THIS JUST IN: Is the Federal Reserve once again contemplating allowing loan brokers to be involved in the appraisal process through a “blind ordering” system? We understand there was a meeting on the topic at the Fed this week. This might cause certain ultra-pro consumer types to wring their hands, and chant, “Where's Elizabeth Warren when you need her?”...
Also, there were unconfirmed reports late this week that some of the megabanks may be stepping up their presence in the wholesale sector. Stay tuned…
All this gossip concerning brokers might cause one to conclude that while the sector may be down, it certainly is not out. Still, as we noted on the National Mortgage News website Friday, wholesale/broker volumes hit the wall in the second quarter. (For a complete list of which firms still play in the correspondent and wholesale space drop a line to Deartra.Todd@SourceMedia.com and ask about the Quarterly Data Report.) In the paper edition of NMN on Monday we closely analyze the outlook for brokers. (To order NMN call 800-221-1809.) Brokers are betting that since “federal pre-emption” for bank subsidiaries is going away, it will force depositories to "roll up" their mortgage units, which could affect how they account for loan officers on their books (read: increased costs). Some brokers think this will force banks to seriously consider using independent third-party salesmen again. This time around brokers hope to bloody the nose of commercial banks by touting their testing and licensing certificates, which bank LOs do not have…
Loan production at Total Mortgage Services of Connecticut is apparently booming. It recently entered the wholesale sector…
This past week NMN was the first to report on the Mortgage Bankers Association's 2Q profitability numbers. But one interesting detail we left out was this: the 300 or so firms that provided information to MBA are heavily involved in FHA lending. This isn't surprisingly, really. But almost half their volume in the second quarter was FHA-backed…
As we all know, refi applications account for 80% of new business but there are subtle signs that home buying is picking up steam. Could this be one of those “false positives” you hear about?...
Uber MBS bond trader Jeff Kronthal on Friday predicted that the yield on the 10-year Treasury will fall to 2.25%...
NMN MBS editor Bonnie Sinnock has an amusing column about a wily money manager and his views on mortgages. (He sings, too.) See both our website and the Monday paper edition of our newspaper
THE WARREN WARS: We have us a mud fight! Usually, the GOP and Democrats get along fairly well in Washington (yeah, right) but when President Obama named Warren “CFPB Czar” on Friday all hell broke loose with statements being issued both pro and con. From Rep. Darrell Issa (GOP) of California's fighting 49th: "If Professor Warren is not required to testify before Congress and is able to use claims of executive privilege to prevent disclosure of information relating to CFPB operations and its documents, Congress will not be able to perform its proper oversight function." Of course, Congress did such a great job of overseeing Wall Street during the go-go years. The New Yorker recently wrote a glowing piece on Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, and appears to have entirely left out Schumer's role in the crisis. (Maybe he's a subscriber and the magazine didn't want him to cancel.)
Hedge fund manager John A. Paulson-who made billions by shorting the subprime market using the ABX Index and other instruments-is now buying big stakes in Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase…
WASHINGTON NEWS: In August the Government National Mortgage Association guaranteed more than $34 billion in mortgage-backed securities. "While the economy is slowly showing signs of recovery, much of this improvement would not be possible without the stabilizing effect of the Ginnie Mae MBS," said Theodore Tozer, Ginnie Mae president.
DATA ANNOUNCEMENT: The new 2Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report is finally out. The QDR provides industrywide composite data on loan production and servicing and specific figures on the top 100, including delinquencies. A new feature for the QDR is our ranking of the nation's top FHA lenders. If you're looking for jumbo production numbers try the Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report. For more info on both drop an e-mail to Deartra.Todd@SourceMedia.com...
I'm on
THE LAST WORD: Residential Capital Corp./GMAC/Ally Financial: is this company ever going to file an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission about its IPO? If you have any intel drop me a line at
