When banks begin buying, the market must be at a peak. Mortgage professionals know all too well that many commercial banks overpaid for the hundreds of non-depository mortgage banking firms they bought during the past five years. Case in point: First Union's acquisition of The Money Store, and National Bank of Australia's purchase of HomeSide Lending, just to name a few. Both deals were unmitigated disasters -- for the buyers that is, not the sellers. Now, commercial banks are beginning to get hammered on their (relatively) recent purchases of Wall Street firms. FleetBoston Financial is expected to lose $280 million when it finally unloads San Francisco-based investment banker Robertson Stephens. (This past week Robbie laid off half its staff.) Some in the industry are wondering how long it will be before J.P. Morgan Chase chief William Harrison decides that he can't afford to keep the investment banking arm of his empire...
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Given all the talk about consolidation in the mortgage banking sector, here's an interesting question to ask: how come Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase -- two of the biggest buyers of the past few years -- have essentially been out of the market for at least a year?
Even though 30-year FRMs are at historic lows, some lenders are doing a booming business in low, teaser rate ARMs, including GreenPoint Funding, and Thornburg Mortgage, among others...
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers plans to launch a major educational and public relations campaign to spiff up the image of loan brokers. The trade group may want to start by attacking those LendingTree ads on CNBC and elsewhere that portray brokers as scheming little dweebs...
Mortgage insurance giant PMI Group, San Francisco, recently marked its 30th birthday. The company, which is revamping its logo, plans to move to a new world headquarters later this summer...
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: FM Watch recently celebrated its three-year anniversary. Its main backers have not changed since its inception: GE Capital Mortgage Insurance, J.P. Morgan Chase, United Guaranty, Wells Fargo and Household Finance. Backers of the group say FM Watch is more committed than ever to keeping tabs on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
