb. 26 from the previous, holiday-shortened week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Standard Mortgage To Buy Wholesale Unit

Standard Mortgage Corp., Atlanta, will acquire the wholesale mortgage lending department of Republic Bank of St. Petersburg, Fla., according to Standard's parent, USBancorp Inc., Johnstown, Pa. The terms of the deal, which includes no subprime loans or servicing, were not disclosed. (Read More)

Subprime Lending Guidelines Coming

The federal banking and thrift regulators intend to issue guidelines on subprime lending this week. (Read More)

Freddie Completes Affordable Housing Deals

Freddie Mac has announced the completion of two credit enhancement transactions aimed at benefiting affordable rental housing in Florida. (Read More)

Bingham Seeks Thrift Charter

Bingham Financial Services Corp., Birmingham, Mich., has applied to the Office of Thrift Supervision to convert the company to a unitary thrift holding company and to form a federally chartered savings bank subsidiary to be called Bingham Bank. (Read More)

REIT Closes Hotel Pact

Hospitality Properties Trust, Newton, Mass., has closed on a previously announced agreement to acquire 18 Homestead Village Hotels from Homestead Village Inc. for $145 million. (Read More)

English Firm Does 1st Euro MBS Deal

Holmes Funding No. 1 public limited company, a bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle incorporated in England and Wales, has issued the first residential mortgage securitization to raise funds in the euro. (Read More)

Fannie Prices $3B Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has priced a $3 billion offering of its 5.375% Benchmark Notes due March 15, 2002 (CUSIP 31359MEN9) at 99.751, yielding 5.465% at a spread of 34 basis points above the 5.00% U.S. Treasury due February 2001. (Read More)

Laser Announces Resignations, Advisory Change

Laser Mortgage Management Inc., Short Hills, N.J., has announced three resignations and the termination of an agreement with Laser Advisors Inc. under which the latter served as the external manager of Laser Mortgage. (Read More)

Nomura CMBS Deals Expected

Market sources expect Nomura Securities International Inc. to come to market with a total of $2.9 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities during the next two weeks, Bridge/Telerate has reported. (Read More)

Regulators Issue Subprime Guidance

Federal banking and thrift regulators have issued guidelines on subprime lending to heighten awareness among institutions and examiners about the risks of this activity. (Read More)

Panel Passes Banking Reform

The Senate Banking Committee passed a financial services modernization bill Thursday morning by a party-line vote of 11-9 along with a killer Community Reinvestment Act amendment. (Read More)

30-Year Rate Jumps 17 BP

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped 17 basis points to 7.06% for the week ending March 5 from 6.89% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

FirstPlus Downgraded by Fitch

The senior counterparty credit rating of FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. has been lowered from B-minus to CCC by Fitch IBCA Inc. "The downgrade reflects the stressful liquidity environment facing the company and its inability to arrange a strategic combination with Coast-to-Coast Financial Corp.," the rating agency said. (Read More)

Fitch Eyes Dynex Affiliate's Deals

The ratings on Commercial Capital Access One Inc.'s $293.7 million of Series 2 commercial mortgage bonds and $433.7 million of Series 3 commercial mortgage bonds have been placed on RatingAlert with evolving implications by Fitch IBCA. (Read More)

Capri Buys Washington Capital

Capri Capital LP, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm, has acquired Arlington, Va.-based Washington Capital, a leading Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing lender, for $40 million. (Read More)

Provident Forms Commercial Unit

Provident Bank, Cincinnati, has announced the formation of a new commercial mortgage division, Provident Capital Funding. (Read More)

HomeSide Does $18B Servicing Deal

HomeSide Lending, Jacksonville, Fla., has reached a deal with Bank One Corp. to service First Chicago NBD Mortgage Co.'s $18 billion mortgage portfolio, bringing HomeSide's servicing volume to approximately $136 billion. (Read More)

Wilshire Noteholders OK Revamp

Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc., Portland, Ore., has announced that its restructuring plan has been approved by 96% of the noteholders who voted on the question. (Read More)

Aussie Lender Eyes U.S. Venture

Nonconforming lender Future Mortgage Ltd. of Australia has hired the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hamilton, Carter, Smith to provide financial advisory services regarding its possible merger or joint venture with a U.S.-based firm. (Read More)

NC Capital Completes Private Placement

NC Capital Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., has completed a private placement of a $128 million excess cash flow offering, NC Finance Trust 1999-1. (Read More)

FirstPlus Eyeing Ch. 11?

FirstPlus Financial, Dallas, the beleaguered high-LTV lender, is considering a restructuring plan that includes bankruptcy, sources have told MortgageWire. (Read More)

Mortgage Jobs Rise After (Revised) Falloff

Mortgage industry employment rebounded slightly in February after falling for the first time in more than 18 months in January, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Read More)

Senate Banking Panel Weakens CRA

The Senate Banking Committee passed a sweeping financial services modernization bill Thursday over the objections of Democrats who say the legislation weakens the powers of the Community Reinvestment Act. (Read More)

Cap Rule on 2nd Liens Finalized

Federal bank and thrift regulators have finalized a risk-based capital rule that is expected to curb the use of 80-10-10 mortgages as a way to avoid the purchase of private mortgage insurance. (Read More)

Fannie/Ginnie Speeds Flat

Prepayment rates on Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities were virtually unchanged in the February reporting period, but "a clear trend toward lower speeds" still exists, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

UCFC Gets Court OK for Financing

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved its previously announced financing commitments from Greenwich Capital Financial Products Inc. and The CIT Group/Business Credit Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, UCFC will have $225 million in debtor-in-possession financing on an interim basis while it tries to reorganize as a whole-loan-sale operation. (Read More)

Glendale Goodwill Ruling Postponed

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith has postponed his ruling in the Glendale goodwill case until April 9. (Read More)

UG MI Product To Get Secondary Market

Regions Mortgage, Montgomery, Ala., and Ohio Savings Bank, Cleveland, will create a secondary market for United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co.'s Borrower Advantage high loan-to-value mortgage insurance product, according to Andy May, vice president for product and corporate development at the Greensboro, N.C.-based UG. (Read More)

Fannie OKs 1st Facilities for Pension Funds

Fannie Mae has approved its first two credit facilities that will provide capital to pension funds that invest in multifamily properties. (Read More)

Home Prices Rose 4.7% in '98

Single-family home prices increased 4.7% nationwide last year, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Intuit Sues CheckFree

Intuit has sued CheckFree Corp., Norcross, Ga., charging that CheckFree violated the noncompete agreement the two companies signed by offering its bill presentment services to Quicken.com and Internet portal sites such as Yahoo. (Read More)

Net.B@nk Originated $100MM in 2nd Half

Atlanta-based Net.B@nk (Nasdaq: NTBK), an Internet bank, has reported that it originated $100 million in mortgages during the last six months of 1998. (Read More)

Berkshire Cites Acquisition Bids

Berkshire Realty Co. Inc., Boston, has received several offers to buy the company, Berkshire has announced. (Read More)

Feedback

Responses to our new survey question on whether Congress should confine Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to activities that provide liquidity for lenders were running 2-to-1 in favor at 1 p.m. (Read More)

FirstPlus Unit Goes Ch. 11

The main operating subsidiary of FirstPlus Financial Group Inc., Dallas, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (Read More)

Money Store Wholesale Unit Shifted

The wholesale unit of the Money Store, Sacramento, Calif., is being transferred to First Union Home Equity Bank, Charlotte, N.C. Parent company First Union Corp., Charlotte, is undergoing a corporation-wide restructuring that will result in the loss of 5%-10% of its work force. (Read More)

Stocks Off After Dow Surge

Mortgage lenders' stock prices were down Monday morning as the Dow Jones industrial average lost 32.89 points as of noon on the first day of trading since Friday's Dow surge of 269.68 points. (Read More)

Abington To Buy Old Colony Mortgage

Abington Savings Bank, Abington, Mass., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Old Colony Mortgage Corp., Brockton, Mass. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Read More)

Holliday Touts Record Hotel Financing

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, Dallas, has secured a $542 million loan package for White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to refinance the debt on 11 hotels in seven states. (Read More)

Conti Closes $650MM Home Equity Deal

ContiMortgage Corp., New York, has closed a $650 million home equity loan securitization. (Read More)

BNC Gets $50MM Warehouse Line

BNC Mortgage Inc., Irvine, Calif., has secured a $50 million warehouse line of credit from GMAC/Residential Funding Corp., Minneapolis. (Read More)

Freddie Hikes Dividend

The quarterly dividend on Freddie Mac's common stock has been increased from $0.12 per share to $0.15 per share for the first quarter by the corporation's board of directors. (Read More)

Insignia Buys British RE Firm

Insignia Financial Group Inc. has reported that it has acquired British real estate services firm St. Quintin and merged the company with its existing U.K. subsidiary, Richard Ellis Group Ltd. Insignia valued the transaction at approximately $32 million, excluding a potential earnout of up to an additional $12 million over three years. (Read More)

IQualify Adds New Lender

Finet Holdings Corp. has announced the addition of Prism Mortgage to iQualify. (Read More)

Industry, HUD Seek RESPA Consensus

Half a dozen groups representing mortgage lenders, brokers, and consumers have agreed to meet with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to hammer out a RESPA reform package by summertime. (Read More)

Greenspan Addresses MBA

The Federal Reserve Board believes that housing appreciation is adding to the "wealth effect" created by the stock market. (Read More)

Ginnie Fee Resolution Introduced

Congress should not increase Ginnie Mae guaranty fees, according to a sense-of-the-Senate resolution introduced by Republican senators Rod Grams of Minnesota and Slade Gorton of Washington. (Read More)

Pressure on OMB Grows

Pressure on the Office of Management and Budget to clear a risk-based capital proposal for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is increasing, with Sen. Chuck Hagel, R, Neb., now demanding its immediate release. (Read More)

Title Searches Rebound

The AFS Title Search Index rebounded 11.6% to 202.2 for the week ended March 5 from 183.6 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Sun National Buys Mortgage Company

Sun National Bank, Vineland, N.J., has purchased Eastern Financial Inc., a mortgage company based in Northfield, N.J. Terms were not disclosed. (Read More)

Cornerstone, Campus Eye Marin Site

Wilson Cornerstone (the San Francisco-based western division of Cornerstone Properties Inc., New York) and Campus Management Co. have been granted the exclusive right to negotiate for the acquisition of a 9.2-acre site in Larkspur, Calif., by its current owner, the Ross Valley Sanitary District. (Read More)

FAMC, EMB Announce Tech Alliance

First Americans Mortgage Corp., Lenexa, Kan., has joined forces with EMB Corp. to expand FAMC's loan origination system through the use of EMB's interactive video conferencing software and Web page technology. (Read More)

LION Adds New Subprime Capability

Lenders Interactive Online Network has upgraded its LION Loan 7/8 Link service that matches brokers with subprime lenders. (Read More)

Fitch Issues CMBS Surveillance Report

Fitch IBCA Inc. has issued a special report on the surveillance process for commercial mortgage-backed securities. (Read More)

Fannie Makes $15B Exchange Offer

Fannie Mae has offered to exchange 71 issues of outstanding noncallable, U.S. dollar-denominated medium-term notes, globals, and debentures for a 5.125% five-year Benchmark Note due Feb. 13, 2004. (Read More)

UFI Brokering $5-11B Bulk Forward Deal

United Financial Inc., Denver, is brokering the sale of an estimated $5 billion to $11 billion in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae loans annually on a bulk forward commitment basis. (Read More)

FASB Narrows 125 Disclosures

Recommended disclosures on securitizations will not have to include information on whole loan sales, the Financial Accounting Standards Board decided at a meeting Wednesday morning. (Read More)

Lazard Sub Sells CRE Assets

Commonwealth Atlantic Properties Inc., New York, a subsidiary of Lazard Freres Real Estate Investors, has sold all its commercial real estate assets for $260 million. (Read More)

Duff Pulls 1stPlus Senior Debt Rating

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. Inc., Chicago, has withdrawn the B-minus implied senior debt rating of Dallas-based FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. FirstPlus's subordinated debt rating of CCC remains on Rating Watch--Down, the rating agency said. (Read More)

Approved Reports 4Q Loss

Approved Financial Corp., Virginia Beach, Va., has reported a net loss of $1.6 million ($0.30 per share) for the fourth quarter of 1998, compared with net income of $1.4 million ($0.26 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

1st Connecticut Closes $1MM LOC

First Connecticut Capital Corp., Shelton, Conn., has closed a $1 million credit line facility that will enable it to expand its short-term mortgage program. (Read More)

HUD Asks House for Guaranty Cap Hike

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking the House VA/HUD Appropriations subcommittee to raise its loan guaranty cap to $130 billion for this year and next to offset the increased volume of insurance applications coming into the agency. (Read More)

Panel OKs Permanent FHLB Capital

The House Banking Committee has approved an amendment by Rep. Richard Baker, R, La., and Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D, Pa., to give depository institutions an incentive to purchase permanent capital stock in the Federal Home Loan Banks. (Read More)

Rates Rise Again

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.11% for the week ending March 12 from 7.06% the previous week, its highest level since the 7.19% recorded in the week ended May 15, 1998, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 9.8% for the week ended March 5 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Bay View, FMAC To Merge

Bay View Capital Corp., San Mateo, Calif., and Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Co. have executed a definitive merger agreement, the companies announced. (Read More)

CalPERS, Burnham To Buy 28 Properties

Through a joint venture, the California Public Employees Retirement System, Sacramento, and Burnham Pacific Properties have agreed to acquire 28 shopping centers from AMB Property Corp. for $663.4 million. (Read More)

Imperial Closes $250MM CMO Deal

Imperial Credit Commercial Mortgage Investment Corp., Los Angeles, has closed a securitization involving the sale of approximately $250 million of collateralized mortgage obligation bonds by its wholly owned subsidiary ICCMAC Multifamily and Commercial Trust 1999-1. (Read More)

ARC To Announce Equity Financing

ARC Systems, the Austin, Texas-based developer of the Internet-based LT2k automated underwriting system for subprime lenders, will formally announce Monday that it has secured $2 million in private equity financing from Verticality Investment Group LLC, a Jersey City, New Jersey-based venture capital firm that invests in private technology companies. (Read More)

Credit Counseling Expanded to New Orleans

Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater New Orleans, and Freddie Mac have announced the expansion of a homeownership initiative into the New Orleans area. (Read More)

House Banking Panel Passes HR 10

The House Banking Committee overwhelmingly passed a financial services modernization bill Thursday that "grandfathers" the unitary thrift charter and reforms the Federal Home Loan Bank system. (Read More)

Fannie's DU Becoming Cash Cow

Fannie Mae's automated underwriting technology is turning into a cash cow for the secondary marketing giant, with fee income generated from its Desktop Underwriter system expected to exceed $120 million this year, according to a report published by Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. In addition, Morgan Stanley notes that residential loan brokers could account for fewer mortgage originations in the future if Fannie Mae moves deeper into online mortgage lending. (Read More)

Lahaina To Buy 1st Southern Mortgage

Lahaina Acquisitions Inc., Amelia Island, Fla., has agreed to acquire First Southern Mortgage, a residential and commercial mortgage brokerage. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Reaches Accord With Citicorp

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has reached an agreement with Citicorp Securities Inc. under which pending litigation will be suspended for a four-month period and the parties will cooperate in the sale of two classes of investment-grade commercial mortgage-backed securities and $370 million of commercial mortgages. (Read More)

Alliance Joins Forces With IBB

Alliance Mortgage Co., Jacksonville, Fla., will provide mortgage products and services to the customer banks of the Independent Bankers' Bank of Florida. (Read More)

Imperial Backs Bay View/FMAC Merger

Imperial Credit Industries Inc., Torrance, Calif., has entered into an agreement to vote its approximately 11 million shares of Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Co. in favor of the recently announced merger pact between FMAC and Bay View Capital Corp., San Mateo, Calif. The shares represent 38.4% of FMAC's outstanding shares. (Read More)

PNC Closes $100MM Construction Loan

PNC Real Estate Finance, a unit of PNC Bank, has closed on a $100 million construction loan to an affiliate of Lerner Enterprises and CIGNA to finance the development of the Dulles Town Center Mall in Loudon County, Va. The 1.05-million-square-foot regional mall is scheduled for completion in the summer and will be anchored by Lord & Taylor, Hechts, Sears, and J.C. Penney. (Read More)

MeriStar Announces $55MM Debt Offering

MeriStar Hospitality Corp., Washington, D.C., has announced a $55 million debt offering of 8.75% senior subordinated notes due 2007. (Read More)

Finet Raises $11.5MM in Equity

Finet Holdings Corp., Walnut Creek, Calif., has raised $11.5 million of equity capital through the private placement of 6.2 million shares of common stock. (Read More)

Feedback

NMN website visitor Glenn Godsey recently posted a question about Internet mortgage originations in our 1999 Mortgage Trends discussion group. (Read More)

Fleet To Merge With BankBoston

Fleet Financial Group, Boston, has agreed to merge with cross-town rival BankBoston in a deal that will create the country's eighth largest commercial bank, with assets of $180 billion. (Read More)

Citigroup Sub To Buy 128 Associates Offices

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Texas, has agreed to sell 128 consumer finance offices to Commercial Credit Inc., Stamford, Conn. Terms were not disclosed. (Read More)

Freddie Unveils Reduced-MI Options

Freddie Mac has unveiled two reduced mortgage insurance options on low-downpayment loans that essentially matches a similar MI program announced by Fannie Mae in January, but is available on a broader range of mortgage products. (Read More)

CWMBS MBS Classes Downgraded

Fitch IBCA Inc. has downgraded eight classes of CWMBS (IndyMac) Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates and placed five MBS classes on RatingAlert Negative. (Read More)

MGI To Sell CRE Portfolio

MGI Properties, Boston, has reached an agreement to sell its entire 4.4 million-square-foot portfolio of 53 commercial properties in New England to a private real estate investment group for what it estimates will be a profit of $29-$30 per share, or approximately $400 million. (Read More)

Fleet Signs Contract To Use Data-Link

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has announced that Fleet Mortgage Group, Columbia, S.C., has signed a multiyear contract to use the Fiserv Data-Link Loan Servicing System. (Read More)

Dover Becomes J.P. Morgan Mortgage

The board of directors of Dover House Capital, Atlanta, has changed the company's name to J.P. Morgan Mortgage Capital Inc. to align it more closely with its parent, J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc. Dover House was established in 1996 to originate commercial mortgage loans intended for securitization. (Read More)

Freddie Challenges Kelvie's AU Numbers

A spokesman for Freddie Mac has challenged the validity of market share numbers for automated underwriting systems published in the latest Mortech study and cited by Fannie Mae chief information officer William Kelvie at a recent meeting of investors at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. (Read More)

REITs Top Apartment Rankings

Real estate investment trusts have continued to make "dramatic advances" in the National Multi Housing Council's rankings of the nation's top apartment owners and managers, according to the Washington, D.C.-based NMHC. (Read More)

Canadian Home Sales Jump

Sales of existing homes in 25 major Canadian markets saw its biggest increase in more than two years, Bridge/Telerate has reported. (Read More)

SF Starts Hit 20-Year High

Sparked by one of the mildest winters on record, single-family housing starts hit a 20-year high in February, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

FHA Delinquency Rate Hits Record

The delinquency rate for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages hit an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 1998, according to data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

NJ High Court Hears Mortgage Case

The New Jersey Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on a case involving a foreclosure by Metropolitan Life on a commercial mortgage loan that could have nationwide implications. (Read More)

Raines Cites Risks of MPF Program

Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines has criticized the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago's "mortgage partnership finance" program, saying that FHLBs lack the managerial skills and permanent capital needed to safely purchase single-family loans in the secondary market. (Read More)

Residential Funding Issues HLTV Deal

Residential Funding 1999-HI 1 has issued a $450 million offering of high loan-to-value asset-backed securities, one of the first such deals since last year's market disruption, Bridge/Telerate has reported. (Read More)

Amresco Takes Over Nomura Servicing

Amresco Services, Dallas, a subsidiary of Amresco Inc., will acquire three commercial mortgage loan-servicing pools totaling about $7 billion and servicing rights on $6.5 billion from various subsidiaries of Nomura Holding America. (Read More)

Does E-Loan Covet LendingTree?

