Loan Think

As I stood for the first time after surgery on my Achilles tendon last week, you want to know the first thing I realized: I should have been practicing standing on one foot over the weeks leading up to the surgery.

THIS JUST IN: Wells Fargo plans to expand its presence in warehouse lending, giving much-needed relief to non-depositories that need a source of credit during one of the most active refinancing booms in recent memory. Wells isn't starting de novo in this business. It will grow a warehouse division that existed at Wachovia, the ailing bank it bought at year-end. For the full story visit http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com.

While FASB and financial regulators hammer how changes to "mark to market" accounting rules consider this little example that I present: Back in 1986 rogue S&L chief Charlie Keating built a luxury hotel at the foot of Camelback Mountain. The S&L, Lincoln Savings, financed the entire building. Charlie said it was worth $300 million and wanted it counted as capital on the S&L's books. Thrift regulators said the hotel was worth about $60 million. At the time Arizona's real estate market was in the tank (sort of like today) and hotel room vacancies were sky high. Charlie lost the battle and Lincoln's Phoenician Hotel was marked down. Lincoln -- which had many other financial problems besides the hotel -- eventually collapsed and Keating became a symbol of the S&L crisis. Back then regulators were clearly right in their valuation: $60 million. But today, 23 years later the Phoenician is probably worth $300 million. Was Charlie Keating really a visionary -- but 23 years too early? Discuss amongst yourselves...

This week is when many people "celebrate" April Fools Day, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about foolishness. We all do foolish things. Many people know up front that they are foolish but they not willing to change our behavior. I'll start with my confession. I smoke; this is both foolish and dangerous. So far I am getting better but have not fully quit - foolish!

HUD DELAYS ENFORCING "REQUIRED USE" DEFINITION OF RESPA UNTIL JULY 16, 2009

What a bunch of 're-TARPs'! The following banks this week signaled their official intention to turn in their "gummint" cash, telling the U.S. Treasury "thank you very much but we don't need your darn money": Iberia Corp. of Louisiana, Old National Bank of Indiana, Bank of Marin (headquartered in Jerry Garcia country), and Signature Bank, which is based in the city that never sleeps. This is NO April Fool's Day joke, folks. Iberia soon will hand Uncle Sammy $90 million, Old National $100 million, Signature $120 million, and Marin $28 million. That's $338 million in cash (presumably) that goes back to the U.S. Treasury. Of course, in the scheme of things $338 million is equal to what American International Group lost each business day last year but let's try and keep the vibe positive. It is April Fool's Day. And in case you're wondering where the 're-TARP' phrase came from, it was given to me from a source located very close to the U.S. Treasury…

For several years now reverse mortgage originators have been anxiously awaiting the "reverse for purchase" program from The Federal Housing Administration. On Jan. 1, 2009, that wait was over as the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 made this a reality. More accurately called, HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) for Purchase, it will allow seniors age 62 and over to use a reverse mortgage insured by FHA to purchase a principal residence.

One of the greatest ironies of the current mortgage/credit mess is this: there are now more subprime borrowers than ever before. Of course, there are no subprime lenders left in America to serve them, but according to the new, 4Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report consumers owe roughly $830 billion on their subprime loans. Roughly 35% of these are in some form of delinquency…

Even though the market is experiencing somewhat of a turnaround, for many mortgage originators times are still tough. This has had an impact on their marketing expenditures and thus affected their ability to generate leads.

Lenders and vendors are constantly looking for more efficient ways to affordably engage their clients and prospective clients through an interactive and rich Web experience. Today’s online consumer is much more savvy and demanding than they were just five years ago. Is Microsoft Silverlight the answer?