THIS JUST IN: He's back! That would be Jonathan Kempner, former president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, who left the trade group a little more than two years ago, just as the mortgage industry was crumbling. But let me clarify: Jon is back, but not in mortgages. He's involved with running something called TIGER 21, which is a trade group of sorts for, well, rich folks. (Hopefully TIGER's members include several mortgage banker executives.) Kempner was one of the more accessible MBA chiefs in recent years, though he did make two crucial mistakes: having the trade group buy/build a D.C. headquarters from scratch (at the height of the market here in Washington) and merging MBA with a subprime mortgage trade group. But that's all water under the bridge now. TIGER's website boasts that it is "the nation's premier peer-to-peer learning group for high-net-worth investors. We help members build the skill set to successfully transition from focused entrepreneurs to disciplined managers of wealth. Participating in professionally facilitated, 12-14 person groups, our members meet monthly to harness the varied expertise and collective intelligence of their peers in high-energy, day-long sessions." Sounds enticing. Now, only if I had a high net worth…
But seriously, there seems to be a real trend of former mortgage bankers getting back into the business. As we reported two weeks back, former AmNet CEO John Robbins is working on a new mortgage venture…
For loan officers the most important unresolved issue out there is compensation. National Mortgage News' Brian Collins reports that the Federal Reserve's new rules on loan officer compensation are expected to force mortgage companies to review the way they conduct business and compensate their employees. For the full story see the Monday paper edition of NMN or visit our website at
DATA ANNOUNCEMENT: The brand-new edition of MortgageStats.com is now ready. MortgageStats.com, a data website, has information on the nation's top 400 lenders and servicers (and much more) and includes a new analytical report called “
COMPANY NOTES: Loan modification firm Urban Lending Solutions was ranked by Inc. magazine as the 389th fastest private growing company in the U.S. CoreLogic said it is launching a short sale fraud prevention and pricing tool to give lenders alerts on "risky" pending and closed short sales transactions. LoanMarket.net of California, a loan auction website, recently moved its headquarters in Irvine. That's Jeff Freud's shop.
ECONOMICS: Is the Federal Reserve really out of "bullets" in helping turn around the economy? Who knows, really. It could cut short-term rates to zero but that likely would be seen as a move of desperation. One thing is for certain: with homebuilders constructing very few new houses, eventually there will be a lack of supply. But it could take five years. This past week I heard one analyst say on CNBC that we are in a “quiet depression.”
Go South, young man: For years, Californians looking to escape the state's high housing prices—the highest in the country, by far—found the pickings a lot cheaper in neighboring Arizona and Nevada. Now Canadians are taking over where the 49ers left off. According to Georgory Tsujimoto, a senior consulting with the California-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting firm, buyers from “our neighbors to the north” now outpace those from the Golden State, at least in the Phoenix area's Maricopa County.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Great Western of California named Jess Lederman CEO. The lender is owned by a bank that is controlled by S&L industry veteran James Montgomery. Title insurance giant First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., Friday named Max Valdes chief financial officer, and Mark Seaton senior vice president of finance.
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Federal Housing Administration is working on a new reverse mortgage product for seniors who need to tap the equity in their homes to cover daily living and health care costs. The new HECM Saver mortgage has a substantially reduced FHA upfront premium but the typical borrower would receive 10% to 18% less in available funds than the standard home equity conversion mortgage product. (See the NMN website for the complete story.)
I CONTINUE TO BE SORRY ABOUT THAT: The comment function on this column is still broken. In the meantime, you can e-mail me directly at
DATA STUFF: The new 2Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report will be out in two weeks. 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
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THE LAST WORD: If you're not a fan of the Tea Party stay out of Washington this weekend. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and all the Tea Party folks will be in town holding a rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Al Sharpton will be in town, too. Cable TV yak-yak pundits start your engines. Good day to you, sir.