Rumors persist that E-Loan, Dublin, Calif., plans to purchase LendingTree, Charlotte, N.C., despite denials from both companies. (Read More)

HomeShark May Change Name

HomeShark, the San Francisco-based multilender, is seriously considering changing its name, but had not made any final decisions as of Tuesday, according to Blodwen Tarter, vice president of HomeShark. (Read More)

Title Searches Rise

The AFS Title Search Index rose 2.9% to 208.1 for the week ended March 12 from 202.2 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Banks Boost MBS Investments

Commercial banks increased their holdings of mortgage-backed securities by $36.7 billion during the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC reported that bank holdings of mortgage pass-through securities jumped $34 billion to $311 billion from Sept. 30 to Dec. 31, along with a $3 billion increase in collateralized mortgage obligations to $159 billion. (Read More)

Fannie Adds Renovation Info to HomePath

Fannie Mae has added information on its home improvement products to its HomePath.com website, the government-sponsored enterprise has announced. (Read More)

Zapco Refinancing $180MM Loan

Sonnenblick-Goldman Co., New York, has been retained by Zapco 1500 Investment LP/Intertech Corp. to refinance a $180 million loan secured by Times Square Plaza, a 33-story class A office building in midtown Manhattan with nearly 500,000 square feet of rentable space. (Read More)

GreenPoint Names New EVP

Jean Bingham has been appointed executive vice president for risk management by GreenPoint Financial Corp., New York. (Read More)

NationsBank Group Appoints EVP

The NationsBank Consumer Finance Group has named Richard J. Cardillo executive vice president in the Home Equity Sales Division for NationsCredit Consumer Corp., Irving, Texas, and its EquiCredit Corp. subsidiary. (Read More)

Duff & Phelps Joins ABSNet

Lewtan Technologies Inc., Waltham, Mass., has announced an agreement to distribute asset-backed research and other content from Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, over ABSNet. (Read More)

NovaStar Eyes Private Placement

NovaStar Financial Inc., Westwood, Kan., has announced a proposed $30 million private placement of cumulative convertible preferred stock. (Read More)

Brendsel Defends MI Rollback

Freddie Mac's recent initiative to roll back mortgage insurance coverages is consistent with its mission of reducing the cost of homeownership to consumers, Freddie Mac chairman Leland Brendsel has told the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City, N.J. The reduced MI coverage options, which allow lenders to qualify more borrowers, have come under attack by some market participants who say the move by Freddie Mac is another sign that the government-sponsored enterprises are extending their powers further into the private market. (Read More)

Chase Exec Advises GSEs, Lenders

Although some new initiatives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have created anguish among lenders, both sides need to recognize the enormous progress and profit that their partnership has generated, according to Felix Beck, chairman emeritus of Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Edison, N.J. Speaking at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations, Mr. Beck made a number of suggestions to both parties. (Read More)

High Risks in High-LTV Lending

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has issued a highly critical report on high-LTV lending that shows the "severity and frequency of default" is higher than for subprime home equity loans. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 6.0% for the week ended March 12 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Housing Index Falls 3rd Straight Month

The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index fell in March for the third consecutive month. (Read More)

E-Loan Allies With MarketWatch.com

E-Loan, Palo Alto, Calif., has announced a strategic relationship with MarketWatch.com, a provider of Internet news. (Read More)

First American Buys Ohio Title Company

First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., has announced that its largest subsidiary, First American Title Insurance Co., has completed the acquisition of Ohio Bar Title Insurance Co., Columbus, Ohio. (Read More)

Countrywide Boosts Affordable Housing Pledge

Countrywide Home Loans has announced a $30 billion increase in its five-year commitment to low-income and minority borrowers, bringing the total commitment to $80 billion. (Read More)

REIT Completes $132MM Private Deal

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., New York, has completed the private placement of a $132 million securitization. (Read More)

Column Opens Philly Office

Column Financial Inc. has opened a new office in Philadelphia that will focus on the company's Small Balance Program of commercial real estate mortgage loans, which range from $500,000 to $3.0 million. (Read More)

BankUnited Taps New Senior VP

Lisa Barerra has been named senior vice president of mortgage operations at BankUnited FSB, Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Barerra was previously vice president for regional sales and service center manager at NationsBank Mortgage Corp. and Barnett Mortgage Corp. (Read More)

Revere Fed Names 2 Veeps

Revere Federal Savings, Revere, Mass., has announced the promotions of Patricia A. Pace to vice president for residential mortgages and Elaine Bowdridge to vice president for mortgage servicing. (Read More)

MBA To Fight Ginnie Privatization

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America will fight the proposed privatization of Ginnie Mae, MBA executive vice president Paul Reid told the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City, N.J., Thursday morning. (Read More)

Fed Rejects Quick Action on CMBS Proposal

The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by the Capital Consortium to move quickly to give preferential risk-based capital treatment to AAA-rated commercial mortgage-backed securities. (Read More)

Rates Fall

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 7.01% for the week ending March 19 from 7.11% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Fannie, BofA Tout Chicago Investment

Fannie Mae and the Bank of America have announced an investment in Chicago's affordable housing market via the Apollo American Fund. (Read More)

SL Green To Buy 4 NYC Properties

SL Green Realty Corp., New York, has agreed to acquire four New York City office properties totaling 675,000 square feet from Reckson Associates Realty Corp. for $84.5 million. (Read More)

Survey Finds Tempered Optimism in West

Optimism about real estate markets has been tempered among real estate professionals in the West, according to a survey by The Meyers Group, Irvine, Calif. Of the 138 respondents, 85% said they felt optimistic about economic and market conditions in Southern California, and 76% were optimistic about Northern California, compared with 99% and 92%, respectively, in last year's survey. (Read More)

United Financial Reports Record 3Q Earnings

United Financial Mortgage Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has reported record net income (unaudited) of $486,809 ($0.115 per share) for the fiscal third quarter of 1999, ended Jan. 31, compared with $26,365 ($0.0079 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

FDIC Drafting High-LTV Guidance

Now that they have issued subprime lending guidelines, the federal banking regulators are drafting guidance for high-LTV lending. (Read More)

FHLBs May Have To Redeem Excess Stock

The Federal Housing Finance Board is exploring the idea of forcing Federal Home Loan Banks to redeem excess capital stock that is often used to finance "arbitrage" investments. (Read More)

Kokomo Tops Affordable Market Index

The most affordable U.S. housing market in the fourth quarter of 1998 was Kokomo, Ind., according to the National Association of Home Builders. (Read More)

Fannie Announces Benchmark Reopening

Fannie Mae has announced a $2 billion reopening of its 5.125% five-year Benchmark Note due Feb. 13, 2004, originally issued Feb. 8. (Read More)

CB Richard Ellis Disposes of 8 Shop Centers

The CB Richard Ellis Retail Investment Advisory Team, Atlanta, recently handled the disposition of eight shopping centers, two on behalf of Acadia Realty Trust, five for TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, and one on behalf of Bruno's. (Read More)

Moody's Cites Variability of PNC's MBS

The "A" quality jumbo mortgage-backed security pools securitized by PNC Mortgage Securities Corp. have a greater-than-average probability of performance variability from pool to pool, according to a new Moody's Investors Service report. (Read More)

Seller-Financed Mortgage Deal Rated

Moody's has rated an unusual securitization by Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co. Inc. involving seller-financed mortgage loans. (Read More)

California Servicing for Sale

Servicing rights on $36 million in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages secured by homes in California are for sale. (Read More)

Feedback

National Mortgage News website visitor Michael A. Tougher has posted a question in our 1999 Mortgage Trends discussion group about attracting new lenders to Guam. (Read More)

Amerin Chief To Head GSE Coalition

Gerald L. Friedman, chairman and chief executive officer of Amerin Corp., Chicago, will be chosen to head a new industry coalition that wants to check the powers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, top industry sources have told MortgageWire. (Read More)

OTS Eyes Changes to TB 72

The Office of Thrift Supervision is planning to tighten the capital limitation on second-lien high-LTV lending to include the first mortgage, if the institution holds the first and second loans. (Read More)

FHA Making Progress on Lender Monitoring

The Federal Housing Administration has made significant progress toward taking an active and preventive role in monitoring single-family lenders, according to a fiscal 1998 audit report of the FHA's financial statements by KPMG LLP. (Read More)

Finet Names CFO, Senior VP

Finet Holdings Corp., Walnut Creek, Calif., has named Gary A. Palmer chief financial officer and Michael Brown senior vice president of special markets lending. (Read More)

Nomura Prices $2.1B of CMBS

Nomura Securities International Inc. has priced a $2.11 billion offering of commercial mortgage-backed securities through special purpose vehicle Commercial Mortgage Asset Trust 1999-C1, Bridge/Telerate has reported. (Read More)

1st Alliance Completes $115MM Deal

First Alliance Mortgage Co., Irvine, Calif., has completed a $115 million securitization, parent First Alliance Corp. has announced. (Read More)

UK Entity Issues Novel Deal

A special purpose company in the United Kingdom has issued a securitization of "share appreciation loans," which are similar to the reverse mortgages seen in the United States in that they are made to older borrowers and have no fixed maturity dates. (Read More)

Fitch: REIT Market 'Bifurcated'

The turmoil in the capital markets in the second half of 1998 has resulted in a bifurcation in the market for debt of real estate investment trusts, according to Fitch IBCA Inc. In its latest semiannual review of REITs and real estate operating companies, the rating agency said investors "have begun to divide the REIT sector for reasons other than credit, seeking very different bond spreads for similarly rated issues" and that larger, more well-established companies have been the beneficiaries. (Read More)

GMAC-RFC Touts Subprime Purchases

GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis, acquired more than $3.5 billion in subprime loans in 1998, up 67% from 1997, the company said. (Read More)

ARCS Reports $1.55B in Commercial Closings

ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co. LP, Calabasas Hills, Calif., has reported commercial mortgage loan closings totaling $1.55 billion during 1998, a 100% increase from $752 million in 1997 and a three-fold increase from the 1996 total of $506 million. (Read More)

Ameri-First Issues 'Buy' Signal on Amresco

Ameri-First Securities has upgraded its rating of Amresco from Accumulate to Buy and increased its 1999 price target from $12 to $15 per share. (Read More)

Norwest Hosting Sales Conference

Norwest Mortgage, Des Moines, Iowa, is hosting an educational seminar designed to sharpen the sales skills of Realtors, builders, and mortgage executives. (Read More)

HUD IG: Waste and Abuse Still Rampant

Although the Department of Housing and Urban Development has done a decent job at implementing management reforms over the past year, the agency is plagued by more waste, fraud, and abuse than ever before, according to HUD's inspector general. (Read More)

Gramm Probes HUD Audit Decision

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R, Texas, is investigating whether the inspector general's office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development was wrongfully pressured into stopping criminal probes of three public housing authorities for political reasons. (Read More)

OTS Chief Proposes New Mortgage Product

The director of the Office of Thrift Supervision has proposed a new mortgage product that would step down interest rates to borrowers with impaired credit after they have established a creditworthy track record. (Read More)

Bank United Can Sue U.S. for Damages

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith has ruled that the U.S. government is liable for breaking capital forbearance contracts with Bank United Corp., and the Houston thrift is entitled to sue for damages. (Read More)

GMAC Mortgage To Buy DiTech

GMAC Mortgage Corp., Horsham, Pa., has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the operations and net assets of DiTech Funding Corp., Irvine, Calif., and its subsidiaries, DiTech Escrow and DiTech Real Estate. (Read More)

Fannie Announces LION Pilot

Fannie Mae has announced a planned pilot test with Lenders Interactive Online Network Inc. that will enable lenders to offer their sponsored brokers access to Fannie Mae's Desktop Originator through LION's website. (Read More)

Countrywide Allies With Microsoft

Countrywide Home Loans Inc., Calabasas, Calif., has announced an agreement with Microsoft under which it will participate in the latter's HomeAdvisor website. (Read More)

No More CHUMS

The technological revolution has finally caught up with CHUMS, and the Federal Housing Administration will no accept data submitted on the CHUMS Lender Access System starting April 1. (Read More)

Title Searches Off

The AFS Title Search Index fell 7.1% to 193.3 for the week ended March 19 from 208.1 the previous week, according to Bridge/Telerate Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

UFI Selling Fannie/Freddie Portfolio

United Financial Inc., Denver, is offering a $114 million Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac servicing portfolio to the national market. (Read More)

Parallel Closes $27MM Loan

Parallel Capital LLC, New York, has closed a $27.15 million loan to an unnamed borrower secured by a 190,000-square-foot office building at 122 Fifth Ave. in midtown Manhattan near such landmarks as the Flatiron Building and the Metropolitan Life Building. (Read More)

Euro1B MBS Deal Priced

A 1 billion euro (about $1.09 billion) issue of mortgage-backed securities from Argentaria, Caja Postal and Banco Hipotecario SA has priced at 99.769, according to the deal's co-lead manager Goldman Sachs International, London. (Read More)

MBA, CSSA Slate Joint Conference

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America has agreed to hold a joint conference with the Commercial Real Estate Secondary Market and Securitization Association at the CSSA's annual meeting. (Read More)

Leach: OMB Should Release RBC Proposal

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach, R, Iowa, is calling for the prompt release of a risk-based capital standard designed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Read More)

Freddie, Norwest Form 'Historic Alliance'

Freddie Mac and Norwest Mortgage have entered into what they call a "historic alliance" and "precedent-setting agreement" under which Norwest Mortgage will sell nearly 100% of its conventional, conforming loans to Freddie Mac. (Read More)

Fannie Defends Cuts in MI Coverage

Fannie Mae has reduced its mortgage insurance requirements on low-downpayment loans to be fair to the consumer, not to enter the mortgage insurance business, according to a Fannie Mae executive. (Read More)

Stocks Mixed After Tuesday's Slide

Leading mortgage lenders' stock prices were mixed in Wednesday morning's trading while the Dow Jones industrial average was virtually unchanged at noon following Tuesday's 218.68-point slide, which took most lenders' shares down with it. (Read More)

Univest Unveils New Servicing Tech

Univest Financial Group, Little Rock, Ark., is introducing a Web-based servicing automation system for commercial mortgage loans. (Read More)

Judge Hints at Ruling in Home Equity Case

A Texas judge has issued a preliminary indication of a county district court ruling in a suit that raises concerns about an amendment to the state's home equity law. (Read More)

Applications Rise

Mortgage applications rose 9.2% for the week ended March 19 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Mego Changes Name to Altiva

Mego Mortgage Corp., Atlanta, has changed its name to Altiva Financial Corp. and effected a one-for-10 reverse stock split of its common stock (par value: $0.01) for shares outstanding as of March 22. (Read More)

Prism Proposes IPO

Prism Financial Corp., Chicago, has announced a proposed initial public offering. (Read More)

Freddie Touts Record MF Funding

Freddie Mac has announced that it funded a record $1.05 billion in multifamily mortgages in the first two months of the year, far exceeding its previous high of $280 million in January and February 1996. (Read More)

Delta Sells $375MM HEL Deal

Delta Funding Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has sold a $375 million securitization of closed-end home equity loans. (Read More)

AmeriNet Sets New Reorganization Date

The board of directors and shareholders of AmeriNet Financial Systems Inc., Englewood, Colo., have set a new record date, March 31, for AmeriNet's previously announced reorganization. (Read More)

Resales Fall But Remain Strong

Existing single-family home sales fell a fraction in February but remained above the coveted five million mark for the third consecutive month, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. (Read More)

Dems Want Lender Abuses Targeted

Democratic senators will fight any consumer bankruptcy bill that does not protect consumers against abusive practices by home equity lenders and credit card issuers. (Read More)

LaFalce Introducing IRA/Homebuyer Bill

Rep. John LaFalce, D., N.Y., is introducing legislation that would enable first-time homebuyers to avoid federal taxes if they withdraw money from individual retirement accounts for the downpayment on a home. (Read More)

Fannie Completes Appraiser Service Pilot

Fannie Mae has announced the completion of a pilot test of its MortgageLinks Appraiser Connection service and said the service will be accessible to all MornetPlus lenders beginning in May. Appraiser Connection allows lenders to order and receive appraisals electronically from the appraiser of their choice. (Read More)

IMX Launches Expansion

IMX Exchange has launched a national expansion. (Read More)

MBA Chief Sees Falling Denial Rates

Donald E. Lange, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, has predicted that a major trend in the mortgage market over the next five years will be a decline in the denial rate for loans. (Read More)

Rates Fall

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.98% for the week ending March 26 from 7.01% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Thornburg Lowers Costs of ABS Deal

Thornburg Mortgage Asset Corp., Santa Fe, N.M., has arranged lower-cost financing on $1.1 billion of asset-backed notes via a note modification agreement. (Read More)

Moody's Praises Countrywide Deals

Moody's Investors Service says that Countrywide Home Loans is "in the top tier of mortgage loan originators" and enjoys "above average loan performance." (Read More)

Countrywide Reports Record 4Q

Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., Calabasas, Calif., has reported record unaudited earnings of $101.6 million ($0.86 per share) for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, up 19% from $85.1 million ($0.74 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

OMB Releases RBC Proposal

The Office of Management and Budget has finally completed its review of a proposed rule that will eventually lead to a risk-based capital standard for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. (Read More)

Citibank Mortgage To Buy Source One

Citibank Mortgage, St. Louis, has signed an agreement to acquire the principal operating assets and assume certain liabilities of Source One Mortgage Services Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Central Pacific Mortgage. (Read More)

Ginnie Sale Part of Senate Budget Plan

The Senate has approved a budget plan for fiscal year 2000 that gives the Appropriations Committee the option to use the privatization of Ginnie Mae and user fees as a way to pay for increases in education spending and other domestic programs. (Read More)

Fannie Passes $1B in Actual/360 Loans

Fannie Mae has now completed more than $1 billion of multifamily mortgage lending through the Actual/360 option in its Delegated Underwriting and Servicing line of products, an option first introduced in May 1998. (Read More)

Countrywide MBS Classes Downgraded

Two classes of Countrywide Home Loans' Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 1995-2 have been downgraded by Fitch IBCA Inc. and a third class has been placed on RatingAlert with negative implications. (Read More)

MBHC Names New CEO & Prez

Mortgage Bankers Holding Corp., Pittsburgh, has named Dennis C. Rushovich chief executive officer and Kevin P. Maloney president. (Read More)

Life Reports 4Q Net Loss

Life Financial Corp., Riverside, Calif., has reported a net loss of $6.7 million ($1.02 per share) for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with restated net earnings of $5.7 million ($0.83 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Altiva Reports Ordinary Loss in 2Q

The Atlanta-based Altiva Financial Corp. (Read More)

Modest Growth Projected for WaMu

J.P. Morgan analysts expect Washington Mutual's mortgage unit to "increase its market share modestly as the industry consolidates further," the Wall Street firm said in a recent company report. (Read More)

New MBS Valuation Model Unveiled

A new valuation model for non-agency mortgage-backed securities has been introduced by Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.'s Financial Analytics and Structured Transactions Group. (Read More)

Feedback

In a recent letter to the editor of National Mortgage News, a spokesman for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago took issue with statements in a MortgageWire item questioning whether FHLBs possess the capital and managerial expertise to conduct the FHLB-Chicago's Mortgage Partnership Finance program. (Read More)

Fannie Undercapitalized?

Fannie Mae would have been considered undercapitalized in 1996 and 1997 if a risk-based capital proposal developed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight had been in effect, while Freddie Mac exceeded its RBC requirements. (Read More)

Fannie Says MPF Could Spawn Crisis

Fannie Mae is taking another potshot at the "mortgage partnership finance" program of its competitor, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. (Read More)

New Home Sales Decline

New single-family home sales fell for the third consecutive month in February to their lowest level in five months, according to data released Monday by the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development. (Read More)

Bloomberg, LendingTree Join Forces

Bloomberg.com has joined forces with LendingTree to launch an online consumer loan center. (Read More)

First Mortgage Network Now Mortgage.com

First Mortgage Network has announced that the company has changed its name to Mortgage.com. (Read More)

Moody's: Some Housing Bonds at Risk

Housing bonds could be vulnerable to rating downgrades as a result of the downgrades of investment providers that collateralize the bonds, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

Matrix Records Loss From MCA Dealings

Matrix Bancorp Inc., Denver, has announced that its investigation of the bankruptcy of MCA Financial Corp. and MCA's dealings with two Matrix subsidiaries has led the company to record a $2.3 million loss as of Dec. 31, 1998. (Read More)

Fannie Issues $1B MBS Strip

Fannie Mae has issued a $1 billion stripped mortgage-backed security backed by 6.5% fixed-rate coupons. (Read More)

American Property Closes 2 MF Loans

American Property Financing West LLC, Seattle, has closed two multifamily loans through Fannie Mae's Delegated Underwriting and Servicing program. (Read More)

Brandywine Obtains $75MM Loan

Brandywine Realty Trust, Newtown Square, Pa., has closed on a $75 million, three-year loan with Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital Inc. The loan, secured by mortgages on properties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, will have an initial interest rate of 7.5% that will be adjusted monthly to a rate equal to the London interbank offered rate plus 250 basis points. (Read More)

Cap Rule Shouldn't Affect Guarantee Fees

The guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are based on "duopoly" pricing, and the introduction of a risk-based capital standard will have little effect on what the two government-sponsored enterprises charge, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Title Searches Slip

The AFS Title Search Index fell 1.7% to 190.0 for the week ended March 26 from 193.3 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Alltel Offers Performance Tracking

The Alltel mortgage unit has added an "executive performance measurement" feature to its Mortgage Servicing Package. (Read More)

New MI Declines

The volume of net primary new insurance written by private mortgage companies declined 2% in February. (Read More)

Imperial/Leucadia Deal Scrapped

Los Angeles-based Imperial Bancorp's plan to sell its 24.3% stake in Imperial Credit Industries Inc. to Leucadia National Corp., an insurance company in New York, is dead. (Read More)

MuniMae Completes $68MM Offering

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has completed a $67.8 million term debt offering that refinanced a similar amount of outstanding short-term securitizations to longer-term debt. (Read More)

Feds Sued Over Agency Site

Residents of the Carlyle Complex neighborhood in Alexandria, Va., have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, the General Services Administration, and the Patent and Trademark Office alleging that the agencies failed to comply with the national Environmental Policy Act in its $1 billion plan to develop a new site for the PTO. (Read More)

VA Botched Servicing Transfer

The Department of Veterans Affairs botched the transfer its mortgage servicing activities to a private contractor and now VA cannot properly account for nearly $3 billion in assumed and vendee loans that have been sold to investors. (Read More)

