Servicing

Temple-Inland has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Guaranty Residential Lending, Austin, Texas, plans to sell its third-party mortgage servicing portfolio."The sale of this asset will further reduce costs, earnings volatility, and exposure to changing market conditions," Temple-Inland said. The parent company said it does not expect the sale of mortgage servicing rights to have a significant effect on its earnings. Temple-Inland, a manufacturer of corrugated packaging and building products with a diversified financial services operation, can be found on the Web at http://www.templeinland.com.

Bimini Mortgage Management Inc., Vero Beach, Fla., a real estate investment trust that invests chiefly in residential mortgage-backed securities, has announced the pricing of its initial public offering of common stock at $14.50 per share.Bimini was formed in September 2003 to invest primarily in residential MBS issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. The managing underwriter for the offering is Flagstone Securities LLC. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 750,000 additional shares at the IPO price to cover any overallotments, the REIT said. The company's class A common stock began trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BMM.

Class B of Asset Backed Funding Corp. mortgage loan asset-backed certificates, series 2001-AQ1, has been downgraded from BBB to BB by Fitch Ratings.Fitch attributed the downgrade to monthly losses that have an averaged over $157,000, about $23,000 more than the average monthly excess interest. In addition, 90-day delinquencies have averaged 24.3% of the current pool balances, the rating agency said.

Four classes of IndyMac ABS Inc. home equity issues have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series SPMD 2000-C group 1, class MF-1, from AA to A, and class MF-2, from BB to CCC; and series SPMD 2000-C group 2, class MV-2, from A-minus to BBB, and class BV, from BBB-minus to B. In addition, the ratings on three other classes in the home equity deal were affirmed. Group 1 originally contained 12.65% of manufactured housing collateral, but the percentage had increased to 35.9% as of August, the rating agency said. In group 2, manufactured housing collateral originally accounted for 9.51% of the pool, and it accounted for 25.14% as of August. "To date, MH loans have exhibited very high historical loss severities, causing Fitch to have concerns regarding the adequacy of enhancement in this deal," Fitch said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Meanwhile, Fannie Mae has expanded its previously announced mortgage relief for families whose homes have been damaged by recent hurricanes by temporarily allowing servicers to quickly release insurance money.Fannie Mae said the temporary changes permit servicers to immediately release insurance funds up to $20,000 as long as the borrower has a contractor's estimate for the repairs, is current on payments, and has a good mortgage payment record. The government-sponsored enterprise said it is also encouraging servicers to counsel homeowners that they should hire only "licensed and qualified" contractors to complete home repairs.

Fannie Mae is expected to issue guidance on mandatory arbitration clauses within three weeks, sources have told MortgageWire.However, Fannie Mae officials have not set an effective date yet. A Fannie spokeswoman declined to confirm the timing, but she said the guidance will be issued "very soon." Freddie Mac implemented a ban Aug. 1 on MACs in the subprime loans it purchases. However, the secondary-market agency did not provide any guidance, which has angered lenders. "We are certainly talking to the industry about mandatory arbitration," a Freddie Mac spokesman said. The result of those talks will determine whether guidance is needed, he said. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

The inventory of foreclosed residential properties rose less than 1% in August, according to Foreclosure.com, an online foreclosure listing service based in Boca Raton, Fla.There were 22,733 new foreclosed residential properties listed in the United States in August, and such properties totaled 72,303 overall, the company reported. The data indicate that "new foreclosure activity has leveled off across the country, which is a strong indicator of the sustained strength of the real estate market," said Greg Sullivan, vice president and co-founder of Foreclosure.com. The data also show that the inventory of active properties "has remained relatively flat for the third straight month, indicating lenders have been successful in maintaining a balance of foreclosure sales against new foreclosure inventory," he said. The company can be found online at http://www.foreclosure.com.

Foreclosure.com, Boca Raton, Fla., has announced an agreement to provide listings data to Domania, a Boston-based operator of a consumer real estate website.Under the agreement, Domania (a unit of LendingTree Inc.) will private-label Foreclosure.com's national database of foreclosure listings. "Foreclosure.com offers the industry's most thorough and trustworthy foreclosed home property data, which will be a great benefit to Domania.com users who utilize online research to supplement their home buying and selling experiences," said Ben Joslin, Domania's general manager and vice president of marketing. The companies can be found online at http://www.foreclosure.com and http://www.domania.com.

Freddie Mac has announced a temporary relaxation in certain guidelines in an effort to expedite the release of insurance proceeds to borrowers in major disaster areas who have suffered property damage.The government-sponsored enterprise said mortgage servicers can immediately release insurance funds made payable jointly to an insured borrower and the servicer if the damaged property is in a declared Major Disaster Area related to Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances, or Tropical Storm Bonnie. The amount can equal $20,000, one-third of the amount of the insurance draft, 10% of the affected mortgage's unpaid balance, or the amount by which the released funds exceed the unpaid balance of the mortgage, whichever is highest. "This is a critical policy change that we believe will not only help families recover more quickly from this year's disastrous wave of hurricanes, but will also help our servicers to better cope with the extraordinary demands these storms are placing on their resources," said Freddie Mac senior vice president Mike May. The GSE can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Class B4 of CWMBS (Countrywide Home Loans) Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2003-41, has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.The rating agency also affirmed the ratings on five other classes in the transaction. The Rating Watch placement stems from the fact that 0.93% of remaining loans have been delinquent for more than 90 days as of Aug. 25, whereas the credit enhancement for the class stood at only 0.27%.