Loan Think

That quiet sound of nothing really going on is the nonperforming loan market. We continue to hear reports that plenty of NPL packages are being offered, but when it comes to actual sales, that’s another matter.

Is now the time for a contrarian play in wholesale lending? Consider the case of Total Mortgage Services, an up and coming lender based in Milford, Conn. Today it announced that it has hired five new wholesale account executives, bringing to 12 its AE headcount.

Much has been written about mortgage sales people needing to create a social media marketing strategy. It is a great way to get positive buzz about the services provided.

In the first part of May, a prominent Realtor, her son and daughter-in-law pleaded guilty to an expanding mortgage fraud that enabled them to buy expensive vacation homes at Alabama’s Gulf Shores using “straw borrowers” to qualify for credit union loans. Lenders victimized by the scheme were First Tennessee Bank, U.S. Bank and First Choice Funding.

It’s a holiday weekend in the middle of year, and as summer approaches what better time to preview our ’Five Mortgage Firms to Keep an Eye On (And Why)’ report. A more extensive analysis of these five (and five additional companies) will appear next month on the MortgageStats.com website, which features up-to-the minute rankings, analysis and more.

Certain Luddites and ignoramuses in Congress believe we should go back to the ‘Good Old Days’ when our banks and thrifts held mortgages in portfolio. They don’t quite understand the whole concept of a mismatch between assets (mortgages) and liabilities (deposits.)

Investor, speculator and short seller David Einhorn is ponying up $200 million to buy a minority stake in The New York Mets baseball team. Why is this mortgage news?

As we all know, subprime securitization will return – someday. Of course, none of us know when that day will be. When it comes to creating mortgage bonds out of loans made to consumers with poor credit, many folks I’ve talked to think we’re looking at three to five years, at least.

At the end of March mortgage servicers were processing $9.5 trillion in residential loans, a 4% decline from the same period a year ago. (Figures courtesy of National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.) Now, 4% may not seem like a huge number, but then again, you have to consider historical trends.

When it comes to the social media, one of the themes I have consistently written is that you just can't have a policy of throwing things against the wall and hoping that some, if not all, of it sticks.