EMB To Buy American Residential

EMB Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., has agreed to buy American Residential Funding Inc., a net branching firm based in Long Beach, Calif. Terms were not disclosed. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 4.6% for the week ended March 26 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Fannie Sells RE for U.S. Marshals

Fannie Mae is selling residential properties that have been seized by and forfeited to the U.S. Marshals Service. (Read More)

IMC Reports 4Q Loss, Possible Delisting

IMC Mortgage Co., Tampa, Fla., has reported a net loss of $134.1 million ($4.00 per share) for the fourth quarter and announced that its stock is expected to be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market as of April 14. (Read More)

UGRIC Sole Insurer for HFA

United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co., Greensboro, N.C., will be the sole provider of pool insurance for the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority in 1999. (Read More)

Mid-America, Blackstone Join Forces

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Memphis, has formed a joint venture with Blackstone Real Estate Advisors under which Blackstone will acquire up to 10 apartment properties from Mid-America for $97.9 million. (Read More)

NRF Participates in $929MM CMBS Deal

National Realty Funding, Kansas City, Mo., has participated in the securitization of $928.9 million of commercial mortgages. (Read More)

Westmark Reports 1st Profitable Year

Westmark Group Holdings Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., has reported net income of $1.19 million ($0.37 per share) for 1998, compared with a net loss of $1.47 million ($1.06 per share) for 1997. (Read More)

NovaStar Issues $30MM of Preferred Stock

NovaStar Financial Inc., Westwood, Kan., has completed the issuance of approximately 4.286 million shares of cumulative convertible preferred stock at $7 per share. (Read More)

Amresco Lands Master Servicing Contract

Amresco Services LP, Atlanta, has been selected as master servicer for an $859 million commercial mortgage securitization. (Read More)

OFHEO Disputes GSEs' S&P Rating

The AA rating Standard & Poor's gave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in February 1997 is not based on their capital position, according to Mark Kinsey, the acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Fannie: RBC Wouldn't Affect Performance

Even if the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's risk-based capital proposal were put into effect today, it would not have any affect on the company's financial performance, Fannie Mae officials told equity analysts Thursday morning. (Read More)

Mellon Sells $14B Commercial Portfolio

Mellon Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, has agreed to sell its $14 billion commercial mortgage servicing portfolio to GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., already the nation's largest commercial mortgage servicer. (Read More)

BNY To Buy Cap America Unit

The Bank of New York has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Capital Company of America Client Services LLC, Irving, Texas, from The Capital Company of America LLC, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Nomura Holding America Inc. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. (Read More)

Freddie Taps New Senior VP

Pat Sheehy has been named senior vice president for marketing, sales, and production by Freddie Mac. (Read More)

Affinity Group Amendment Loses Support

Sen. Richard Shelby, R, Ala., is dropping his support for a regulatory relief amendment that would allow mortgage lenders and other settlement providers to pay referral fees to airlines, credit card issuers, and other affinity groups. (Read More)

30-Year Rate Flat

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.98% for the week ending April 2, unchanged from the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

COFI Falls 4 BP

The Eleventh District Cost of Funds Index fell more than 4 basis points in February to 4.562% from January's 4.608%, which was nearly 5 bp lower than December's 4.655%. (Read More)

BofA, NationsBank Mortgage Units Now Merged

NationsBanc Mortgage Corp. and BankAmerica Mortgage became one mortgage company Thursday as a result of the merger of Bank of America and NationsBank. (Read More)

ABFS Closes $185MM Deal

American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has closed a $185 million securitization through its three main subsidiaries: American Business Credit Inc., New Jersey Mortgage and Investment Corp., and Upland Mortgage. (Read More)

Parallel Opens 1st LA Office

Parallel Capital, a national commercial real estate lender based in New York, has opened its first office in Los Angeles in order to serve California and the Southwest. (Read More)

Mortgage Job Rise Continues

Mortgage industry employment continued to rise in March, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Read More)

Amresco Eyes Strategic Options

Amresco Inc., Dallas, has engaged Goldman, Sachs & Co. to advise the company on strategic options in conjunction with its previously announced restructuring. (Read More)

Freddie Speeds Flat

Prepayment rates for Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities were nearly unchanged in the latest reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

ABFSI Forms New Mortgage Unit

American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has announced the formation of a new business unit that will step up the parent company's involvement in the conventional mortgage market. (Read More)

MeriStar, Oak Hill Form Partnership

MeriStar Hospitality Corp. and MeriStar Hotels & Resorts Inc. have joined forces with Oak Hill Capital Partners in a $400 million investment partnership called MeriStar Investment partners to acquire upscale, full-service hotels. (Read More)

UFI Brokering 2 Portfolios

United Financial Inc., Denver, is offering two servicing portfolios to the national market. (Read More)

United Guaranty Taps New Prez for Sub

United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., has announced the promotion of William V. Nutt Jr. to president and chief operating officer of its flagship subsidiary United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co. Mr. Nutt served most recently as executive vice president of operations. (Read More)

Bond Group Revamps MBS Reference

The Bond Market Association has revamped its "uniform practices" reference volume for mortgage- and asset-backed securities, which will now be available in both print and electronic versions. (Read More)

Nehemiah Program Passes $1B Mark

The Nehemiah Program, a national downpayment assistance program, has passed the $1 billion mark in real estate transactions. (Read More)

Feedback

Responses to our survey question on whether Congress should limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to providing liquidity for lenders are now running nearly 3-to-1 in favor, with 221 favoring such a restriction and 81 opposing it as of 1 p.m. (Read More)

Amerin, CMAC Name Radian Team

Amerin Corp. and CMAC Investment Corp. have announced the senior management team of Radian Group Inc., the company that will be formed by their merger. (Read More)

Glendale Goodwill Decision Set for Friday

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith says he will release his decision in the Glendale goodwill case at 6 p.m. (Read More)

Moody's Sees Jumbo Risk in MI Cut

Recently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reduced mortgage insurance requirements for conforming loans, and Moody's Investor Service warns that if reduced MI coverage spreads to jumbo loan pools, it could increase credit risk on securities backed by jumbo mortgage loans by increasing loss severity on loans that default. (Read More)

4 Western Fed MBS Classes Downgraded

Four classes of Western Federal Savings and Loan Association of California mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service, while the ratings on 32 other classes were confirmed. (Read More)

HomeAdvisor Adopts Talisma

MSN HomeAdvisor has implemented Aditi Corp.'s Talisma electronic customer service software to help build strong customer relationships on the Internet, Aditi has announced. (Read More)

ARCS Closes $104MM Loan

ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co. LP, Calabasas, Calif., has closed a $103.97 million loan secured by a portfolio of seven apartment properties containing a total of 1,988 units. (Read More)

REIT Repurchases 41,500 Shares

Mid-Atlantic Realty Trust, Lutherville, Md., has announced that it repurchased 41,500 of its common shares in March at an average price per share of $10.04. (Read More)

OCC Issues More Subprime Guidelines

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has imposed additional requirements on national banks that engage in subprime lending. (Read More)

AU Systems Contribute to VA Originations

Freddie Mac's automated underwriting system -- Loan Prospector -- is processing 15%-20% of all loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Keith Pedigo, director of the loan guarantee service. (Read More)

Title Searches Fall

The AFS Title Search Index fell 9.3% to 172.3 for the week ended April 2 from 190.0 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

PMI, Nation 1 Unveil A-Minus Program

PMI Mortgage Co., San Francisco, and Nation One Mortgage Co. have announced a $100 million A-minus mortgage loan program that will permit downpayments as low as 3%. (Read More)

Republic to Sell Georgia Office

Republic Bancshares Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla., has agreed to sell the Brunswick, Ga., office of Republic Bank FSB to Sapelo National Bank, Darien, Ga. The office was Republic's only non-Florida branch facility. (Read More)

LNR Enters Joint Venture

LNR Property Corp., Miami, has entered into a venture with affiliates of Credit Suisse First Boston and Best Property Fund, an entity associated with real estate investment manager Peter Bren, to acquire $2.2 billion of high-yielding real estate-related investments. (Read More)

Fitch Downgrades SASCO MBS Class

Class E of Structured Asset Securities Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, Series 1993-C1 has been placed on RatingAlert with negative implications by Fitch IBCA Inc. The rating agency said the $42.1 million Class E is expected to be downgraded from CC to DD or D pending further analysis. (Read More)

MuniMae Completes Bond Transactions

Municipal Mortgage and Equity LLC, Baltimore, has completed two tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond transactions. (Read More)

Freddie Backs Senior Housing Mortgage

Freddie Mac has provided credit enhancement for a $9 million multifamily mortgage backing more than 100 senior and assisted-living housing units at The Wellington complex in Saint Paul, Minn. The credit enhancement facilitated the refunding of $5.6 million of tax-exempt bonds issued by the City of Saint Paul and enabled the city to issue $3.4 million of taxable bonds at affordable interest rates. (Read More)

Pavilion Fund Closes Thai Deal

The Pavilion Fund, an international real estate investment advisory firm, has closed a 3.77 billion baht (approximately $101 million) portfolio of nonperforming loans purchased from Thailand's Financial Sector Restructuring Authority, the Thai equivalent of the U.S.'s now-defunct Resolution Trust Corp. The portfolio is the fund's first acquisition in the Thai market and was part of the authority's first business loan auction. (Read More)

HGK Hires Fixed-Income Manager

David C. Hauck has joined HGK Asset Management Inc., Jersey City, N.J., as a fixed-income portfolio manager and a member of its Investment Policy Committee. (Read More)

Fannie to Launch Callable Benchmark Notes

Fannie Mae has announced plans to launch a new series of large callable debt securities to be known as Callable Benchmark Notes. (Read More)

Fannie Reopens 10-Year Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has reopened a $2-$3 billion 10-year Benchmark Note originally issued in January. (Read More)

Freddie Adds Put to Callable Bonds

Freddie Mac is offering a death benefit for retail buyers of its callable debt that will allow the bondholder's estate to redeem the bonds at par. (Read More)

PMI Moves GSE Liaison to DC

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., San Francisco, has decided to move vice president James Wagner -- its liaison with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- to Washington, D.C. to be closer to the two government-sponsored enterprises. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 2.1% for the week ended April 2 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

GMAC-RFC Closes $450MM HLTV Deal

GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis, has announced the closing of a $450 million securitization of home equity loans with high loan-to-value ratios. (Read More)

NationsBanc Montgomery Closes MBS Deal

NationsBanc Montgomery Securities LLC has closed a $125 million securitization of residential and small commercial mortgage loans for Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. Inc. Coupons on the five class A securities ranged from 6.252% to 7.183%. (Read More)

Venture Cap Firm to Invest in Pedestal

National venture capital firm Battery Ventures, Wellesley, Mass., has reported that it will invest $5 million in Pedestal Capital Inc., New York, which runs an Internet-based brokering system for the trading of whole loan mortgages in the secondary market. (Read More)

ARCS Opens FHA MF Division

ARCS Commercial Mortgage, Calabasas Hills, Calif., recently opened its FHA Multifamily and Healthcare Division, its sixth specialized lending division. (Read More)

Fidelity Names New Veep

Gregg Guertin has been named vice president of wholesale and retail operations by The Fidelity Group, Atlanta. (Read More)

FHA Losing Market Share

The Federal Housing Administration single-family mortgage program continues to lose market share, and preliminary data show that it may have fallen to as low as 7.9% last year, down from 9% in fiscal year 1997. (Read More)

Fannie/Ginnie Speeds Up Slightly

Prepayment rates on Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities moved slightly higher in the March reporting period, the third straight month of nearly flat speeds, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Rates Fall

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.92% for the week ending April 9, down from 6.98% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Apollo, REMICap Form New REIT

ARCap, a real estate investment trust joint venture designed to buy commercial mortgage-backed securities, has been formed by a group of investors that include Leon Black's Apollo Real Estate Investors and the Dallas-based subordinate CMBS specialist REMICap. (Read More)

Norwest Names New EVP

Thomas Neary has been named executive vice president for capital markets by Norwest Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa. (Read More)

First Union Gets S&P's 1st 'Strong' Rating

Standard & Poor's has issued its first-ever "strong" ranking for a commercial mortgage master servicer to First Union Capital Markets Group's structured products servicing division. (Read More)

HFA Signs Mark-to-Market Contract

The New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority signed a contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday, becoming the first state housing agency to participate in HUD's multifamily restructuring program. (Read More)

Delta Boosts Warehouse Lines to $1B

Delta Funding Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has obtained two new warehouse facilities that increased its total committed warehouse facilities from $750 million to $1 billion. (Read More)

Fitch: MF Loans Pose Highest CMBS Risk

Multifamily properties pose the highest default rate risk for commercial mortgage-backed security conduit deals, according to a new report by Fitch IBCA Inc. Although hotel loans had the highest average cumulative default rate (1.07%) among the 9,760 commercial mortgage loans analyzed in the report, the concentration of multifamily loans in the pool -- 23.7% by loan balance -- is higher, the rating agency said. (Read More)

Starwood To Manage NYC Planet Hollywood

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, White Plains, N.Y., has announced an agreement to manage the new Planet Hollywood Hotel now under construction in Manhattan's Times Square, giving it more rooms under ownership or management in Manhattan than any other hotel owner/operator. (Read More)

Essex Completes $27.5MM Financing

Essex Property Trust Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has closed two long-term secured nonrecourse mortgages totaling $27.5 million. (Read More)

Goodwill Decision Slated for Web

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith's decision in the Glendale goodwill case will be posted on the Georgetown University Law Library website as soon as it is released. (Read More)

CIBC Downgrades GSE Ratings to 'Hold'

CIBC Oppenheimer has downgraded its stock rating on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from a "strong buy" to "hold" chiefly as a result of growing mortgage industry efforts to curb their activities. (Read More)

Jefferson Heritage Starts Mortgage Company

Jefferson Heritage Bank, St. Louis, has started a new mortgage company, Jefferson Heritage Mortgage Co. Initially, the mortgage company will generate loans outside the bank's primary construction and mortgage lending areas, which include El Paso, Texas; Austin, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; Las Vegas; and Oklahoma City. (Read More)

IMX Names New CEO

IMX Exchange, San Ramon, Calif., has named Richard Wilkes, a 28-year veteran of the mortgage industry, as the company's new CEO and president. (Read More)

SEC Urged to Exempt MBS/ABS From Regs

The Bond Market Association is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude all mortgage- and asset-backed securities, regardless of their ratings, from proposed antifraud regulations on so-called microcap equity securities, or penny stocks. (Read More)

Duke Realty Launches New Projects

Duke Realty Investments Inc., Indianapolis, has begun eight new development projects, completed six acquisitions involving 11 office and industrial properties, and bought $23 million of undeveloped land adjacent to the acquisitions. (Read More)

UFI Offers $3-6B Forward Bulk Portfolio

United Financial Inc., Denver, is offering a Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae/Ginnie Mae forward bulk servicing of approximately $3 to $6 billion annually. (Read More)

GMAC-RFC Closes Deal

GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis, has announced the closing of a $1.3 billion home equity loan securitization. (Read More)

Feedback

In our new discussion group, "Should Congress Limit the GSEs' Powers?", website visitor Larry Walker wonders whether the mortgage industry is trying to "have our cake and eat it too" by objecting to the GSEs' expanding roles. (Read More)

Glendale Awarded $909MM in Goodwill Case

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Loren Smith has awarded $909.1 million in damages to Glendale Federal Bank in its goodwill case against the U.S. government. (Read More)

SunTrust to Merge Mortgage Subs

SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, plans to merge the mortgage banking business of its SunTrust and Crestar subsidiaries, creating SunTrust Mortgage Co. Inc. As part of the restructuring, Marc Smith, president and chief executive officer of Crestar Mortgage Corp., will retire from the company. (Read More)

Fannie, RealEC Offer Web Title Insurance

Fannie Mae and RealEC have agreed to provide electronic access to title insurance, flood insurance, and existing credit and appraisal transactions on Fannie Mae's MornetPlus network. (Read More)

Virtuallender Allies With Net.B@nk

Online mortgage banker Virtuallender.com Inc., San Bruno, Calif., has signed a definitive agreement with Net.B@nk that will allow Virtuallender to act as a mortgage banker as well as to broker loans as a correspondent. (Read More)

Title Services Joint Venture Formed

The Bank of Nashville has formed a joint venture with Mooreland Title Co. LLC, Brentwood, Tenn., to provide title services. (Read More)

Ultraprise Taps New COO

David Matthews will join the West Virginia-based Ultraprise as chief operating officer and president on May 1, MortgageWire has learned. (Read More)

Fannie to Detail $10B CRA Goal

Fannie Mae is expected to provide details soon about the company's goal of purchasing $10 billion in Community Reinvestment Act loans. (Read More)

Hanover Renews $200MM LOC

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., New York, has renewed a $200 million mortgage loan repurchase facility with Greenwich Capital Financial Products Inc. The one-year facility provides a $100 million committed line of credit, with the remainder uncommitted. (Read More)

Fleet Funds Gables Projects

Fleet Financial Group, Boston, has provided $56 million in financing to Atlanta-based Gables Residential Trust for the construction of three multifamily properties. (Read More)

Venture Cap Firm Backs Pedestal

Battery Ventures, Wellesley, Mass., has announced that it will invest $5 million in the New York-based Pedestal Capital Inc., whose Bondnetwork.com website provides an online brokering system for trading whole loan mortgages. (Read More)

Rock Touts 1Q Web Loans

Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, Mich., the owner and operator of RockLoans.com, has announced first-quarter Internet closed loan production of $29 million, including $22 million closed in March. (Read More)

HomeSide Names New CEO

HomeSide Lending Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has promoted Hugh R. Harris to chief executive of the company. (Read More)

BNC Mortgage Shares Jump 50%

Most publicly traded subprime firms have been viewed by the market as lepers, but not BNC Mortgage of Irvine, Calif. -- at least not Tuesday. (Read More)

Growth in MI Expected to Slow

A strong refinancing market and solid home price appreciation will limit the amount of new private mortgage insurance underwritten in 1999, according to a study released Tuesday by PMI Mortgage, San Francisco. (Read More)

Title Searches Rise

The AFS Title Search Index rose 4.3% to 179.8 for the week ended April 9 from 172.3 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Fannie Reports Another Record Quarter

Fannie Mae has reported record net income of $924.9 million ($0.88 per share) for the first quarter, compared with $824.2 million ($0.77 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Cites Loss, Cloudy Future

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has reported a net loss of $11.7 million ($0.23 per basic share) for the fourth quarter and net income of $35.4 million ($0.75 per basic share) for 1998. (Read More)

Associates Cites Record 1Q

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Texas, has reported record earnings of $336.8 million ($0.46 per share) in the first quarter, up 20% from a year earlier. (Read More)

MGIC Reports Higher Earnings

MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, has reported earnings of $100.4 million ($0.91 per share) for the first quarter, up from $94.0 million ($0.81 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

1st Tennessee Earnings Up

First Tennessee National Corp., Memphis, has reported earnings of $53.0 million ($0.40 per share) for the first quarter, up 14% from $46.4 million ($0.35 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Carver Picks Civic Leader as CEO

Deborah C. Wright, the founding president and chief executive officer of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp., has been named president and CEO of Carver Bancorp Inc. as of June 1. (Read More)

SL Green Finances NY Office Building

SL Green Realty Corp., New York, has originated a $20 million second mortgage bridge loan to finance 521 Fifth Avenue LLC's acquisition of a 440,000-square-foot office building near Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. (Read More)

Fannie Earnings Spark Fear of Price War

Fannie Mae's first quarter earnings report sparked fears the government-sponsored enterprises have entered into a price war over guarantee fees, but GSE analyst Tom O'Donnell says it is very unlikely. (Read More)

PHAs Not Ready for Y2K

The Department of Housing and Urban Development says its computer systems are Y2K compliant, but many of its multifamily business partners that receive Section 8 subsidies are woefully behind in updating their computer links to HUD, according to agency officials. (Read More)

PMI Exiting GSE Pool Insurance

PMI Mortgage, San Francisco, one of the nation's largest underwriters of GSE pool insurance, says it will no longer offer the product after this year and is focusing instead on captive reinsurance arrangements. (Read More)

Apps Dip, but Refis Rise

Mortgage applications fell 1.8% for the week ended April 9 from the previous week, but refinancings were up, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Court Okays Wilshire Reorganization

The reorganization plan of Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc., Portland, Ore., has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. (Read More)

Allnet, Ameristar Join Forces on Web

AllnetServices.com Corp., coral Springs, Fla., and Atlanta-based Ameristar Mortgage Corp. have announced a joint venture agreement to sell mortgages and other financial products and services over the Internet. (Read More)

New Mortgage Site Unveiled

American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has announced that borrowers can now apply for conventional and non-conventional mortgages online at UplandMortgage.com, obtaining the benefits of lower costs and faster processing of their applications. (Read More)

Pru Mortgage Cap Funds REIT

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., a Chicago-based subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, has originated a 10-year, $100 million loan for FelCor Lodging Trust secured by a cross-collateralized real estate portfolio of seven Embassy Suites hotels. (Read More)

Legg Mason Opens Chicago Office

Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc., Baltimore, has opened a new fixed-income institutional sales and trading office in downtown Chicago. (Read More)

Prestwick Offers Fannie Portfolio

Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is offering a $24 million Fannie Mae A/A servicing portfolio. (Read More)

LION Adds New Century

The Seattle-based Lenders Interactive Online Network has added New Century Mortgage Corp., Irvine, Calif., to the list of mortgage lenders doing business on LION's Internet portal. (Read More)

