Loan Think

Want to find out who the top online lenders were in the first and second quarters? PurchaseNational Mortgage News' "Loan Origination Software" report and get the list forfree. For more information contact Elizabeth Washington at: (202) 434-0328 or e-mail: Elizabeth.Washington

As most of the mortgage world already knows, Cendant Mortgage is up for grabs but apparently,according to one source close to Nexstar, Cendant is "losing private-label clients to Nexstar."Nexstar, based in St. Louis, is owned by KKR...

The Mortgage Industry Directory is finally out and available, as is the electronicversion of the book, the eMID. The book provides rankings, profiles, and contact information on the nation's top400 lenders, top 100 brokers, top 300 servicers and much more. The book has one-line rankings on 450 lenders. Theselenders, combined, funded $3.87 trillion in 2003. (More firms are available in the eMID.) Also includedis a "Years in Review" analysis of last year and the current year, plus a look at what trends are "in"and "out." For more information about the book contact Deartra Todd at (202) 434-0320...

Dan Phillips of First Plus infamy, phone home! Hey, maybe it's time for theresurrection of Cityscape and United Companies? What's going on here? Apparently, The Money Storeis back in business -- well, sort of. MLD Mortgage of Union, N.J., a company founded in 2000 by former MoneyStore vice chairman Morton Dear, has bought the trade name "The Money Store" for an undisclosedamount. MLD is an active residential lender in New Jersey controlled by Mr. Dear. TMS -- as most industry veteransknow -- crashed and burned back in 2000 with First Union holding the burning bag. If you don't know whoDan Phillips is or if you've never heard of Cityscape or UC then you haven't been in this business long enough.For more details read Monday's National Mortgage News...

This just in: more heads are expected to roll at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. But before we get to that, consider this: On his last official day as president of the FHLB-Chicago, the FederalHousing Finance Board slapped Alex Pollock's GSE with a supervisory agreement ordering it to slow thegrowth of his baby, the mortgage partnership finance (MPF) program. Could there be a connection between Mr. Pollock'sretirement and the supervisory agreement? Industry sources say senior management at the FHLB is quite upset withthe FHFB's order that the GSE hire an outside consultant to review management's performance, especially in regardto operations and risk assessment. One source close to the FHLB said, "A lot of the top guys there may bereleased. They are not stupid people but they just didn't have the controls in place." The question nowbecomes: How hard is the FHFB looking at MPF-like programs at the other FHLBs? Stay tuned...

The U.S. housing market could get rocked soon. Then again, maybe not. But there are some ominoussigns out there: Last week a senior economist at Deutsche Bank told an investors' meeting in New York thatthere is a housing bubble in the U.S. and that he expects home prices to decline 10% to 20%. Speaking at a meetingsponsored by the Association of German Mortgage Banks, Cary Leahy noted, however, that "we havenever had declines in housing prices across the economy." And even though "it's going to end in tears"and "people are going to get hurt," their financial pain will be moderated by a good labor market. OnMonday, National Mortgage News will report that there is a price war raging in subprime land. (Tosubscribe to NMN call 800-221-1809.) And The New York Times, which is often late to big housing financerelated stories (the S&L crisis, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae), last week reported on the growinguse of no-downpayment mortgages. The Times report also prompted a copycat story on the network news. So, are thehousing and housing finance sectors about to get hammered? Not as long as the yield on the 10-year remains in therange of 4.6% to 5%. (At press time it was at 4.65%.) Keep in mind that on Tuesday the Federal Reserve isexpected to raise the federal funds overnight rate 25 basis points to 1.25%. If the hike is 50 basis points, willthe markets implode? We'll know Tuesday...

In some industry circles, mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Admin-

National Mortgage News is in the throes of finishing its annual Mortgage IndustryDirectory. There will be no traditional "Weekend Update" column this week, but we offer this edited commentaryon interest rates. It comes from Richard Gordon, managing director, fixed-income strategist at Wachovia Securities:

The annual convention of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers opens in SaltLake City this weekend. Ellie Mae is hosting a dinner with National Mortgage News to congratulatethe top 50 loan brokers in 2003. The exclusive rankings were compiled by NMN...

Remember this quote from Layne Sapp, the founder and chief executive of subprime lenderMILA: "When rates go up, we get busier." Mr. Sapp wasn't kidding. He and other subprime firmswere busier than ever in the first quarter. According to National Mortgage News' just released QuarterlyData Report, subprime production reached a new quarterly high in the first quarter as funders originated $114billion in A- to D credits. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, subprime production rose by a stunning 54%.For complete individual company rankings contact: Deartra.Todd@ThomsonMedia.com...