Servicing

Marc Paul and Robert Robotti, co-founders of the Los Angeles-based SCI Real Estate Investments, are launching TREO Capital Group, Inc., a real estate firm that aims to help buyers capitalize on opportunities in today's residential foreclosure market. Along with principals Janice Jay, Berto Gonzalez, Jay Belson, Matt Epstein, Joel Adelman, Michael Sihilling and Dieter Hochheimer, the TREO real estate team has developed a process to monitor and purchase distressed-priced residential real estate at auctions in Los Angeles County. TREO principals have already purchased over 30 homes for prospective buyers. "Currently there are thousands of distressed-priced homes scheduled for auction each week in LA County alone," said Mr. Paul, president, who is also the former head of the foreclosure divisions of Merrill Lynch Realty and Prudential California Realty. "The challenge for buyers is that most are unable to track all the homes scheduled for auction, analyze all the market and sales data, perform a title search and make a decision to buy ... oftentimes in a matter of hours." The company said most of its clients acquire multiple properties each month seeking to earn yields that can regularly exceed 30% IRR. Messrs. Paul and Robotti's SCI Real Estate Investments has a nationwide portfolio with over $2 billion worth of residential and commercial properties.

To expedite sales of foreclosed properties, Fannie Mae says it will accept a buyer's purchase offer without notifying the servicer and before it determines whether the lender has to reimburse the secondary market agency for any losses. According to a December 24 servicing guide, Fannie Mae will accept a purchase offer "whether or not" the mortgage quality assurance review has been completed. "If, after completion of the review, Fannie Mae determines that the mortgage loan did not meet its eligibility or underwriting requirements and Fannie Mae has incurred a loss by selling the property, the lender will be required to fully reimburse Fannie Mae for its loss," according to Fannie Announcement 09-38. During the first three quarters of 2009, Fannie has taken control of 98,400 single-family or real estate owned properties and sold 89,700 REOs.

Monday was the last day of trading for MacroShares Major Metro Housing Up Trust and MacroShares Major Metro Housing Down Trust. The depositor said a final distribution payment will be made on Jan. 6 to shareholders of record on Dec. 31 based on the underlying values of the trusts. The trusts' values will be determined based on the Nov. 24 release of the reference value of the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite-10 Home Price Index, plus or minus any interest or expense accrued in the trust for the period.

OneWest Bank FSB, Pasadena, Calif. has put $10 million into the creation of a nonprofit foundation aimed at offering affordable housing and other types of support to the communities in which it operates its branch network. The bank has 72 retail branches in Southern California and total assets of $24 billion. Its assets include a loan portfolio, a securities portfolio, a servicing platform with mortgage servicing rights representing over 550,000 borrowers, and Financial Freedom, a reverse mortgage platform.

House prices were unchanged in October after a 0.4% increase in September, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index. Until October, prices had been on the rise for four consecutive months. "Coming after a series of solid gains, these data are likely to spark worries that home prices about to take a second dip," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee. Overall, the 20-city HPI is down 7.3% from a year ago and 29% from the peak in home prices in the second quarter of 2006. IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport expects prices to decline by another 5% to 10% due to downward pressure by sales of distressed properties. "The foreclosure outlook is not a good one," Mr. Newport said. Foreclosure and delinquency rates hit a record in the third quarter and they are "likely to rise, perhaps sharply," he said.

The serious delinquency rate of Fannie Mae's single-family loans nearly hit 5% at the end of October and its loan performance is deteriorating at a rate of 100 basis points per four-month period. Fannie reported Tuesday that 4.98% of its conventional single-family loans are 90 days or more past due, up from 3.94% in June. On a month-to-month basis, the serious delinquency rate rose 26 basis points in October. The government-sponsored enterprise has $2.8 trillion in conventional loans. The serious delinquency rate does not include loans in private-label securities held by Fannie. Meanwhile, Fannie issued $40.4 billion in mortgage-backed securities in November, down slightly from October, according to the GSE's monthly activity report. Ginnie Mae issued $35.5 billion in MBS in November and Freddie Mac issued $26 billion. Freddie has started releasing additional information involving loan modifications and refinancing volumes with its monthly activity report. But Fannie has not followed in its sister GSE's path. Fannie could not be reached before deadline to comment on the difference in disclosures.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed 41 and downgraded 171 classes within 20 Bayview Commercial Asset Trust small balance commercial asset-backed certificate transactions in the course of its ongoing reviews. The underlying collateral pool for these transactions consists of fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage loans secured by senior liens on commercial, multifamily and mixed-use properties and unimproved land. The average current loan size for each transaction is less than $400,000.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Walnut Creek, Calif., sold its entire investment in RAM Holdings Ltd. (RAM Holdings Ltd. is the holding company for RAM Reinsurance Co. Ltd.). Terms and conditions of the sale were not disclosed. The company had impaired its investment in RAM Holdings Ltd. in 2008 and reduced the carrying value of the investment to zero. The completion of this sale continues the company's focus on its core U.S. mortgage insurance operations and the proceeds from the sale will add to PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.'s liquidity position.

Tower Bancorp Inc., Harrisburg, Pa., has agreed to buy First Chester County Corp., West Chester, Pa., including its American Home Bank unit, in an all-stock deal valued at $65 million. As part of the agreement, Tower's subsidiary bank, Graystone Tower Bank, has agreed to increase its lending facility with First Chester to up to $26 million as well as to purchase up to $100 million of residential mortgage and commercial loans from First National Bank of Chester County. These moves are aimed at allowing the bank to satisfy the regulatory capital requirements of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Upon the closing Tower "will be one of central and southeastern Pennsylvania's largest independent community banks," said Tower chairman and chief executive officer Andrew S. Samuel. Under the terms of the agreement, each First Chester shareholder will receive 0.453 shares of Tower common stock for each First Chester share. The market value as of Dec. 24 of $10.22 per First Chester share represents 90% of the company's tangible book value. The exchange ratio is subject to upward or downward adjustment if loan delinquencies at First Chester increase or decrease beyond specified amounts. Management anticipates that there will be no branch closures, but Tower expects to achieve a 15% cost savings, or approximately $12 million, through the reduction of administrative and operational redundancies. The acquisition will immediately be significantly accretive to earnings per share. It is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010 if it obtains necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals. First Chester's American Home Bank originates through retail and wholesale channels, as well as through joint venture mortgage partnerships with builders and others.

The Treasury Department will stop purchasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities on Dec. 31, but the department is increasing its capital support for the two financially strapped government-sponsored enterprises. As of Nov. 30, Treasury had purchased $211.5 billion in Fannie and Freddie MBS. "By the conclusion of its MBS purchase program, Treasury anticipates that it will purchase approximately $220 billion of the securities," according to a Treasury statement. Treasury has provided each GSE with a funding commitment of $200 billion to ensure each secondary market agency maintains a positive net worth while the GSEs deal with severe loan losses. Fannie has already received $51 billion in capital infusions and Freddie $60 billion. Now Treasury is lifting the $200 billion cap to accommodate any capital needs over the next three years. "The agreements announced today should leave no uncertainty about Treasury's commitment to support these firms as they continue to play a vital role in the housing market," Treasury said Thursday afternoon. Fannie and Freddie were placed in conservatorships in September 2008.