Fannie Wants FAS 133 Delayed

Fannie Mae wants the Financial Accounting Standards Board to delay implementation of its new derivative and hedging rule (FAS 133) for one year. (Read More)

IndyMac Shifts HIL Focus to Web

IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has announced a change in the focus of its home improvement lending operation from broker- and dealer-originated loans to originating loans on the Internet. (Read More)

Amresco Restructures MIC Pact

Amresco Inc., Dallas, has announced the restructuring of the earnout agreement reached in connection with its 1998 acquisition of Mortgage Investors Corp. Under the original agreement, the former owners of MIC would receive up to $105 million -- 82% in Amresco common stock and 18% in cash -- over three years. (Read More)

Rates Fall Further

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.87% for the week ending April 16, down from 6.92% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Freddie Reports Record EPS

Freddie Mac has reported net income of $513 million for the first quarter, up from $393 million a year ago and $468 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. (Read More)

Golden West's Earnings Rise

Golden West Financial Corp., Oakland, Calif., has reported net earnings of $120.4 million ($2.11 per share) for the first quarter, compared with $102.4 million ($1.76 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Dime's 1Q Earnings Off

Dime Bancorp, New York, has reported net income of $54.8 million ($0.49 per share) for the first quarter, down from $57.2 million ($0.49 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Freddie Reopens $3B Reference Note

Freddie Mac has announced a $3 billion reopening of its 5.00% five-year Reference Note due January 2004. (Read More)

CRSI Veep Named FHLB-NY Director

Derek Bryson Park, senior vice president of Cohane Rafferty Securities, has been appointed to a two-year term as a director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. (Read More)

Beacon Offering Cambridge Property

Beacon Capital Partners and its joint venture partner, PW Realty Partners LLC, are offering the 1.45 million-square-foot Cambridge Technology Portfolio in Cambridge, Mass. for $285.7 million. (Read More)

CIBC Completes $930MM Deal

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce subsidiary CIBC World Markets has completed a $930 million commercial real estate mortgage securitization of collateral from CIBC, National Realty Finance L.C. and Key Bank. (Read More)

Asians Eyeing REIT Structure

A number of Asian countries are examining corporate structures such as real estate investment trusts as a means of reinvigorating their property markets, Moody's Investors Services' Hong Kong office has reported. (Read More)

UCFC Expects Big Writedown; Names New CFO

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has announced that it expects a substantial writedown of its assets for 1998, and has appointed Michael W. Trickey as chief financial officer. (Read More)

Housing Starts Stay Flat

Single-family housing starts remained virtually unchanged in March after hitting a 20-year high in February, according to preliminary statistics released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

Feds Might Support FAS 133 Delay

Federal regulators say they would support an effort by banks to get the Financial Accounting Standards Board to delay implementation of its new derivative and hedging rule (FAS 133) if the banks can make a good case. (Read More)

Sunbelt Buys Cambridge Mortgage

Sunbelt National Mortgage, Dallas, has acquired the Seattle-based Cambridge Mortgage Co. The terms were not disclosed. (Read More)

Duff to Accredit RMBS Servicers

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has created a program to accredit servicers in specified product areas of the residential mortgage-backed securities markets. (Read More)

Duff Rates Novel REIT-Backed Deals

In related news, Duff & Phelps has rated two first-of-a-kind securitizations collateralized by unsecured debt and preferred stock from multiple real estate investment trusts. (Read More)

Matrix Forms VA Loan Venture

Matrix Financial Services Corp., Denver, has teamed up with a Denver-based mortgage banker to offer VA loans under the name "Veteran Home Loans," which is the name the other company had operated under. (Read More)

Moody's: Rent Spikes Won't Distort CMBS Ratings

Steep rental rate increases won't distort Moody's Investors Service's ratings for securities backed by commercial office space because the ratings already take such rent spikes into account, according to Moody's. (Read More)

CenterPoint Launches 3 New Projects

CenterPoint Properties Trust, Oak Brook, Ill., here has begun three new build-to-suit developments of industrial and warehouse facilities and completed five industrial/warehouse property acquisitions. (Read More)

Housing Index Flat

The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index remained flat in April after falling for three consecutive months. (Read More)

Feedback

How's this for a turnaround? (Read More)

GSEs Move Toward Open Access

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced separate initiatives that will give lenders access to a variety of automated underwriting systems. (Read More)

Anti-GSE Coalition Hires Exec

Organizers of a coalition to contain the expansion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have hired Mike House of the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson to run the coalition, sources have told MortgageWire. (Read More)

CalFed Gets Paltry Goodwill Damages

A U.S. Federal Claims Court judge has awarded California Federal Bank only $23.3 million in goodwill damages and the thrift's attorneys plan to appeal. (Read More)

UCFC Seeks OK for Aegis Deal

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has filed a motion in bankruptcy court to approve certain bidding procedures related to the sale of part of its retail lending platform to Aegis Mortgage Corp. UCFC also announced that C. Geron Hargon has resigned from his post as chief operating officer to "facilitate the transition to Aegis." (Read More)

Ocwen Proposes Merger With REIT

Ocwen Financial Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., has announced a proposed merger with Ocwen Asset Investment Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust. (Read More)

Moody's Eyes Ocwen Ratings

In response to Ocwen Financial's proposal, Moody's Investors Service placed the debt ratings of Ocwen Financial and Ocwen Federal Bank FSB on review for possible downgrade. (Read More)

WaMu Unveils New No-MI Product

Washington Mutual, Seattle, has unveiled a new mortgage product for borrowers who buy a home with a downpayment of 10.1% or more using an adjustable-rate mortgage. (Read More)

Crusader Unveils Online Mortgage Service

Crusader Holding Corp., Philadelphia, has introduced a new online mortgage origination service. (Read More)

HomeShark Becomes iOwn

HomeShark, a San Francisco-based online broker, has decided to change its name to iOwn Inc. The name change was made because company officials think the iOwn name better represents its commitment to improving the mortgage process. (Read More)

Freddie Raises Growth Forecast

Freddie Mac has raised its economic growth projection for the United States to 3% for 1999. (Read More)

Fannie Issues 1st Callable Benchmark Notes

Fannie Mae has announced its first Callable Benchmark Notes, a $2.0 billion, five-year issue due April 23, 2004. (Read More)

MERS Registers Rated MBS Deal

The electronic registry to track ownership of mortgage loans and servicing rights has for the first time been used for nonconforming loans included in a pass-through security rated by Standard & Poor's, Duff & Phelps, and Fitch IBCA. (Read More)

HUD Sets Mortgage Reform Terms

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will insist that mortgage reform negotiations currently under way address the problem of predatory lending, according to HUD Deputy Secretary Saul Ramirez. (Read More)

MBA Ups Origination Forecast

The chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America has upped his projections for mortgage originations in 1999 to $1.3 trillion. (Read More)

Stewart Buys Cleveland Title Firm

Stewart Information Services Corp., Houston, has announced the acquisition of the Cleveland-based National Land Title Insurance Co. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Read More)

Freddie Adds A-Minus Loans to Service

Lenders can now sell A-minus loans to Freddie Mac via the company's Gold Cash Xtra service, the government-sponsored enterprise has announced. (Read More)

Associates to Offer HELs via AOL

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Texas, has announced an 18-month agreement to offer home equity loans via America Online. (Read More)

California Brokers Seek Web Gateway

More than 100 California mortgage brokers have banded together under the umbrella of Electronic Mortgage Affiliates Inc. (Read More)

Title Searches Up

The AFS Title Search Index rose 7.7% to 193.6 for the week ended April 16 from 179.8 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Tech IPOs in the Works

Mortgage.com plans to announce its intention to issue an initial public offering within weeks, if not days, MortgageWire has learned. (Read More)

Alltel Touts Origination Initiative

Alltel's recent initiative to offer its origination system on a servicing bureau basis has been tested and proven, says Nick Woodcock, Alltel's executive vice president of sales and marketing. (Read More)

Sonnenblick Arranges Pru CRE Sale

Sonnenblick-Goldman Co., New York, has arranged the sale of a commercial real estate portfolio for Prudential Real Estate Investors. (Read More)

Delta Reports Lower 1Q Earnings

Delta Financial Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has reported earnings of $5.7 million ($0.37 per share) for the first quarter, down from $8.3 million ($0.54 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Charter One Earnings Rise

Charter One Financial, Cleveland, the holding company for Charter One Bank FSB, has reported net income of $88.1 million ($0.52 per share) for the first quarter, up from $74.1 million ($0.43 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Farmer Mac Earnings Rise

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., Washington, D.C., has reported net income of $1.6 million for the first quarter, up 50% from $1.1 million a year ago on a fully taxable equivalent basis. (Read More)

Fannie Announces Dividends

Fannie Mae has announced a common stock dividend of $0.27 per share for the first quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter. (Read More)

New York FHLB Joins MPF

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York has received approval to participate in the Mortgage Partnership Program and has funded its first two loans. (Read More)

Minority Homeownership Rate Hits Record

The overall homeownership rate rose to 66.7% in the first quarter of 1999, sparked by record increases in the number of minority homeowners, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday. (Read More)

SSB, Citibank Mortgage Expand Pilot

Salomon Smith Barney's Private Client Division is expanding a pilot program under which its clients are referred to sister company Citibank Mortgage to obtain or refinance a mortgage or obtain a home equity line of credit. (Read More)

Applications Rise

Mortgage applications rose 8.9% for the week ended April 16 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Moody's Eyes 12 CMBS Classes

The ratings of 12 tranches of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp.'s Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 1997-C1 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

HomeSteps Offers BPOs Via Web

HomeSteps Asset Services, a subsidiary of Freddie Mac, has announced that lenders and mortgage servicers can now order broker price opinions on foreclosed properties and many delinquent loans through its website. (Read More)

Norwest Reports Record Earnings

Norwest Mortgage Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, has reported record earnings of $69 million for the first quarter, up 33% from the $52 million recorded a year ago. (Read More)

Amresco Reports 1Q Profit

Amresco Inc., Dallas, has reported net income of $10.2 million ($0.21 per share) for the first quarter, down from $14 million ($0.35 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

PMI Reports Record Volume

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., San Francisco, wrote a record $7.3 billion of new insurance in the first quarter, up 52% from $4.8 billion a year ago, according to the company's parent, The PMI Group Inc. Insurance in force grew 5% to $81.4 billion and primary risk in force increased 8% to $19.5 billion. (Read More)

Liberty Sells Industrial Properties

Liberty Property Trust, Malvern, Pa., has completed the sale of an 11-property portfolio of industrial buildings in Delaware for $43 million. (Read More)

More Interim Funds Obtained in MCA Case

Corporate turnaround firm BBK Ltd., Southfield, Mich., has negotiated additional interim financing of $2.25 million to continue the limited operations of MCA Financial Corp. through May. B. N. Bahadur, BBK's chief executive officer, advised that customers holding MCA mortgages or land contracts or making rent payments to MCA operating company RIMCO Financial Corp. should continue to make payments as they have in the past. (Read More)

Fixed Rates Creep Up

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.88% for the week ending April 23, up slightly from 6.87% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Farm Bureau Gets Thrift Charter

The Office of Thrift Supervision has granted a thrift charter to Farm Bureau Bancorp, Sparks, Nev. FB Bancorp is a $138 million-asset institution that plans to operate on a nationwide basis from a new service corporation approved by the OTS and located in San Antonio. (Read More)

AIMCO to Buy 8 Complexes

Apartment Investment and Management Co., Denver, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire eight garden-style apartment communities totaling 2,105 units from Cleveland-based First Union Real Estate Investment Trust for $86.5 million. (Read More)

Fannie Foundation Unveils New Website

The Fannie Mae Foundation has redesigned its website to increase its visual appeal and offer more comprehensive information, the foundation has announced. (Read More)

Rock Financial's Earnings Fall

Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, Mich., has reported net income of $2.7 million ($0.18 per share) for the first quarter, compared with $4.1 million a year ago. (Read More)

Interlinq Net Income Down

Interlinq Software Corp., Bellevue, Wash., has reported net income of $416,028 ($0.08 per share) for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, down from $520,312 ($0.10 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Astoria Reports Higher 1Q Earnings

Astoria Financial Corp., Lake Success, N.Y., has reported net income of $53.5 million ($0.97 per share) for the first quarter, up 47.6% from restated net income of $36.2 million ($0.66 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

GreenPoint's Net Income Rises

GreenPoint Financial Corp., New York, has reported net income of $35.0 million ($0.36 per share) for the first quarter, up 49% from restated earnings of $23.5 million ($0.28 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

IndyMac Reports 1Q Profit

IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Pasadena, Calif., has reported net income of $24 million ($0.30 per share) for the first quarter, recovering substantially from its net loss of $74 million ($0.98 per share) in the fourth quarter of 1998. (Read More)

Triad Earnings Rise

Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., has reported net income of $6.6 million ($0.48 per share) in the first quarter, up 22% from $5.4 million ($0.39 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

HUD Axes Warranty Proposal

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is delaying the release of new guidelines that would have allowed homebuilders to sell one-year warranties on newly constructed FHA-insured homes instead of the customary 10-year policy. (Read More)

Gensler Confirmed by Senate

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Gary Gensler to be Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. (Read More)

VA Restricts Refis

It has taken two years, but the Department of Veterans Affair has finally issued a rule to clamp down on abusive refinancing practices. (Read More)

Freddie Launches Callable Note Program

Freddie Mac has launched a callable version of its Reference Notes program with an inaugural transaction involving a 10-year note callable after three years. (Read More)

Clinton Seeks Crackdown on Tele-Fraud

President Clinton is asking Congress to provide law enforcement officials with additional weapons that they can use to prevent telemarketing scams -- including those perpetrated by mortgage lenders. (Read More)

GMAC Securitization Volume Sets Record

GMAC-RFC, Minneapolis, has announced that its volumeof mortgage-backed and asset-backed securitizations reached a record $8.6 billion in the first quarter. (Read More)

Kennedy Funding Touts Atlantic Gulf Loan

Kennedy Funding, Hackensack, N.J., has announced that it was co-lender in a $66 million loan to Atlantic Gulf Communities Corp., a prominent Florida-based real estate developer that secured the loan with properties valued at $163 million. (Read More)

Roslyn Reports Merger-Related Loss

Roslyn Bancorp Inc., Roslyn, N.Y., the holding company for Roslyn Savings Bank, has reported a net loss of $58.7 million ($0.79 per share) for the first quarter, compared with net income of $23.1 million ($0.31 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Household's Net Income Falls

Household International, Prospect Heights, Ill., has reported net income of $320.8 million ($0.65 per share) for the first quarter, down from $357.8 million ($0.71 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

1st Alliance Earnings Decline

First Alliance Corp., Irvine, Calif., has reported net income of $2.0 million ($0.11 per share) in the first quarter, compared with $7.3 million ($0.35 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

RBMG Earnings Rise

Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group Inc., Columbia, S.C., has reported net income of $11.2 million ($0.50 per share) for the first quarter, up from $9.6 million ($0.42 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Feedback

A week ago we reported the dramatic turnaround in the results of our survey question on restricting Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's activities, which shifted from nearly 3-to-1 in favor to more than 50% opposed. (Read More)

Finet Pioneers Web Auction for OK'd Loans

Finet Holdings Corp., Walnut Creek, Calif., has announced that it will launch the Internet's first mortgage auction site that allows consumers to have their application reviewed and approved online before it is put out for bids. (Read More)

Freddie Does 1st Seniors Securitization

Freddie Mac has announced its first securitization of mortgages for seniors housing, a $55 million multifamily deal backed by nine mortgages originated by GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. The borrower is ALS Financing II, a subsidiary of Alterra (formerly Alternative Living Services Inc.). (Read More)

Fannie Ads Now Include Lenders

Lenders who listen carefully to Fannie Mae's radio advertisements will now hear a subtle difference in the message: their contribution to building the ranks of homeowners is no longer being ignored. (Read More)

Fannie Prices Callable Benchmark Issue

Fannie Mae has priced the second in its new series of Callable Benchmark Notes, a $2.5 billion, 10-year issue due April 29, 2009. (Read More)

Greenwich Expands CRE Staff

Greenwich Capital, Greenwich, Conn., has expanded its Commercial Asset Group by recruiting 11 commercial real estate loan specialists from Capital America, a subsidiary of Nomura, which recently scaled back its commercial lending and servicing operations. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Cites Investment Bids

Criimi Mae, Rockville, Md., has announced the receipt of several bid proposals for private equity investments in the company by unnamed major financial institutions. (Read More)

Resales Hit All-Time High

Existing single-family home sales hit an all-time high in March thanks to continued low interest rates and a strong economy, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. (Read More)

Freddie Revising MI Cancellation Policies

Freddie Mac has announced that it will extend to existing loans some of the private mortgage insurance cancellation provisions of last year's Homeowners Protection Act. (Read More)

Gramm Prepares New CRA Amendment

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R, Texas, wants disclosure of Community Reinvestment Act agreements banks enter into with community groups that protest their merger or branching applications. (Read More)

Bad CRA Data Could Affect CAMEL Ratings

Meanwhile, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is threatening to lower the CAMEL safety-and-soundness ratings of depository institutions that consistently provide faulty Community Reinvestment Act loan data during bank exams. (Read More)

Limit GSE Nonmortgage Investments?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development would be justified in placing some limits on the non-mortgage investments of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a HUD-commissioned report by Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, Mass. The consulting firm reported that the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's risk-based capital proposal does not address nonmortgage investments, only mortgage credits. (Read More)

Freddie Modifies Servicer Requirements

The government-sponsored enterprises have issued an updated and revised edition of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Uniform Instruments, and Freddie Mac has updated its single-family Notes and Riders. (Read More)

Freddie Customers Completing Y2K Test

Customers servicing more than 90% of Freddie Mac's outstanding portfolio have successfully completed year 2000 readiness testing, the government-sponsored enterprise has reported. (Read More)

Title Searches Fall

The AFS Title Search Index fell 5.8% to 182.3 for the week ended April 23 from 193.6 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

IndyMac MH Classes Downgraded

The subordinated classes of IndyMac's 1997-1 manufactured housing deal have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service, while the ratings on the seven senior classes of the deal have been confirmed. (Read More)

Net.B@nk Plans expansion

Atlanta-based Net.B@nk plans to add low-cost home equity and auto loans to its line of financial products. (Read More)

GMAC Funds PREIT

GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., has provided $108 million in permanent financing to Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, including eight separate loans backed by eight apartment communities containing 3,275 units. (Read More)

Advanta Reports 1Q Earnings

Advanta Corp., Spring House, Pa., has reported net income of $6.8 million ($0.25 per share for Class A and Class B shares) for the first quarter. (Read More)

ICII's 1Q Earnings Off

Imperial Credit Industries Inc., Torrance, Calif., has reported net income of $6.8 million ($0.18 per share) for the first quarter, down from $12.9 million ($0.32 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Bingham to Buy Detroit Mortgage

Bingham Financial Services, a Birmingham, Mich.-based commercial mortgage and manufactured housing lender, has agreed to acquire Detroit Mortgage and Realty Inc., a residential and commercial mortgage banker. (Read More)

AGF Gets Thrift Charter

American General Finance Inc., Evansville, Ind., has received Office of Thrift Supervision approval to obtain a thrift charter and acquire Standard Pacific Savings FA, Newport Beach, Calif. The consumer finance company has branches in 41 states and is engaged in the credit card business through an industrial bank in Midvale, Utah and subprime lending through its Evansville subsidiary, MorEquity. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 3.8% for the week ended April 23 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

LION Hires COO

Ritchie Campbell has been hired as chief operating officer of LION Inc., Mercer Island, Wash. Mr. Campbell was most recently the chief executive officer of a private Alaskan company with holdings in timber, aviation, and computer software training. (Read More)

Calyx Teams Up With US Flood Research

Calyx Software, Seattle, is giving its customers direct electronic access to U.S. Flood Research's flood zone databases. (Read More)

RE Firm to Develop New Atlanta Mall

Forest City Enterprises, Cleveland, along with its joint venture partner, Cadillac Fairview, plans to develop a 1.1 million-square-foot mall in Atlanta for an undisclosed sum. (Read More)

Ginnie Servicing for Sale

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering the sale of $77 million in Ginnie Mae servicing rights. (Read More)

PNC Gets 'Outstanding' CRA Rating

PNC Bank NA, Pittsburgh, has received an "outstanding" rating for Community Reinvestment Act performance by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. (Read More)

Long Beach Earnings Rise

Long Beach Financial Corp., Orange, Calif., has reported net earnings of $8.9 million ($0.28 per share) for the first quarter, up 20% from $5.4 million ($0.21 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

Bank United Reports Fiscal 2Q Earnings

Bank United Corp., Houston, has reported net income of $25.9 million (before deducting $1.3 million in litigation-related expenses) for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31, up from $21.9 million (excluding certain adjustments) a year ago. (Read More)

New Home Sales Increase

After three consecutive monthly declines, sales of new single-family homes inched upward in March, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday. (Read More)

DeGeorge Announces Layoffs

DeGeorge Financial Corp., Cheshire, Conn., has announced layoffs of a "substantial number" of its sales and operations staff at its Cheshire headquarters. (Read More)

Freddie Buying PPMs on Flow Basis

To help lenders stem portfolio runoff -- as well as to help them attract new borrowers -- Freddie Mac is now buying prepayment protection mortgages on a flow basis. (Read More)

UCFC Signs Aegis Deal

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has signed an agreement to sell its retail lending platform to Aegis Mortgage Corp. UCFC recently filed a motion in bankruptcy court to seek approval of certain bidding procedures related to the deal, which is subject to court approval and to the possible submission of better offers. (Read More)

Rates Rise

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.93% for the week ending April 30, up from 6.88% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

1st Indiana Restructures Out-of-State Lending

First Indiana Corp., Indianapolis, has announced a restructuring of the out-of-state mortgage lending business of First Indiana Bank, a subsidiary. (Read More)

Midland Opens Dallas Office

Midland Commercial Funding, the commercial real estate mortgage landing subsidiary of Midland Loan Services, Kansas City, Mo., has opened a new regional loan production office in Dallas, the eighth regional lending office opened by the company in the past year. (Read More)

New Century Earnings Rise

New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., has reported net earnings of $9.8 million ($0.55 per share) for the first quarter, up from $6.2 million ($0.42 per share) a year earlier, the subprime lender/servicer said. (Read More)

IMN Announces Private Placement

IMN Financial Corp., Melville, N.Y., has announced the private placement of three million shares of its common stock with a group of institutional investors. (Read More)

Chase CEO: GSE Expansion Troubling

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have caused lenders "a great deal of anguish" by expanding into other business activities, according to Thomas Jacob, president and CEO of Chase Mortgage, Cherry Hill, N.J. However, the two government-sponsored enterprises are working closely with lenders and mortgage insurance companies to resolve these differences, Mr. Jacob said Friday at a conference hosted by the Real Estate Services Providers Council Inc. "This is a very troubling situation for all of us to be in right now, and it is a matter of great anguish," Mr. Jacob added. (Read More)

White House Eyeing Abusive Lending

The White House is developing a legislative program to protect consumers from abusive lending practices and to protect their financial privacy. (Read More)

GN Mortgage, Freddie Unveil Joint Program

GN Mortgage, Brown Deer, Wis., has announced a collaborative arrangement with Freddie Mac under which mortgage brokers can access Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector directly via GN Mortgage's website. (Read More)

Long Beach-Linked MSB Classes Downgraded

Eight classes of securities backed by subprime mortgage loans originated by Long Beach Savings Bank from 1991 through 1994 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service, while eight other classes were upgraded. (Read More)

UPMC Buys 7 California Offices

Union Planters Mortgage Co., Memphis, Tenn., has acquired seven Northern California retail mortgage loan offices formerly owned by FirstCity Financial Corp., Waco, Texas. (Read More)

Lender Ranked Best FHA Default Servicer

American City Mortgage, Carson, Calif., has been ranked as the national leader in effective servicing of defaulted mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Read More)

MERS Touts Pace of Registrations

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, the electronic registry for tracking ownership of mortgage loans and servicing rights, is "well ahead of the 1998 recapitalization plan," MERS president R.K. Arnold has told the organization's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The McLean, Va.-based MERS announced a recapitalization at the end of June 1998 as a result of slower-than-expected implementation of the system. (Read More)

Servicing Offers Clue to CMBS Ratings

Special servicing is one of the clues that rating agencies look at when reviewing a commercial mortgage-backed securities transaction, according to a recent report from Fitch IBCA Inc. If loans have been assigned to a special servicer, surveillance analysts, who review the ongoing performance of securities for possible upgrade or downgrade, may decide to take a close look at a deal's stability. (Read More)

ICH Reports 1Q Loss, Layoffs

Impac Commercial Holdings Inc., Santa Ana Heights, Calif., has reported a net loss of $220,000 ($0.03 per share) for the first quarter, compared with earnings of $2.2 million ($0.27 per share) a year ago, and said it has cut its staffing by 67%. (Read More)

IMH Reports Return to Profitability

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Santa Ana Heights, Calif., has reported net income of $6.2 million ($0.20 per share) for the first quarter, down from $11.1 million ($0.48 per share) a year ago. (Read More)

L.J. Melody Finances Apartment Purchase

L.J. Melody & Co., Houston, has provided $50 million in fixed-rate financing to Newhall Land & Farming Co. for the acquisition of three apartment properties in Valencia, Calif. After origination, the loan was sold to Freddie Mac, L.J. Melody said. (Read More)

Cabot Industrial Prices $200MM Offering

Cabot Industrial Trust, Boston, has priced a five-year, $200 million senior unsecured debt offering. (Read More)

Feedback

We continue to be flabbergasted by the results of our survey question on restricting Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's activities. (Read More)

Empire Splits From Conti

Trying to reinvent itself after suffering through a tough fourth quarter, Empire Funding Corp., Austin, Texas, has severed its long-time strategic alliance with subprime lender ContiFinancial, New York, according to company executives. (Read More)

Freddie Speeds Show Novel Twist

Prepayment rates for newer Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities finally began to slow in the latest reporting period, but -- in an unprecedented development -- speeds for some seasoned cohorts of higher premiums rose by as much as 10%, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

MBA Asks for FAS 133 Delay

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America is asking the Financial Accounting Standards Board to delay implementation of its derivative and hedging rule (FAS 133) for one year. (Read More)

ACB Hires Firm to Find New Prez

America's Community Bankers has formed an internal search committee and hired a Washington, D.C.-based recruiting firm to find a replacement for outgoing ACB president Paul A. Schosberg. (Read More)

New MI Hits Near-Record Level

If the origination market is supposed to be down slightly this year from 1998 one would never know it from the figures issued by the Mortgage Insurance Cos. (Read More)

COFI Falls Again

The Eleventh District Federal Home Loan Bank Cost of Funds Index for March is 4.519%, a decline of just over four basis points from February's 4.562%, according to data provided by the FHLB-San Francisco. (Read More)

Freddie Details Callable Note Program

Freddie Mac has provided further details of its Callable Reference Notes program in the wake of the recent $3 billion inaugural issue, which it said was the largest non-government callable debt transaction ever sold. (Read More)

CRA Q&A

Federal regulators have issued proposed Community Reinvestment Act guidance on what loans qualify as affordable housing loans, including multifamily. (Read More)

FFCA Sells $372MM Franchise Deal

Franchise Finance Corp. of America, Scottsdale, Ariz., has priced and sold $372 million of secured franchise loan asset-backed securities to more than 30 qualified institutional buyers. (Read More)

Hilton Buys Boston Hotel

Hilton Hotels Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif., has completed the acquisition of the Hilton Back Bay, a 385-room hotel in Boston, from DHM Associates for $70 million. (Read More)

Summit Places Preferred Units

Summit Properties Partnership LP, has completed an $85 million private placement of 3.4 million 8.95% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Units to two institutional investors. (Read More)

Cabot Sub Sells Preferred Units

Cabot Industrial Trust, Boston, has announced that its operating partnership, Cabot Industrial Properties LP, has completed a private sale of $65 million of 8.625% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Units at $50 per unit. (Read More)

CBO Seeks Fee on GSE Arbitrage

The Congressional Budget Office has come up with a new user fee that would tax Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Banks for their arbitrage activities. (Read More)

GSE Critic Warns RESPRO

The appraisal, title, and survey businesses could be Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's next targets, an outspoken critic of the two government-sponsored enterprises warned recently. (Read More)

Mortgage Stocks Down

Leading mortgage lenders' stock prices were down Tuesday morning one day after failing to follow the lead of the Dow Jones industrial average, which soared 225.65 points Monday to close above the 11,000 mark for the first time in history. (Read More)

Title Searches Up

The AFS Title Search Index rose 2.2% to 186.3 for the week ended April 30 from 182.3 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Transnational Partners With Contour

Transnational Financial Corp., San Francisco, has announced that the loan approval process will be speeded up by 80% as a result of its new "Preferred Partner" status with Contour Software. (Read More)

MBHC Teams Up With Boomers.com

Mortgage Bankers Holding Corp., Pittsburgh, has entered into an agreement for a joint venture with Boomers.com Inc. Boomers is a privately owned Internet-based provider of products and services to the baby boom generation. (Read More)

CMBS Deals Becoming Less Diversified

Shrinking deal sizes are producing less diversified commercial mortgage-backed securities pools and may adversely affect credit quality, according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

Vinings Buys 13 Mississippi Complexes

Vinings Investment Properties Trust, Atlanta, has completed the acquisition of 13 multifamily communities containing 2,032 units in various markets throughout Mississippi for a total price of $94.3 million. (Read More)

Goldman Sachs Prices IPO

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has priced its initial public offering of 69 million shares of common stock at $53 per share and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (Read More)

Source One Redeems Shares

Source One Mortgage Services Corp., Farmington Hills, Mich., has called all outstanding shares of its 8.42% cumulative preferred stock, series A for redemption June 3. (Read More)

Fannie Issues 5-Year Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has announced the issuance of an approximately $4.0 billion five-year Benchmark Note. (Read More)

Moody's Rates Novel UK CMBS Deal

An unusual 230 million British pound (about $370 million) commercial mortgage securitization of Madame Tussaud's wax figure exhibitions and related leisure attractions has received prospective ratings from Moody's Investors Service's London office. (Read More)

3 Mortgage Analysts Promoted

Moody's Investors Service's London office has promoted three members of the European structured finance team that cover mortgage-backed securities and other types of rated deals in France, Switzerland, and Belgium. (Read More)

CMBA Cites Low CRE Delinquencies

According to a quarterly delinquency survey, 99.6% of the commercial real estate loans serviced by 24 California mortgage banking firms were either current or only one payment delinquent as of March 31, the California Mortgage Bankers Association has reported. (Read More)

Hawke Raps Subprime Lenders

Comptroller of the Currency John D. Hawke has lashed out at subprime lenders that fail to report favorable loan data to credit bureaus so that borrowers can receive lower-cost loans in the future. (Read More)

Clinton Backs More HOEPA Protection

The White House has beefed up its consumer protection and privacy plan to include proposals that would vastly expand the reach of the Home Owners and Equity Protection Act and to curb abusive practices, such as loan flipping, by subprime lenders. (Read More)

HUD IG Issues Equity Skimming Alert

The Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general has warning owners of HUD-insured multifamily housing that the Office of Inspector General is actively investigating allegations of equity skimming. (Read More)

Freddie Address Flooded NMN Survey

A Freddie Mac computer address has been used to flood the National Mortgage News website with responses to a survey on limiting the activities of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, MortgageWire has discovered. (Read More)

Applications Rise

Mortgage applications rose 3.6% for the week ended April 30 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

ABSNet Offering Home Equity Data

In-depth home equity performance data are now available on ABSNet, according to Lewtan Technologies Inc., Waltham, Mass. ABSNet consolidates up to 100 performance statistics as well as software tools, ratings information, news, and commentary on one site. (Read More)

UCFC Cautions About Web Postings

United Companies Financial Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has cautioned its stockholders against relying on communications regarding UCFC that are posted on Internet message boards. (Read More)

Mack-Cali to Buy AT&T Property

Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Cranford, N.J., has reached an agreement to acquire a 184,000-square-foot class A office property in San Francisco from AT&T Corp. for $34 million. (Read More)

1stCity Reports Net Loss

FirstCity Financial Corp., Houston, has reported a net loss of $1.5 million for the first quarter, in part as a result of a "minimal profit contribution from mortgage operations." (Read More)

Raines Takes Swipe at Freddie

In his first public comments about Freddie Mac's historic loan partnership with Norwest Mortgage, Fannie Mae chairman Franklin D. Raines said Thursday that any attempt by his competitor to steal market share away from Fannie Mae is destined to fail. (Read More)

Economist Warns Lenders Against Expansion

Warning that the current economic boom is "not based on sustainable growth," a highly regarded economic prophet told real estate lenders and developers to keep themselves in check. (Read More)

Fed: Home Sales, Construction Brisk

The U.S. economy shows no signs of slowing down as home sales and new residential construction remained brisk in most parts of the country during the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Board's Beige Book. (Read More)

30-Year Rate Breaks 7%

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.02% for the week ending May 7, up from 6.93% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

BofA Wins CRE Bankruptcy Case

An attempt to "cram down" a commercial real estate mortgage held by Bank of America through a controversial bankruptcy reorganization has been thwarted by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Read More)

Fannie Names 3 Veeps

Fannie Mae has announced the appointment of three new vice presidents. (Read More)

Clayton Expands Default Services

The Clayton Group, Shelton, Conn., has expanded its default management services to include commercial mortgage loans as well as residential loans. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Forms Revamp Committee

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has announced the formation of a Special Reorganization Committee of its board of directors to evaluate several equity investment proposals in connection with its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (Read More)

Minnesota Power Buys Florida Properties

Through one of its real estate subsidiaries, Minnesota Power Inc. has acquired a portfolio of residential, commercial, and recreational properties in Cape Coral, Fla. from an affiliate of Avatar Holdings Inc. for $45 million. (Read More)

S&P Eyes CS First Boston CMBS

Standard & Poor's has placed its ratings on classes F, G, and H of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, Series 1997-C1, on CreditWatch with negative implications. (Read More)

DLJ CMBS on CreditWatch

S&P has also put its ratings on classes B-3 and B-4 of DLJ Mortgage Acceptance Corp.'s commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, Series 1997-CF1 on CreditWatch with negative implications. (Read More)

CMAC Earnings, Volume Rise

CMAC Investment Corp., Philadelphia, has reported net income of $22.9 million ($0.94 per share) for the first quarter, up from $21.1 million ($0.86 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Ford Credit Int'l Buys Thai Firm

Ford Credit subsidiary Ford Credit International has reported the acquisition of Sahasin Finance Co. Ltd. of Bangkok in a move that will allow the company to provide mortgage finance in additional to its automotive dealership services. (Read More)

Mortgage Jobs Keep Rising

Mortgage industry employment has now increased 20 consecutive months after hitting yet another all-time high in April, according to preliminary data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Read More)

Senate Passes Bill That Weakens CRA

The Senate passed a financial services modernization bill Thursday night that would weaken the Community Reinvestment Act and the unitary thrift charter. (Read More)

Fannie/Ginnie Speeds Slowing

Prepayment rates on the most refinancing-sensitive Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities fell by an average of 20% in the April reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Greenspan Sparks MBS Dip

Mortgage-backed security prices initially dipped nearly half a point Thursday after a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that some market participants interpreted to mean that an interest rate rise has become more likely, Bridge/Telerate reported. (Read More)

OAIC Hires PaineWebber, Reports Loss

The Special Committee of Independent Directors of Ocwen Asset Investment Corp., West Palm Beach, Fla., has engaged PaineWebber Inc. as its financial advisor in connection with a proposed merger with Ocwen Financial Corp. In addition to the merger proposal, the special committee will consider other strategic options such as recapitalization, restructuring, and the sale of the company. (Read More)

Fortress to Manage ICH After Stock Buy

Fortress Investment Corp., New York, has purchased approximately $12 million of convertible preferred stock in Impac Commercial Holdings Inc., Santa Ana Heights, Calif., and will assume the day-to-day management of ICH, the companies have announced. (Read More)

REIT, Pension Fund Join Forces

Charles E. Smith Residential Realty Inc., Arlington, Va., has formed joint ventures with the J.P. Morgan Strategic Property Fund to invest $53 million in three multifamily properties in Virginia with an asset value of $171 million. (Read More)

HPT Sells 10MM Shares

Hospitality Properties Trust, Newton, Mass., has announced the sale of 10 million common shares in an underwritten public offering at a gross offering price of $26 13/16 per share. (Read More)

MBHC Acting Chairman Resigns

Mortgage Bankers Holding Corp., Pittsburgh, has announced that acting chairman James F. Carr has resigned, effective immediately. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering Freddie Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is offering a Freddie Mac servicing portfolio of approximately $47 million to the market. (Read More)

Aussie Firm to Buy NZ Thrift

The Sydney, Australia-based New Discoveries Publishing Corp. has reported that it has reached an agreement to purchase 50% of New Zealand's International Building and Investment Society. (Read More)

Feedback

This week we want to note the emergence of our "1999 Mortgage Trends" discussion group as an information-swapping page, and to announce a forthcoming feature specifically designed to encourage such interaction among visitors. (Read More)

HSBC to Buy Republic

HSBC Holdings PLC, a London-based international banking company, has agreed to acquire Republic New York Corp. and its sister company Safra Republic Holdings SA for $10.3 billion, creating a top-25 servicing operation. (Read More)

Trade Groups Protest GSE Tax Proposal

A coalition of mortgage-related trade groups, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are protesting a Congressional Budget Office proposal to eliminate the government-sponsored enterprises' exemption from paying securities registration fees. (Read More)

Associates, NACA Pioneer HEL Program

Associates First Capital Corp., Irving, Texas, and the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America have announced an innovative new program that will give borrowers a chance to earn an automatic interest rate reduction on their home equity loan. (Read More)

Atlanta FHLB Hires New Prez

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta has hired Raymond R. Christman, a Pittsburgh businessman, as its new president. (Read More)

Motion Filed to Disburse MCA Monies

A motion has been filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to allow the conservator of MCA Financial Corp. to disburse $6.5 million to certain MCA creditors, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. (Read More)

RE Brokerage Plans Expansion

Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co., Palo Alto, Calif., plans to expand its United States-based operations significantly over the next three years and expand its number of offices from 32 to more than 50 nationwide. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering $381MM Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is offering a $381 million Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae mid-Atlantic portfolio to the market. (Read More)

Approved Reports 1Q Loss

Approved Financial Corp., Virginia Beach, Va., has reported a net loss of $1.2 million ($0.23 per share) for the first quarter, compared with net income of $1.4 million ($0.26 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

CMBS Index Falls

The commercial mortgage-backed securities index maintained by NationsBanc Montgomery Securities LLC fell 0.79% to 118.2 for the week ended May 7, but recorded 42 basis points of excess return over comparable Treasury securities, the company has reported. (Read More)

IMN Renamed AppOnline.com

IMN Financial Corp., Melville, N.Y., has refocused its business strategy onto the Internet and changed its corporate name to AppOnline.com Inc. The new name is based on the mortgage origination website of the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Island Mortgage Network Inc. The site became operational at the end of December and yielded $90 million of originations in the first quarter, the company reported. (Read More)

Title Searches Dip

The AFS Title Search Index fell 0.7% to 184.9 for the week ended May 7 from 186.3 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

REIT CEO Resigns

United Investors Realty Trust, Houston, has announced the resignations of Lewis H. Sandler as president, chief executive officer, and trust manager and Ira T. Wendler as trust manager. (Read More)

Fannie Prices Callable Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has priced a $1.5 billion 10-year Callable Benchmark Note due May 14, 2009. (Read More)

Collateral Opens Columbus Office

Collateral Mortgage Ltd., Birmingham, Ala., one of the nation's top 50 commercial mortgage lenders, recently opened a new Midwest regional office in Columbus, Ohio. (Read More)

MuniMae Structures Revenue Bond

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has announced the structuring of a $7.3 million tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond. (Read More)

Reverse Lender Obtains Funding

America's Senior Financial Services Inc., Miami Lakes, Fla., has announced the sale of a $2.5 million, 3% convertible subordinated debenture to an institutional investor. (Read More)

Rubin Resigns; Stocks Dip

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced his resignation Wednesday morning, sending stock prices tumbling on Wall Street in early trading. (Read More)

GAO Raps HUD Appraisal Oversight

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is not holding appraisers -- or the Federal Housing Administration lenders that select them -- accountable for the quality of their appraisals, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report obtained by MortgageWire. (Read More)

MI Cancellation Law May Be Amended

As part of a regulatory relief bill, a House Banking panel may tinker with a private mortgage insurance cancellation law passed last year to make implementation a little easier. (Read More)

Senate Unveiling Tax Credit Bill

Senators Connie Mack, R, Fla., and Bob Graham, D, Fla., are introducing legislation that would expand the low-income housing tax credit. (Read More)

Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 2.6% for the week ended May 7 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Pru Lends $44MM for Luxury Complex

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., a subsidiary of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, has originated a $44 million loan to ITCR Maitland Center LP secured by a 551-unit luxury apartment complex to be built in Maitland, Fla. The apartment complex will include 360 garden apartments and 191 townhomes with direct access to parking. (Read More)

ABFS Reports Higher Earnings

American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has reported net income of $3.5 million ($0.96 per share) for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, up from $3.3 million ($0.90 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

MDC Boosts Shelf to $300MM

MDC Holdings Inc., Denver, has announced an increase in its shelf registration to $300 million, permitting it to sell up to that amount of debt securities, common stock, or preferred stock. (Read More)

FASB Mulls Derivative Rule Delay

The Financial Standards Accounting Board will consider requests by mortgage and banking interests to delay its new hedging and derivative accounting rule at a board meeting next week. (Read More)

B&C Lenders Need Multiple Outlets

For a subprime mortgage originator to survive in today's lending environment it must have multiple outlets for its loans, according to a speaker at Faulkner & Gray's B&C Lending Conference in La Jolla, Calif. Carolyn Eskridge, managing director of warehouse lending at First Union National Bank, Charlotte, N.C., told conferees Thursday that the more sources a lender has to buy its loans the better off it will be in the subprime markets. (Read More)

Homeownership Bill Introduced

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach, R, Iowa, and Rep. Rick Lazio, R, N.Y. have co-sponsored an omnibus housing bill (H.R. 1776) to expand homeownership opportunities. (Read More)

Rate Climb Continues

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.10% for the week ending May 14, up from 7.02% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

LoanWorks Offers Point-of-Sale AU

LoanWorks.com, a division of Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., has announced that it now provides point-of-sale automated underwriting and risk-based pricing technology. (Read More)

Fidelity National Buys Florida Company

Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. of New York has acquired Land Title & Survey, Kissimmee, Fla. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Read More)

Better Cap Treatment of Private MBS Sought

Six mortgage and banking trading groups are petitioning the Federal Reserve Board for better capital treatment of private-label mortgage-backed securities. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Ch. 11 Periods Extended

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court overseeing the Chapter 11 reorganization of Criimi Mae Inc. has granted extensions of the periods in which the company and two affiliates have the exclusive right to file plans of reorganization and to solicit acceptance of the plans. (Read More)

Freddie Prices $3B Reference Note

Freddie Mac has priced a $3 billion, three-year Reference Note with a 5.50% coupon. (Read More)

MBHC Names Board Chairman, Directors

Royce N. Flippin Jr. has been nominated to be chairman of the board of directors of Mortgage Bankers Holding Corp., Pittsburgh. (Read More)

Regus Signs Pact With Office REIT

Regus Business Centres, New York, has signed a non-exclusive national agreement with Chicago-based Equity Office Properties to establish Regus's presence in numerous office buildings owned by Equity Office Properties. (Read More)

Cendant, Philly NAACP Form Alliance

Cendant Mortgage has joined forces with the Philadelphia NAACP and its affiliate, Next Generation Community Development Corp., to form an affordable housing program for first-time homebuyers. (Read More)

MHC Announces Stock Repo Program

Manufactured Home Communities Inc., Chicago, has announced board approval of a stock repurchase program under which it may buy up to one million shares of its currently outstanding stock via the open market or private negotiation. (Read More)

CPI Triggers MBS Plunge

Mortgage-backed security prices were plunging and headed toward a full-point drop at noon Friday following the release of stronger-than-expected Consumer Price Index data. (Read More)

Aames Appoints Interim CEO

Mani A. Sadeghi has been appointed interim chief executive officer of Aames Financial Corp. and CEO Cary H. Thompson has been named vice chairman of the Los Angeles-based home equity lender. (Read More)

Relationships Key to Turnaround, Speaker Says

In making its turnaround from a money-losing "A" paper lender to a successful subprime lender, the then-new management team at Westmark Group Holdings Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., had a strong focus on creating relationships with investors. (Read More)

Refis Bolstered Consumer Spending

An economist for First National Bank of Chicago estimates that mortgage refinancing put $60 billion in the pockets of consumers over the last year. (Read More)

Reckson to Buy Manhattan Property

Reckson Associates Realty Corp., Melville, N.Y., has reached an agreement to acquire the first mortgage note secured by a 1.4 million-square-foot, 42-story class A office building in Manhattan for $277.5 million. (Read More)

Criimi Mae Reports 1Q Results

Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., has reported net income available to common shareholders of $13.4 million ($0.23 per share) for the first quarter, compared with $12.3 million ($0.28 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

CMBS Index Rises

The commercial mortgage-backed securities index maintained by NationsBanc Montgomery Securities LLC rose 0.51% to 119.1 for the week ended May 14, but lagged the performance of comparable Treasury securities by 14 basis points, the company has reported. (Read More)

Feedback

The Grapevine is here! (Read More)

BAM Deal 2nd Coup for Freddie

BankAmerica Mortgage, Charlotte, N.C., the nation's fourth largest originator of residential product, has struck an agreement with Freddie Mac to sell a majority of its conventional loans to the secondary marketing giant. (Read More)

NAMB May Go It Alone on Reform

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers plans to pursue its own legislative agenda if a consensus cannot be reached on overhauling the Real Estate Settlement Procedures and Truth in Lending acts. (Read More)

HUD Unveils Credit Watch

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has rolled out an automated lender monitoring system know as "Credit Watch" that will target problem Federal Housing Administration lenders. (Read More)

Fannie Unveils Benchmark Bonds

Fannie Mae has announced the introduction of a new 30-year noncallable bond as part of its series of Benchmark securities. (Read More)

Freddie Seeks RBC Extension

Freddie Mac has filed a request with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight to extend the comment period on its risk-based capital rule proposal for 120 days until Dec. 9. (Read More)

Calyx Links Users to Freddie's AU

Calyx Software, San Jose, Calif., has announced that users of its Point origination software can now access Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector through the Internet. (Read More)

LoopNet Targets CRE Market

The San Francisco-based LoopNet has launched an Internet-based loan origination service for the commercial real estate market. (Read More)

REIT Closes $239MM Financing

Associated Estates Realty Corp., Cleveland, has closed on $239 million of commercial mortgage loan financing from The Chase Manhattan bank secured by 20 properties, the proceeds of which will be used to pay off the company's floating-rate unsecured line of credit. (Read More)

American Residential Does $229MM Deal

American Residential Eagle Inc., Del Mar, Calif., has completed a $229 million collateralized mortgage-backed deal consisting of a single class of floating-rate notes tied to the one-month London interbank offered rate. (Read More)

MuniMae Completes $11.2MM Transaction

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has acquired two tax-exempt multifamily housing revenue bonds and made two taxable loans. (Read More)

Housing Starts Fall

Single-family housing starts fell by 11% in April to 1.24 million units on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, the lowest level since last September, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

Housing Index Climbs

The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index rose in May, indicating that "the market for new homes remains on very solid ground," the NAHB said. (Read More)

Crown Northrop For Sale

Commercial mortgage servicer Crown Northcorp, Columbus, Ohio, has agreed to sell its assets in Europe for $2.9 million and its Columbus headquarters for $1.6 million in a sale/leaseback transaction. (Read More)

Title Searches Fall

The AFS Title Search Index fell 3.5% to 178.4 for the week ended May 14 from 184.9 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

S&P: Subprime Crisis May Not Be Over

The improving climate in the subprime specialty lending market may represent "the eye of the storm" for many companies, Standard & Poor's has warned. (Read More)

IMX in Beta Test

IMX Exchange's new release is currently being beta-tested with 12 broker shops. (Read More)

Fannie Adds New Credit Provider

Fannie Mae has announced the addition of several credit providers to its MornetPlus network. (Read More)

Aames Reports $36MM Loss

Aames Financial Corp., Los Angeles, has reported a net loss of $36.0 million ($1.16 per share) for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, compared with restated net income of $2.0 million ($0.07 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

Health Care REIT Downgraded

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. has lowered its ratings on Health Care Property Investors Inc., a self-administered equity real estate investment trust based in Newport Beach, Calif. The REIT's $556 million of outstanding senior unsecured notes were downgraded from A-minus to BBB-plus, and its $185 million of outstanding cumulative preferred stock and $100 million of outstanding convertible subordinated debentures were downgraded from BBB-plus to BBB. (Read More)

Bradley Sells 2 Malls

Bradley Real Estate, Northbrook, Ill., has sold two malls for a combined $24 million and purchased the remaining 50% interest in the ownership of the Stockyards Plaza and Taylor Heights Shopping Center for a combined $7.75 million. (Read More)

SNL to Buy AsseTrac

SNL Securities LC, Charlottesville, Va., has agreed to acquire the databases and certain other assets of AsseTrac Information Services from IBC USA Information Services Inc., a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Informa Group PLC. (Read More)

UFI Brokering Alabama Servicing

Servicing rights on a portfolio of $52 million in home loans from Alabama are being sold by United Financial Inc., Denver. (Read More)

Imperial Bank Sells ICII Shares

Imperial Bank, Los Angeles, has announced the sale of about 3.68 million shares of Imperial Credit Industries Inc. to ICII for $8 per share. (Read More)

WaMu Buying Long Beach

Washington Mutual, Seattle, has agreed to pay $350 million for Long Beach Financial Corp., Orange, Calif., the nation's 11th largest subprime residential originator. (Read More)

Refis Drop Below 1000 Level

Mortgage applications fell 10.3% for the week ended May 14, led by a 16.8% drop in refi applications that took the Refinancing Index below the 1000 mark for the first time since the week ended Jan. 2, 1998, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Fed Bias Leans to Raising Rates

The Federal Open Market Committee refrained from moving interest rates at its most recent meeting but has adopted a bias toward raising them, Bridge/Telerate has reported. (Read More)

FAS 133 Delayed

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has tentatively voted 5-2 to delay implementation of its derivative and hedging rule (FAS 133) for one year. (Read More)

Fannie Issues 1st Benchmark Bond

Fannie Mae has issued its first Benchmark Bond. (Read More)

New Jersey Portfolio for Sale

Mortgage Marketing Services, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is brokering the sale of servicing rights on a $190 million portfolio of residential mortgage loans. (Read More)

Transnational Changes Name

Transnational Financial Corp., San Francisco, has changed its name to Transnational Financial Network Inc. The wholesale and retail mortgage banker said the company's board of directors had recommended the name change to reflect Transnational's network of wholesale brokers and its increasing use of electronic commerce technology, including plans to accept mortgage applications over the Internet. (Read More)

Legg Mason Arranges $30MM in Funding

Legg Mason Real Estate Services, Baltimore, has arranged $30 million in first mortgage financing secured by a combination of a first class office building and five office/warehouse buildings in Baltimore County, Md. Lincoln National provided the funding for the borrower, identified as Merrit/Bavar. (Read More)

Banc One Remarkets Seniors Bonds

The Housing and Health Care Finance Group of Banc One Capital Markets Inc. and Banc One Capital Funding Corp. has announced the closing of a $9.5 million variable-rate bond remarketing for a senior citizens' apartment community. (Read More)

LION Reports 1Q Revenues

Lenders Interactive Online Network has reported revenues of $710,278 for the first quarter, compared with $330,121 a year earlier. (Read More)

Altiva Stock Switches Nasdaq Markets

The common stock of Altiva Financial Corp., Atlanta, has begun trading on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market after moving over from the Nasdaq National Market. (Read More)

Ailing Conti Gets Bid From GMAC

ContiFinancial, New York, which is deep in debt and owns the nation's third-largest subprime lender, said it is considering a takeover offer from Residential Funding Corp., Bloomington, Minn., which is ultimately owned by General Motors. (Read More)

30-Year Rate Hits 18-Month High

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.23% for the week ending May 21, the highest since the 7.24% recorded during the week ended Nov. 7, 1997, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

Midland Announces Management Changes

Midland Loan Services, Kansas City, Mo., now a unit of PNC Bank Corp., has announced that founder Alan Atterbury is retiring from active management of the company. (Read More)

SEC Wants Banks to Adjust Loss Reserves

The Securities and Exchange Commission will give banks one chance to adjust their loan loss reserves during the second quarter without having to restate previous earnings. (Read More)

Advanta Prices HELOC Deal

Advanta Mortgage Conduit Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanta Corp., Spring House, Pa., has priced a $247.5 million revolving home equity loan securitization. (Read More)

Moody's Eyes 8 GE HEL Classes

Eight subordinate classes of certificates from GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc.'s home equity securitization series 1996-HE3 and 1997-HE2 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

9 CMBS Classes Off Watchlist

The ratings of the investment-grade tranches of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp.'s Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 1997-C1 have been removed from Moody's Investors Service's watchlist. (Read More)

Fewer 15-Year Loans Forecast

Fifteen-year fixed-rate loans remained as popular in the first quarter as they were in the previous quarter, according to Freddie Mac. (Read More)

Freddie Passes $1B Mark in LIHTCs

Freddie Mac has passed the $1 billion mark in investments in multifamily low-income housing tax credits, the government-sponsored enterprise has announced. (Read More)

Cousins Gets Nod From Health Alliance

Cousins/Richmond, Atlanta, the medical office division of Cousins Properties Inc., has reached an agreement with Premier Inc., a national alliance of hospital and health care organizations, to become Premier's preferred real estate provider. (Read More)

Merrill Backs Out of Freddie Deal

Merrill Lynch, which was hired to manage Freddie Mac's inaugural multibillion-dollar callable Reference Note deal last month, has backed out after realizing the deal conflicted with a competing Fannie Mae callable Benchmark Note deal to which the underwriter had previously committed, sources have told MortgageWire. (Read More)

Fifth Third to Buy Vanguard

Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati, has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Vanguard Financial Co., a privately held commercial mortgage banking company also based in Cincinnati. (Read More)

OCC Raps SEC's Bank Reserves Stance

The Securities and Exchange Commission is acting "inappropriately" by creating incentives for banks to reduce the loan loss reserves, according to Comptroller of the Currency John D. Hawke Jr. "Given the elevated levels of risk that we are seeing in the banking industry, it would be inappropriate for a government agency to take any action that would prompt banks to lower reserves," the comptroller said. (Read More)

S&P Eyeing Conti Ratings

Standard & Poor's has placed the ratings of ContiFinancial Corp. on CreditWatch with developing implications in the wake of the announcement of a possible merger of the subprime lender with Residential Funding Corp. The action means the ratings could be raised, affirmed, or lowered. (Read More)

IRS Easing REMIC Reporting

The Internal Revenue Service is proposing to make tax reporting on real estate mortgage investment trust and collateralized debt obligations a little easier. (Read More)

New ARMs Brochure Available

The Federal Reserve Board has issued a revised Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages. (Read More)

WMF Announces Promotions

The WMF Group Ltd., Vienna, Va., has promoted Elizabeth Whitbred-Snyder from senior vice president of operations to executive vice president and chief financial officer. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokering Freddie Portfolio

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Denver, is brokering a Freddie Mac Gold servicing portfolio of approximately $21 million for a Midwestern lender. (Read More)

Commercial Lender Expanding

Financial Institution Partners Mortgage Co. LP, Irvine, Calif., has launched a nationwide expansion with the opening of an office in Portland, Ore., its first loan origination office outside California. (Read More)

Feedback

We're glad to see visitors are using The Grapevine as exactly the sort of information-seeking, tip-swapping forum we intended it to be. (Read More)

Fannie Strengthens Ties to Realtors

Fannie Mae chairman and chief executive Franklin Raines said over the weekend that he sees his company's ties to Realtors, "getting deeper and deeper." (Read More)

Fannie Mae Criticizes HUD Regulation

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is starting to take a heavy regulatory approach toward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines. (Read More)

Fed Sees Little Change in Loan Demand:

A Federal Reserve Board survey of senior loan officers found a slightly higher loan demand for residential and commercial mortgages, compared to three months ago. (Read More)

Pittsburgh FHLB Joins Partnership

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh on May 20 funded its first loan through the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, an alternative secondary market for FHLB member institutions created by the FHLB of Chicago. (Read More)

PMI and Alltel Automate Cancellation

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. has introduced a new product that allows mortgage servicers to electronically cancel mortgage insurance. (Read More)

Troubled MCA Seeks Financing

The court-appointed conservator for MCA has announced that motions have been filed in US Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan, that involve $520,000 in additional funding for MCA Financial Corporation. (Read More)

Two REITS Form CMBS Unit

Apollo Real Estate Advisors, New York, and Dallas-based REMICap jointly created ARCap, an investment company that will acquire low rated commercial mortgage-backed securities, and completed the acquisition of $144 million of CMBS. (Read More)

Dynex Capital to Sell Unit

Dynex Capital said it has retained Lehman Brothers, New York, as an advisor to assist in the sale of its manufactured housing lending business, operated through subsidiary Dynex Financial Inc. DFI, headquaratered in Glen Allen, Va., is the fourth largest originator and servicer of manufactured housing loans in the U.S. The firm originated about $500 million in loans last year. (Read More)

CMBS Index Falls

A commercial mortgage-backed securities index compiled by Banc of America Securities fell by 1.02% last week to 117.9, lagging the performance of compareable Treasuries for the second consecutive week, by 24 basis points. (Read More)

Parent of Saxon May Divest

The parent of Saxon Mortgage, Glen Allen, Pa., the nation's 13th largest subprime lender, may be forced to divest the fast growing "home equity" lender. (Read More)

More Problems for Finance Industry

Moody's Investors Service anticipates more defaults among US "high-yield finance companies," including mortgage lenders that specialize in high loan-to-value and subprime credit quality lending. (Read More)

Moody's Downgrades United Companies

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of all the subordinated classes and confirmed the ratings of some of the senior classes in the United Companies Financial Corporation's (UCFC) manufactured housing deals. (Read More)

Amresco Regains Special Servicer Rank

Rating agency Standard & Poor's has reinstated Amresco Residential Mortgage Corporation, an Irvine, Calif.-based division of Amresco, as a special servicer for subprime mortgage loans. (Read More)

CA Commercial Lender Goes National

Financial Institutional Partners Mortgage Company has announced a national expansion of its small to medium sized commercial mortgage lending business. (Read More)

Greenspan Says Equity Gains Fuel Spending

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday that U.S. consumers were using capital gains from both the stock market and equity built up in their homes to fuel strong spending. (Read More)

Regulators Split over Reserves

The Federal Reserve Board has split from its fellow banking regulators and it is supporting am approach on loan loss reserves advocated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Read More)

Title and Appraisal Vendors Form Association

Several well-known mortgage industry vendors recently united to form the Title and Appraisal Vendor Management Association, Richmond, Va. Members anticipate that TAVMA will serve as a forum for the exchange of informatoin on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the title insurance and real estate appraisal industries. (Read More)

Existing Home Sales Fall

Existing home sales fell in April to 5.24 million units, a decline of 3.3%, according to the National Association of Realtors (nar.realtor.com on the Internet). (Read More)

Mortgage Applications Tick Upward

Even as interest rates crept up, the number of people applying for mortgage loans increased slightly in the week ending May 21, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

Turtletaub Resigns from Money Store

Marc Turtletaub has resigned as president and chief executive of The Money Store, Sacramento, Calif. William S. Templeton, who has been president of Money Store's mortgage division since 1992, will replace him in those positions. (Read More)

High LTV Defaults Alarm Moody's

High loan-to-value securitizations saw an "alarming" and continual rise in charge-offs during 1998, according to the authors of a new Moody's Investors Service report on the home equity sector. (Read More)

HUD Eyes Long-Term Rent Subsidies

The Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to provide five-year contracts to multifamily owners to stop them from opting out of the section 8 rent subsidy program. (Read More)

WMF Group Involved in Internet Venture

The WMF Group, McLean, Va. (Read More)

PNC Sends Servicing to Midland

PNC Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, has transferred loan servicing on $2.6 billion in commercial mortgage loans to its subsidiary, Midland Loan Services, based in Kansas City. (Read More)

Freddie Enhancements Target "Alt A" Loans

Freddie Mac has announced that it plans to broaden the capabilities of Loan Prospector and enhance several features, including a more comprehensive selection of Alternative-A loan products, easier access to A-minus products, broader FHA and VA product eligibility, reduced documentation requirements, and substantially improved feedback messages. (Read More)

Internet Firms Embroiled in Litigation

Mortgage Internet Technologies, of St. George, Utah, has filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement against Virtuallender.com, Inc., formerly M&A West Financial. (Read More)

United Financial Helps Chicago Bank

United Financial Mortgage Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., will be the exclusive provider of mortgage products and services to the Austin Bank of Chicago. (Read More)

Fitch Has Second Thoughts About GE Deal

Rating agency Fitch IBCA has placed a GE Capital Mortgage Services home equity securitization on "RatingAlert Negative" status. (Read More)

Boston REIT Acquires Development

Boston Properties Inc. acquired the remaining 50% interest in the development rights associated with the development of 111 Huntington Avenue here, a part of the Prudential Center, from the Prudential Insurance Company of America for an undisclosed sum giving the real estate investment trust a 100% ownership stake.Boston Properties paid for the remaining 50% stake in the development with the issuance of common stock to Prudential, which still retains a 50% interest in additional future development parcels at the Prudential Center.The development project commenced this past April 27th and plans call for the construction of a 36-story, 890,000 square foot office tower, 30% of which has already been leased. (Read More)

Construction Helps Norwest Build Volume

Norwest Mortgage, Des Moines, Iowa, capitalized on a booming housing market and low interest rate to generate a record volume of loans through home builders in the first quarter. (Read More)

Rates Remain the Same

Despite a recent upward drift, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage remained 7.23% with one point for the week ending May 28, unchanged from the week before. (Read More)

Freddie Prices Notes

Freddie Mac has priced a its second Callable Reference Note, a $1 billion issue with a five-year maturity. (Read More)

Prudential Does $1 Billion CMBS Deal

A subsidiary of The Prudential Insurance Company of America has completed a $1 billion commercial mortgage securitization with Heller Financial, Inc. Prudential Mortgage Capital Company, LLC originated and contributed $600 million in collateral loans and Heller Financial contributed $400 million. (Read More)

REITs Obtain Financing

Two major real estate investment trusts recently announced that they have obtained credit facilities. (Read More)

Dime Buys KeyBank Branches

Dime Bancorp, parent of The Dime Saving Bank of New York, has agreed to buy 28 Long Island branches of KeyBank, NA, Cleveland, for a premium of $210 million. (Read More)

Moody's Smiles upon EquiCredit Deals

Moody's Investors Service, a rating agency, has concluded that the credit quality of the subprime mortgage loans supporting EquiCredit's mortgage-backed securities transactions is "stronger than average." (Read More)

OTS Approves Thrift Charter

The Office of Thrift Supervision has approved an application by New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co., to operate a full-service thrift. (Read More)

Chicago Title Joins Fannie Network

Chicago Title Credit Services has been added to Fannie Mae's MornetPlus Network, the Kingston, NY-based company said. (Read More)

Prism Financial Offers Stock

Prism Financial Corporation, Chicago, announced an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of its common stock at $14 per share on May 25. (Read More)

Thursday's Market Hurt Stocks, Rates

Both bond and stock prices fell Thursday on fears of inflation and a rate hike that persisted in the market despite the release of revised figures showing that gross domestic product declined in the first quarter, Bridge/Telerate reported. (Read More)

FDIC Reportedly Dismisses Fannie Mae's FHLB Concerns

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials have reviewed Fannie Mae's warnings about a Federal Home Loan Bank mortgage program and it has been summarily dismissed as a complaint by a competitor, according to sources. (Read More)

Capital Proposal Would Force FHLBanks to Divest MBS

The Federal Housing Finance Board is working on a risk-based capital proposal that would force the Federal Home Loan Banks to divest their mortgage-backed securities over a five-year period and replace them with "mission-related" assets. (Read More)

Mortgage Insurance Volume Falls

Private mortgage insurance companies saw a 16% decline in volume of primary new insurance written between March and April, according to data from the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America. (Read More)

House Panel Votes to Restrict Unitary Thrifts

A House Commerce subcommittee has passed a financial services modernization bill (H.R. 10) by a 27-1 vote that severely restricts the future growth of unitary thrift holding companies, a loophole that allowed commercial firms to own unitary thrifts. (Read More)

Department of Veterans Affairs Sued Over Refi Rule

Mortgage Investors Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla., has sued the Department of Veterans Affair to stop implementation of a final rule that is designed to clamp down on refinancing abuses in the VA loan program. (Read More)

Amresco Securitizes Home Builder Loans

Amresco has completed a $111.4 million deal that is the first securitization of residential acquisition, construction and development loans. (Read More)

Electronic Appraisal Firm Finds Investors

E-ppraisal Inc., Westlake Village, Cal., has closed a $570,000 private placement of stock. (Read More)

Internet Lender Buys Two Mortgage Firms

O. (Read More)

Florida Bank Buys Mortgage Lender

Federal Trust Bank, a thrift based in Winter Park, Fla., will purchase all of the assets of Vantage Mortgage Associates Inc., Gainesville, Fla. The lender will now operate under the name Vantage Mortgage Service Center Inc. Its residential loan production will be sold in the secondary market. (Read More)

HomeGold Completes $54 Million Subprime Deal

Subprime lender HomeGold Financial, Inc. has completed a $54 million securitization. (Read More)

Wall Street-Backed Groups Buy Korean Nonperformers

Winning bidders for a $640 million (772 billion Korean won) portfolio of non-performing loans packaged by Korea Asset Management Corp. (Read More)

Credit Union Becomes a Thrift

Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union, Pasadena, Calif., has received Office of Thrift Supervision approval to convert to a Federal thrift charter so that it can expand its business and real estate lending. (Read More)

Fidelity National Sells NY Title Insurance Underwriter

American National Financial Inc., Irvine, Calif., has purchased National Title Insurance of New York, an underwriter, from Fidelity National Financial Inc., also of Irvine. (Read More)

Feedback

Talk about a landslide! (Read More)

COFI Index Down From March

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan Bank District Cost of Funds Index for April is 4.490%, down nearly two basis from March's 4.519%. (Read More)

Freddie's Prepayments Down

Prepayments on all of Freddie Mac's Participation Certificate mortgage pass through securities declined in all coupons and vintages during the agency's mid-April to mid-May reporting period, Bear Stearns reported. (Read More)

AMRESCO's Commercial Subsidiary Expands

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, a commercial real estate lending and servicing subsidiary of Dallas-based Amresco Inc., continued its expansion with the opening of its first office in Washington. (Read More)

Mortgage Websites Fall Short

A new research report by Sutro & Co. Inc. (Read More)

New South Federal Goes to Market

New South Federal Savings Bank, Birmingham, Ala. has closed a novel $433 million home equity securitization of residential mortgages, manufactured housing and Internet-originated loans. (Read More)

Finet Partners with Cox Interactive

Finet Holdings Corp. (Read More)

LendingTree Adds FinanceCenter Calculators

FinanceCenter, Inc. and LendingTree, Inc. announced on Monday that FinanceCenter's personal financial calculators would be available to visitors of LendingTree's website and over 5,000 affiliated websites. (Read More)

Calyx Software and Freddie Link on Net

Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector is available to users of Calyx Software's POINT v3.5 through the Internet as of Monday. (Read More)

Bedford Secures Financing

Bedford Property Investors, Inc. has obtained a total of $108 million of new first mortgage financing from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. (Read More)

Transnational's Executives Buy Stock

In the wake of a recent downgrade by an analyst following the stock of Transnational Financial Network, Inc., certain officers and directors of that firm have purchased an additional 20,000 shares of stock on the open market. (Read More)

Nations First Affordable Housing REIT Launched

The Local Initiatives Support Corp., New York, has launched the Community Development Trust, the first real estate investment trust in the nation to specialize in affordable housing and community development. (Read More)

IndyMac Shrugs Off REIT Status

In an effort to maximize its growth potential, IndyMac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Pasadena, Calif., will convert from a real estate investment trust to a taxable, growth-oriented company, subject to shareholder approval. (Read More)

Applications and Refis Increase

Mortgage applications increased 1.7% for the week ended May 28, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Texas Legislature Approves HEL Changes

The Texas legislature has approved two constitutional amendments to clarify the state's home equity law. (Read More)

Thrift Lending Drops

Thrifts originated $66.12 billion in 1-4 family mortgages in the first quarter, down 19% from a record $81.5 billion fourth quarter, according to the Office of Thrift Supervision. (Read More)

State Agencies More Profitable

State Housing Finance Agencies' financial statements for fiscal 1998 continued to report improvement in profitability measures and leveled-off debt-to-equity ratios, according to a survey of 49 State Housing Finance Agencies by Fitch IBCA (http://www.fitchibca.com). (Read More)

Home Sales Increase Fuels Fear of Rate Rise

News that sales of new homes soared in April renewed fears of inflationary pressure and increased the chances that the Fed will consider increasing short term interest rates. (Read More)

Fannie Forms New Alliances

After losing out to Freddie Mac which has tied up two of the nation's largest lenders, Fannie Mae is striking back, as the company has signed up three lenders who will sell most, if not all, of their conforming loan originations to the GSE. (Read More)

Freddie Closes Seniors Transaction

Freddie Mac (http://www.freddiemac.com) reports it has closed an $88 million seniors transaction, its largest senior housing mortgage purchase to date. (Read More)

Finova Gets Fitch Servicer Rating

Fitch IBCA has assigned Finova Capital Corp.'s Loan Administration division its "CPS3" primary servicer rating reflecting Finova's ability to service commercial mortgage loans and "CMS3" master servicing rating reflecting the company's ability to oversee and monitor primary servicers. (Read More)

Municipal Makes Tax-exempt Offering

Municipal Mortgage & Equity has completed an $84 million tax-exempt preferred equity offering to institutional investors that is the first of its kind. (Read More)

Microsoft Chooses GHR

Microsoft's Home Advisor (http://www.homeadvisor.com) has licensed GHR Systems to ensure that the prices quoted on the site are accurate. (Read More)

United Companies Completes Sale to Aegis

The previously reported sale of a substantial portion of United Companies Financial Corp.'s retail lending platform to Aegis Mortgage Corporation has been completed. (Read More)

New Home Sales Up 9.2%

New home sales rebounded 9.2% in April to a near record seasonally adjusted annual rate of 978,000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

Freddie's Survey Sees Mortgage Rates Soar

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.41%, with an average of 1.0 point, for the week ending June 5, 1999, up considerably from last week's 7.23%. (Read More)

Fannie Issues PMI Guidance

Fannie Mae (http://www.fanniemae.com) issued its private mortgage insurance cancellation guidelines on Wednesday to conform its policies to the PMI cancellation law passed by Congress last year. (Read More)

Senator Seeks GSEs Views On Subprime Market

Senator John Kerry, D. Mass., wants to know if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could clean up the subprime market and cut costs for borrowers. (Read More)

Fannie Forms Alliance with LION

Fannie Mae and Lenders Interactive Online Network today announced the availability of Desktop Originator (DO) via the Internet. (Read More)

SL Green Acquires Manhattan Properties

SL Green Realty Corp. here recently closed on its previously-announced acquisition of the fee interest in four New York City class B office properties totaling 675,000 square feet for $84.5 million from Reckson Associates Realty Corp. The properties include three buildings which occupy an entire blockfront in Midtown Manhattan between 40th and 41st Streets on Madison Avenue and 90 Broad Street in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street and the World Trade Center. (Read More)

Credit Union Becomes a Thrift

Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union, Pasadena, Calif., has received Office of Thrift Supervision approval to convert to a Federal thrift charter so that it can expand its business and real estate lending. (Read More)

Fidelity National Sells NY Title Insurance Underwriter

American National Financial Inc., Irvine, Calif., has purchased National Title Insurance of New York, an underwriter, from Fidelity National Financial Inc., also of Irvine. (Read More)

Harbor Gets Warehouse Line

Harbor Financial Mortgage Corp., a subsidiary of FirstCity Financial Corp., Waco, Texas, has received a $500 million warehouse line from a group of eight lenders. (Read More)

FACO Hires E-Commerce Expert

First Alliance Corporation, Irvine, Calif., has announced the appointment of Nicholas Geber as its director of E-commerce. (Read More)

GE Buys Stock in REIT

GE Capital has purchased $125 million of newly issued Class L Convertible Cumulative Preferred Stock in Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO), a Denver-based REIT that holds approximately 2,100 apartment communities. (Read More)

Associates Sells Off Canadian Branches

Associates First Capital Corp. has closed the sale of 41 of its consumer finance branches to CitiFinancial Canada, Inc., which was formerly known as Commercial Credit Corporation CCC Ltd. The sale involves the 28 branches Associates bought earlier this year from Avco Financial Services, Inc. Terms of the deal with not disclosed. (Read More)

Banco Federal Adds Technology

Venezuela's Banco Federal has installed two of Fair, Isaac & Company, Inc.'s credit application models: Application ScoreWare International and CrediTable. (Read More)

Fannie Prices Benchmark Notes

Fannie Mae has priced its $3 billion 6.375% 10-year Benchmark Note due June 15, 2009 at 99.837. (Read More)

S&P Approves Capstone as Commercial Servicer

Standard and Poor's has added Capstone Realty Advisors to its approved servicer lists for commercial real estate finance. (Read More)

FHA Issues Mortgage Insurance Disclosure Rule

Starting July 2, Federal Housing Administration lenders will have to provide a disclosure to borrowers that compares the costs of FHA insurance with private mortgage insurance. (Read More)

Mortgage Jobs Up Again

Employment in the mortgage industry grew by 1% in May to a record 374,300, up from 370,600 in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. (Read More)

Conti Reports Substantial Loss

ContiFinancial Corporation, New York, has announced that it will report a loss of approximately $247 million for the fourth fiscal quarter ended March 31, 1999. (Read More)

MBS Trading Surges During First Quarter

Mortgage-backed securities saw record levels of trading activity and a substantial gain in issuance during the first quarter of 1999, The Bond Market Association, New York, reported this week. (Read More)

Insurance Will Affect Credit Support in CMBS

Environmental insurance, a product designed to cover the major risks that would be identified by an environmental due diligence procedure, can reduce the credit support that Moody's Investors Service looks for in certain commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions, the rating agency said in a new report. (Read More)

Freddie Sole Marketer of EarlyIndicator

As of October 1, 1999, Freddie Mac will acquire exclusive rights to market EarlyIndicator from Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. MGIC said it is transferring Freddie Mac sole rights to EarlyIndicator as part of a decision to refocus company systems and personnel on other technology initiatives. (Read More)

Federal Court Denies Mortgage Company Motion

The U.S. District Court for the district of Rhode Island has ruled against TIS Mortgage Investment Company, San Francisco, by denying the company's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent Frederick G. Tobin from soliciting proxies for his nominees for election as directors at the 1999 annual meeting. (Read More)

Openclose.com Builds Premier Lender Program

Openclose.com, a division of mortgage.com, Plantation, Fla., has announced the lenders that will initially participate in its new premier lender program. (Read More)

FHFB Issues Risk-based Capital Proposal

The Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, continues to consider a proposal that would force the Banks to divest their mortgage-backed securities over a five-year period. (Read More)

MetLife Chooses Grubb & Ellis

Grubb & Ellis Co., Northbrook, Ill., was selected by MetLife to be the insurance company's exclusive real estate partner for all transaction management and lease administration activities throughout the United States. (Read More)

PMCC Buys Florida Firm

PMCC Financial Corp., Roslyn Heights, N.Y., has agreed to purchase Prime Mortgage Investors Inc., Coral Gables, Fla. A key point to this transaction is that PMCC will also acquire Prime's advanced website technology, located at www.pmii.com. (Read More)

Life Bank offloads $132 million of it's loans

Life Financial Corporation, Riverside, Calif., has announced that its primary subsidiary, Life Bank, has sold $132 million of whole loans to a major Wall Street dealer on a servicing retained basis. (Read More)

WMC Mortgage Accepts Electronic Loan Applications

Through the use of a new website, http://www.wmcdirect.com, brokers can now send subprime loan files to WMC Mortgage Corp., Woodland Hills, Calif., electronically. (Read More)

Freddie Welcomes Kerry Challenge

Freddie Mac wants to enter the B&C market and it welcomes a recent challenge to do so by Sen. John Kerry, D, Mass., according to Freddie Mac spokeswoman Sharon McHale. (Read More)

Freddie Launches LP on Internet

Freddie Mac officially rolled out Loan Prospector on the Internet at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers convention in Phoenix on Sunday. (Read More)

Ohio Bank Signs Fannie Deal

Ohio Savings Bank, Cleveland, a federal savings bank and a major wholesale mortgage banker, has negotiated an alliance with Fannie Mae under which the bank will exclusively issue Fannie MBS between now and the end of 2000. (Read More)

Study: Brokers Did 70% of '98 Originations

Mortgage brokers accounted for 70% of all originations in 1998, according to a study conducted by Wholesale Access, Columbia, Md. The study, which was released Monday morning at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers convention in Phoenix, found that there were approximately 36,000 mortgage brokers at the end of last year, up from 23,000 at the end of 1995. (Read More)

Fannie/Ginnie Speeds Continue Slowdown

Prepayment rates on Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities declined nearly across the board in the May reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment Commentary. (Read More)

Fannie Names 3 Senior Veeps

Fannie Mae has announced the appointment of three new senior vice presidents: Thomas E. Donilon, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary; Vada Hill, senior vice president, marketing; and Jaynie M. Studenmund, senior vice president of the company's Western Regional Office. (Read More)

IMX Announces New Initiatives

The IMX Exchange has announced the addition of four new lenders: Golden National Mortgage Banking Corp., Monument Mortgage, SCME Mortgage Bankers, and Union Federal/Waterfield Mortgage. (Read More)

Interlinq Drops Re-Cap Plan

Interlinq Software Corp., Bellevue, Wash., and an investment firm have called off their plans for a leveraged recapitalization of the technology vendor. (Read More)

FTC Looks at Credit Scoring

The Federal Trade Commission's bureau of consumer protection will hold a public forum on credit scoring July 22 focused primarily on the mortgage industry. (Read More)

Arden Realty Buys LA Tower

Arden Realty Inc., Los Angeles, has acquired 6701 Center Drive at the Howard Hughes Center, a 313,726-square-foot class A office tower in West Los Angeles, for $53 million ($169 per square foot). (Read More)

Freddie Declares Dividend

Freddie Mac's board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on the corporation's voting common stock for the second quarter. (Read More)

Affinity Unveils 'U-9 Number' Program

Affinity Corp., West Hills, Calif., has introduced a universal system that will identify all individuals involved in the loan origination process through a unique number. (Read More)

Freddie Adopts Ref Note Calendar

Freddie Mac has announced a new financing calendar designed to make the issuance of its bullet Reference Notes more predictable. (Read More)

OTS Seeks Life Co. RESPA Compliance

Insurance companies that get thrift charters will have to comply with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and not pay referral fees to their agents when they simply refer prospective mortgage borrowers to the thrift, according to the Office of Thrift Supervision. (Read More)

Title Search Index Up

The AFS Title Search Index rose 4.9% to a holiday-adjusted 168.5 for the week ended June 4 from 160.7 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Lawyers Title Buys Wilson Title

Lawyers Title Insurance Corp., Richmond, Va., has acquired Wilson Title Co., McKinney, Texas. (Read More)

Myers Launches Auction Website

Myers Internet Services Inc. has launched a new website that allows mortgage applicants to obtain bids from several lenders. (Read More)

WMC Gives Relief to 'Flip' Victims

WMC Mortgage, Woodland Hills, Calif., has agreed to give debt relief to potentially hundreds of homebuyers in Minneapolis who allegedly bought homes at inflated prices due to a scam involving inflated appraisals, the Minneapolis StarTribune has reported. (Read More)

GMAC Arranges $44MM Financing

GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., has arranged $44 million in permanent fixed-rate financing secured by a 15-property, 1.4 million-square-foot portfolio of industrial real estate just west of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. (Read More)

NorthStar Attracts Soros Investment

NorthStar Capital Investment Corp., New York, has announced a $75 million investment in the company by Quantum Realty Fund and family interests of the international investor George Soros. (Read More)

48-Year Industry Vet Retires

D. (Read More)

GAO: HUD Neglecting 203(k) Program

The Federal Housing Administration 203(k) home rehabilitation mortgage insurance program is losing money, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development has done nothing to correct the problems, according to a draft of a General Accounting Office report obtained by MortgageWire. (Read More)

Clinton Nominates OFHEO Chief

President Clinton has announced the nomination of Armando Falcon Jr. to be director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. (Read More)

Applications Drop

Mortgage applications fell 22.4% for the holiday week ended June 4 from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Fitch Creates Residential Servicer Ratings

Fitch IBCA Inc. has established four-step rating scales for primary, master, and special servicers in response to demand from the residential mortgage-backed securities market. (Read More)

C-BASS Closes $310MM REMIC

New York-based C-BASS has completed a real estate mortgage investment conduit deal backed by $310 million of residential mortgage collateral. (Read More)

Quad Cities Form Alliance With Freddie

The Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa have formed an alliance with Freddie Mac, local lenders, and local housing groups to boost homeownership and help revitalize targeted Quad City neighborhoods. (Read More)

Fannie to Buy Florida Impact Loans

Fannie Mae has made a commitment to purchase $50 million of Florida loans aimed at reducing the impact of hurricanes on homeowners. (Read More)

Fannie MF Credit Passes $5B Mark

Fannie Mae recently surpassed the $5 billion mark in lending under its multifamily credit facility, which was first introduced as a tool for borrowers in 1995. (Read More)

HomeSide Brings Fannie's AU Online

HomeSide Lending Inc. has created CreditPoint Online, an Internet service that makes Fannie Mae's Desktop Originator and Desktop Underwriter available through the Internet. (Read More)

Mission West Plans Public Offering

Mission West Properties Inc., Cupertino, Calif., has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed public offering of 6.75 million shares of common stock. (Read More)

Charter One Okays Buyback

The board of directors of Charter One Financial Inc., Cleveland, has authorized the repurchase of up to six million shares of the company's approximately 166 million shares of outstanding common stock in a buyback program. (Read More)

Credit Watch Snags 50 Lenders

Fifty lenders have been flagged by the Federal Housing Administration's "Credit Watch" system for possible termination from the FHA single-family loan program. (Read More)

FHA Appraisal Standards Overhauled

Starting Aug. 1, Federal Housing Administration appraisers will have to conduct a basic inspection of the property and warn homebuyers of any major defects that need to be repaired. (Read More)

Freddie Losing SVPs Finnerty, Schnare

Freddie Mac is losing two senior executives. (Read More)

Rates Still Rising

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.51% for the week ending June 11, up from 7.41% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

EMB to Buy REIT

EMB Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., has signed a letter of intent to acquire Titus Capital Corp., a California real estate investment trust. (Read More)

MERS and Alltel Form Alliance

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., McLean, Va., has formed an alliance with Alltel, Jacksonville, Fla., to market the benefits of MERS to clients engaged in the acquisition or sale of servicing portfolios. (Read More)

GE Cap MBS Classes Downgraded

Two classes of GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc.'s REMIC multiclass pass-through certificates, Series 1996-HE4 have been downgraded by Fitch IBCA Inc. and a third class has been placed under review. (Read More)

Conti Closes $800MM Home Equity Deal

ContiMortgage Corp., New York, has closed an $800 million home equity loan securitization. (Read More)

Petroleum Realty Obtains $300MM Facility

Petroleum Realty Investment Partners LP, a Columbus, Ohio-based commercial real estate finance company, has secured a $300 million credit facility through Lehman Brothers. (Read More)

PMI to Buy Aussie MI Company

The PMI Group, the San Francisco-based parent of one of the nation's largest private mortgage insurance companies, has agreed to acquire MGICA Ltd., the second largest lenders' mortgage insurance company in Australia. (Read More)

HomeLife to Buy China Plant

Real estate and mortgage financing services provider HomeLife Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., has reported the signing of a letter of intent to purchase a 220,000-square-foot manufacturing plant located in the province of Anhui, China that marks the beginning of the company's expansion into that country. (Read More)

MuniMae Buys 4 MF Bonds

Municipal Mortgage and Equity LLC, Baltimore, has completed four transactions involving tax-exempt multifamily housing revenue bonds issued by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority. (Read More)

Fannie, NAHB Form Green Alliance

Fannie Mae and the National Association of Home Builders have announced a partnership aimed at promoting environmentally responsible construction methods. (Read More)

OFHEO Extends RBC Comment Period

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has extended the public comment period on a proposed risk-based capital standard for 90 days -- till Nov. 10. (Read More)

ABA Objects to HR 10

The House Commerce Committee approved by a voice vote a financial services modernization bill (H.R. 10) Thursday evening that would restrict the sale of unitary thrifts and place tight limits on the sharing of customer information. (Read More)

WMF Names New Chairman, Prez

The board of directors of The WMF Group, Vienna, Va., has named WMF president and chief executive officer Shekar Narasimhan to succeed J. Roderick Heller III as chairman of the board. (Read More)

Wilshire Emerges From Bankruptcy

Wilshire Financial Services Group Inc., Portland, Ore., has announced its emergence from bankruptcy. (Read More)

Liberty Mutual Settles Bias Complaint

Liberty Mutual Group, Boston, will amend it homeowners insurance sales practices to settle a fair housing complaint filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance in Washington. (Read More)

GMACCM Completes $974.5MM Deal

GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., has completed a $974.5 million securitization backed by 121 fixed-rate commercial mortgages on 162 commercial and multifamily residential properties. (Read More)

Fitch Eyeing FMAC Notes

Fitch IBCA Inc. has placed all classes of notes issued under FMAC 1996-B on RatingAlert Negative. (Read More)

S&P Rates Novel Deal

Standard & Poor's has assigned a double-A rating to a novel securitization involving mortgage loans to persons with incomes at or below 80% of the area's median income. (Read More)

Holliday Fenoglio Arranges Dallas Buy

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, Dallas, has secured a $141.6 million loan on behalf of various partnerships controlled by TrizecHahn Office Properties Inc. for the acquisition of the Dallas Galleria Office Towers. (Read More)

Feedback

Since it was launched in May, The Grapevine has been attracting a wide range of postings from visitors seeking information on a host of mortgage-related topics. (Read More)

Norwest Names New B&C Chief

Kathleen Vaughan has been named to head Directors Acceptance, Norwest Mortgage Inc.'s subprime lending channel. (Read More)

New Fannie Product Speeds Equity Build-Up

Fannie Mae has announced the pilot phase of Working Mortgage, a new product that offers borrowers with direct deposit of their paychecks lower downpayments and easier qualification rules. (Read More)

IRS Eyes EZ Mortgage Interest Form

The Internal Revenue Service plans to issue an alternative mortgage interest information reporting form sometime after the 1999 tax year to help the agency detect borrowers who are taking excessive deductions. (Read More)

FHA Inspections Raise Conflicts of Interest

Appraisers are concerned that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has failed to address the problem of lenders and realty agents who exert improper influence over appraisers' work. (Read More)

Moody's Downgrades Lehman P-Ts

The ratings on Lehman ABS Corporation Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 1994-C5 have been lowered from Caa1 to Ca by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

S&P Issues Reverse Mortgage Report

A research report on reverse mortgages and reverse mortgage-backed securities has been released by Standard and Poor's. (Read More)

Fitch Evaluates Green Insurance for CMBS

Fitch IBCA Inc. has issued a report on the use of environmental insurance in commercial mortgage-backed securities deals. (Read More)

Holliday Fenoglio Opens New Office

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has opened a new office in the Century City section of Los Angeles in an effort to expand its presence in California. (Read More)

Asia Properties Inks SE Asia Deal

Asia Properties has signed a letter of intent to acquire about $20 million of commercial property in Cambodia and Thailand from Northbridge Communities Holding Ltd. Asia Properties will acquire the properties for an undisclosed amount of its common stock. (Read More)

HomeSide, Cendant Form Alliance

HomeSide Lending Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Cendant Mortgage, Mt. Laurel, N.J. Under the agreement, Cendant Mortgage has agreed to sell up to $7 billion of servicing assets annually to HomeSide for a five-year period. (Read More)

Altiva to Buy Money Centre

Altiva Financial Corp., Atlanta, has signed a letter of intent to acquire 100% of the stock of The Money Centre, Charlotte, N.C. The purchase price and other terms of the proposed deal are still being negotiated, but the companies expect to execute a definitive agreement by June 18, Altiva said. (Read More)

Title Searches Off

The AFS Title Search Index fell 2.2% to 164.8 for the week ended June 11 from a holiday-adjusted 168.5 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

7 GE Cap HEL Classes Downgraded

Seven subordinate classes of certificates from GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc.'s home equity securitization series 1996-HE3 and 1997-HE2 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

Fannie Prices Benchmark Reopening

Fannie Mae has priced a $250 million reopening of a five-year Callable Benchmark Note via Dutch auction. (Read More)

REIT Reaches Communications Pact

WinStar Communications Inc., New York, has reached an agreement with Parkway Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust, to provide advanced high-speed communications capabilities to the properties owned by the REIT. (Read More)

GlobalQuest Buys Stake in Aussie Firm

Florida-based management services firm GlobalQuest Partners has purchased a 7% stake in Future Mortgage Ltd. of Australia and will take an active role in building the nonconforming mortgage company. (Read More)

Court Denies Injunction in Trademark Case

The United States District Court has denied the motion of Mortgage Internet Technologies, St. George, Utah, seeking a temporary injunction against Virtuallender.com Inc. MIT had alleged that Virtuallender intentionally copied and misappropriated MIT's trademark "Virtual Lender." (Read More)

'Strong Buy' Rating for Amresco

Ameri-First Securities, Dallas, has reiterated its Strong Buy rating for Amresco Inc., citing lending growth in its commercial finance unit and an active interest rate hedging program to protect its profit margins. (Read More)

Housing Starts Jump

Single-family housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.409 million in May, 13% above the April figure of 1.249 million, according to figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department. (Read More)

Builders' Index Rises

The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index rose one point in June on the heels of May's six-point increase. (Read More)

Starwood, TriNet to Merge

Starwood Financial Trust, New York, and TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, San Francisco, have signed a definitive $1.5 billion merger agreement that would create "the country's preeminent publicly traded finance company focused exclusively on the commercial real estate industry," the companies announced Wednesday. (Read More)

Applications Up

Mortgage applications rose 27.9% for the week ended June 11 from the holiday-shortened previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

New GSE Watchdog Group Forming

A news briefing announcing the formation of a new watchdog group to monitor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been scheduled for noon Thursday in Washington, D.C. The unnamed group said it will release a letter to Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo backing the efforts of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to "strengthen" the affordable housing goals of the government-sponsored enterprises. (Read More)

Freddie Introduces REO Manager

Freddie Mac has announced the availability of a new real estate owned application on its GoldWorks network and the full deployment of its servicer reimbursement request form. (Read More)

UGRIC Unveils New Product

United Guaranty Residential Insurance Co., Greensboro, N.C., has introduced a new product, Co-Primary, for lenders who are undecided at origination whether they are selling the loan to Freddie Mac or putting it in portfolio. (Read More)

Moody's: UCFC Deals Subpar Performers

The credit quality of United Companies Financial Corp.'s subprime home equity and manufactured housing loans is "well below the industry average," according to Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

CMBS Deal Taken Off 'Watch' Status

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has removed Mortgage Capital Funding Inc., Series 1994-MC1 from Rating Watch-Down because Criimi Mae Services LP is being replaced as the special servicer by Banc One Mortgage Capital Markets LLC. (Read More)

HomeSide Registers Top MERS Portfolio

HomeSide Lending, Jacksonville, Fla., has registered the largest bulk portfolio of loans on MERS to date, consisting of 173,180 loans that are serviced by HomeSide. (Read More)

REIT Sells 9 Shopping Centers

AMB Property Corp., San Francisco, has sold nine shopping centers totaling 1.4 million square feet of retail space to BPP Retail LLC, a joint venture between San Diego-based Burnham Pacific Properties and the Sacramento-based California Public Employees Retirement System. (Read More)

UFI Brokering $186MM Portfolio

United Financial Inc., Denver, is offering a $186 million Iowa/Midwest Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae servicing portfolio to the market. (Read More)

Fixed Rates Hit 2-Year Peak

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit a two-year high of 7.65% for the week ending June 18, up from 7.51% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

MBA Sees Servicing Consolidation

By 2007, 82% of mortgage loans in this country will be serviced by only 25 companies, according to a prediction by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

Rock Financial Taps Industry Vet

Michael D. Hollerbach has been appointed president of Rock Financial Corp., Bingham Farms, Mich., the company has announced. (Read More)

RE Info Firm Buys CMAX System

First American Real Estate Information Services Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., has acquired the CMAX claims processing software systems, as well as other interests, from Irving Burton Associates Inc. CMAX is designed to generate accurate claims filings and reduce the time associated with the processing cycle, allowing servicers to meet claims-processing deadlines. (Read More)

FiNet, GetSmart Join Forces

FiNet.com Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif., has announced a strategic alliance with the Burlingame, Calif.-based GetSmart.com that will combine FiNet's Internet-based mortgage services with GetSmart's online borrowing marketplace. (Read More)

Reckson Buys NYC Office Tower

Reckson Associates Realty Corp., Melville, N.Y., has closed on the acquisition of the first mortgage note secured by 919 Third Avenue, an office tower in Manhattan, for $277.5 million. (Read More)

Fannie Prices Benchmark Reopening

Fannie Mae has priced a $250 million reopening of a 10-year Callable Benchmark Note via Dutch auction. (Read More)

1st Alliance Completes $90MM REMIC

First Alliance Mortgage Co., Irvine, Calif., has completed a $90 million securitization of fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage loans. (Read More)

Raines Blasts GSE Watchdog Group

The only purpose of FM Watch, a new watchdog group set up to monitor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "is to roll back Fannie Mae policies that cut costs to consumers," according to Fannie Mae chairman and chief executive Franklin D. Raines. (Read More)

MBS Surge After Greenspan Testimony

Mortgage-backed securities saw one of their strongest performances ever on Thursday following calming Congressional testimony by Alan Greenspan, Bridge/Telerate reported. (Read More)

Delinquencies Hit 4-Year Low

Delinquencies on residential mortgage loans fell to their lowest level in four years during the first quarter of this year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

Orix to Buy Out Joint Venture Partner

Orix USA Corp., New York, has agreed to acquire Bank One's 55% interest in the Bank One/Orix joint venture known as Banc One Mortgage Capital Markets LLC. (Read More)

Moody's Downgrades PHH

The long-term credit ratings of PHH Corp. have been lowered from A3 to Baa1 by Moody's Investors Service in the wake of the company's sale of its fleet management business. (Read More)

Duff Downgrades 4 RMBS Classes

Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, has downgraded four classes of subprime residential mortgage pass-through certificates and placed nine classes on Rating Watch-Down. (Read More)

ABFI Names Head of New Unit

Robert C. Hendricks has been named vice president in charge of the new multifamily mortgage lending business of American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa. Mr. Hendricks, 56, had been vice president of The Money Store's multifamily group since 1984. (Read More)

REIT Acknowledges Suitors

Walden Residential Properties Inc., Dallas, has confirmed that it has received "several indications of interest" in buying the company. (Read More)

Lodging Profits Seen Rising 14%

Despite declining hotel occupancy, lodging industry profits are expected to increase by 14% in 1999 when compared with last year's, according to data released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, New York. (Read More)

ARDA: Outlook Good for 2nd Homes

More Americans now say their chances of purchasing a second or vacation home look good, according a survey by the American Resort Development Association. (Read More)

Feedback

Subprime lenders will have to "pay the piper" for their mistakes, but "the smart will survive," according to Mike Mitchell, the author of a recent posting on The Grapevine, our popular information-swapping forum. (Read More)

Reverse Lender Buys Transam Sub

Reverse mortgage lender Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp., Irvine, Calif., has announced the acquisition of Transamerica HomeFirst Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the San Francisco-based Transamerica Finance Corp. The $200 million transaction includes THF's mortgage servicing operation and its reverse mortgage loan portfolio. (Read More)

Reed Introduces Tax Credit Bill

Sen. Jack Reed, D, R.I., plans to introduce the Home Ownership Tax Credit Act, a proposal that would allow the federal government to issue tax credits to lenders that make low- or no-interest second mortgages to low-income families. (Read More)

Bank Mortgage Holdings Fall

Mortgage holdings by commercial banks declined in the first quarter, according to new data released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. However, holdings increased when compared with those in the same quarter last year. (Read More)

4 BankAmerica MH Classes Downgraded

Four classes of BankAmerica Manufactured Housing Contract Trust's pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch IBCA Inc. and they remain on RatingAlert with negative implications. (Read More)

Oakwood MH Classes Under Review

Four subordinate classes of Oakwood Mortgage Investors Inc. manufactured housing deals are being reviewed for possible downgrade from Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service. (Read More)

REIT Retains Goldman as Advisor

Burnham Pacific Properties Inc., a San Diego-based real estate investment trust, has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. to assist it in reviewing an acquisition proposal from Schottenstein Stores Corp. and affiliates. (Read More)

New Partnership Buys RE Portfolio

Brandywine Realty Trust, Newtown Square, Pa., has sold a 17-property, 1.95 million-square-foot portfolio of industrial real estate to a newly formed real estate partnership for $82.9 million. (Read More)

MCA Replaced as Trustee in Certain Pools

A new trustee will oversee several pools formerly managed by the bankrupt MCA Financial Corp., Southfield, Mich., according to B. N. Bahadur, MCA's conservator. (Read More)

MuniMae Buys Housing Bond

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, Baltimore, has acquired a $2.1 million tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond secured by the 52-unit Sahuarita Ridge apartment complex slated to be built in Tucson, Ariz. The 30-year bond, issued by the Industrial Development Authority of the County of Pima, Ariz., has an interest rate of 7.125%, with an 8% interest rate during the construction period. (Read More)

Fannie Ad Slams FM Watch

Fannie Mae took another swing at FM Watch on Tuesday, taking out a 2/3-page ad in The Washington Post criticizing the group for allegedly increasing costs for consumers and keeping "us from doing our job." (Read More)

RBMG Reorganizes as Holding Company

Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group Inc., Columbia, S.C., has announced a major reorganization under which it will operate as a holding company. (Read More)

Title Searches Dip

The AFS Title Search Index fell 2.7% to 160.4 for the week ended June 18 from 164.8 the previous week, according to Advance Factor Services. (Read More)

Freddie Buys Piece of 125 Deal

Goleta (Calif.) National Bank has completed a $122 million high-LTV securitization, and Freddie Mac purchased the senior piece. (Read More)

Amresco Services Relocates

Amresco Services LP, the Atlanta-based commercial mortgage servicing subsidiary of Dallas-based Amresco Inc., has relocated to an office tower at 245 Peachtree Center Ave., also known as the Peachtree Center's Marquis One office tower. (Read More)

CMBS Index Rises

The commercial mortgage-backed securities index maintained by Bank of America Securities LLC rose 0.69% to 117.5 for the week ended June 18, but lagged the performance of comparable Treasury securities by 20 basis points, the company has reported. (Read More)

Banc One Cap Structures Bond Funding

Banc One Capital Funding Corp., Columbus, Ohio, has structured $11 million of substitute bond credit enhancement for a variable-rate, tax-exempt multifamily bond issue. (Read More)

Countrywide Reports 1Q Earnings

Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., Calabasas, Calif., has reported unaudited earnings of $103.4 million ($0.88 per share) for the fiscal first quarter ended May 31, up 14% from $90.8 million ($0.78 per share) a year earlier. (Read More)

MBA Mulls Strong Stand on GSE Tech

The leadership of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America is considering a new policy statement that calls on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "refrain" from further development or sale of technology other than for their own internal uses. (Read More)

FM Watch Responds to Raines

Meanwhile, the GSE watchdog group FM Watch has responded to the charges made in a speech last week by Fannie Mae chairman and chief executive Franklin D. Raines at the New York Financial Writers' Association annual awards dinner. (Read More)

Fed Scrutiny of Pre-Screened Marketing?

The marketing of pre-approved home equity lines of credit may be coming under scrutiny for possible discriminatory pre-screening practices. (Read More)

Online RESPA/TILA Disclosure Eyed

To facilitate online originations, Rep. Rick Lazio, R, N.Y., plans to hold a subcommittee hearing to explore the idea of allowing federally mandated mortgage disclosures to be provided over the Internet. (Read More)

Applications Slide

Mortgage applications fell 10.5% for the week ended June 18 from the previous week, and they were down 20.5% from the level recorded in the same week last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's weekly Mortgage Application Survey. (Read More)

Opt-Outs Could Hurt Mortgage Sales

There is growing concern among lenders that privacy legislation now being considered in Congress could interrupt secondary mortgage sales. (Read More)

Delta Settles Over Predatory Lending Claims

Woodbury, N.Y.-based Delta Funding Corp. has settled predatory lending allegations made by the New York State Attorney General's office. (Read More)

Fannie Reopens Benchmark Note

Fannie Mae has announced a $2 billion to $3 billion reopening of a 5.625% five-year Benchmark Note due May 14, 2004. (Read More)

Interstate Sells Interest in Charles Hotel

Interstate Hotels Corp., Pittsburgh, has sold its equity interest in The Charles Hotel Complex, a hotel/retail/office complex in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., for $19.25 million. (Read More)

House Weighs Fed Thrift Veto

As House leaders prepare to bring a financial services modernization bill (H.R. 10) up for a vote next week, they are considering a compromise provision that would give the Federal Reserve Board a veto over sales of unitary thrifts to commercial firms. (Read More)

MIC Exits VA Business

Mortgage Investors Corp. is getting out of the VA mortgage business now that the Department of Veterans Affairs' new refinancing rule has gone into effect. (Read More)

Rates Nearly Unchanged

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.63% for the week ending June 25, down slightly from 7.65% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. (Read More)

ABA Sees Good Market for 1st-Time Buyers

With mortgage rates expected to remain steady or decline over the next 18 months, the housing market is forecast to remain favorable for first-time homebuyers, according to the American Bankers Association economic outlook. (Read More)

MBA Cites Homebuying Influences

The most important influence on where homebuying information is obtained is recommendations from friends and family, according to a survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. (Read More)

REIT, J.P. Morgan Form Joint Venture

Westfield America Inc., Los Angeles, has formed a $500 million joint venture partnership with J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. to own two premier California shopping centers: Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair in San Jose and Westfield Shoppingtown UTC in La Jolla. (Read More)

Trade Groups Release NOI Standard

Two trade associations have released a standard definition of net operating income for use in the post-issue surveillance of commercial mortgage-backed securities. (Read More)

Freddie Prices Ref Note Reopening

Freddie Mac has priced a $500 million reopening of a five-year, 6.3% Callable Reference Note. (Read More)

Countrywide, Fannie Strike Servicing Deal

Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif., has entered into a special arrangement with Fannie Mae that will allow it to get cash up front for its servicing fee when it securitizes loans. (Read More)

Existing Home Sales Fall, But Top 5MM

Existing home sales declined 4.0% in May, but sales activity still remained above 5 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. (Read More)

Mortgage.com Launches Wholesaling Site

Openclose.com, the long-awaited wholesaling website of the Plantation, Fla.-based Mortgage.com, is scheduled to begin doing business June 28. (Read More)

UCFC MH Deals Downgraded

Six classes of United Companies Financial Corp.'s manufactured housing deals have been downgraded by Fitch IBCA Inc. and five classes have been moved to RatingAlert Negative from RatingAlert Evolving. (Read More)

Finova Realty Restructures

Finova Realty Capital Inc., Irvine, Calif., has realigned its business strategy to focus more on direct lending programs and has completed an internal restructuring to improve cost efficiencies and streamline its nationwide distribution network. (Read More)

FiNet Reports FY99 Loss

FiNet.com Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif., has reported a net loss of $36.5 million ($0.79 per share) for fiscal year 1999 (ended April 30), compared with $9.4 million in fiscal 1998. (Read More)

United Guaranty Announces HK Pact

United Guaranty Corp., Greensboro, N.C., has announced a long-term reinsurance agreement with Hong Kong Mortgage Corp. Under the agreement, United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co., a subsidiary of United Guaranty, will provide mortgage reinsurance coverage of residential mortgages insured by HKMC, which handles residential mortgages with loan-to-value ratios up to 85%. (Read More)

Feedback

We've been touting the success of The Grapevine, our popular information-swapping forum, in recent weeks. (Read More)

Judge Certifies Class in YSP Case

A U.S. district court judge in Alabama has certified a class action lawsuit in a well-known yield spread premiums lawsuit -- Culpepper vs. Inland Mortgage -- but industry attorneys are downplaying its importance. (Read More)

RE Firm Forms Senior Housing Group

CB Richard Ellis, Los Angeles, recently formed a Senior Housing Real Estate Services Group to respond to the need of the rapidly expanding seniors housing market. (Read More)

Prestwick Brokers $240-360MM in Servicing

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering a $240 to $360 million national flow loan servicing offering to the market. (Read More)

Banc One Cap Enhances, Remarkets Bonds

Banc One Capital Funding Corp., Columbus, Ohio, has provided Fannie Mae credit enhancement to the owner of a 413-unit apartment complex in Phoenix and will remarket the variable-rate bonds on a weekly basis. (Read More)

CMBS Index Falls

The commercial mortgage-backed securities index maintained by Bank of America Securities LLC fell 1.10% to 116.2 for the week ended June 25, but the CMBS lagged the performance of comparable Treasury securities by only 6 basis points, the company has reported. (Read More)

New Home Sales Fall 5%</