Don't look back Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo, Countrywide is gaining on you. Accordingto the new first-quarter edition of the Quarterly Data Report, Countrywide funded $102.4 billion worth ofhome mortgages in the first quarter, a hair behind market leaders WaMu ($109.3 billion) and Wells Fargo ($103 billion).Look for final quarterly rankings soon in National Mortgage News and the new QDR...
Meanwhile, National Mortgage News and Origination News are putting the final touches ontheir annual survey of loan brokers. Preliminary results show that these three loan officers were the top producersin 2002: Jon Volpe (Nova Financial), Jack Lieberman (USA Mortgage Funding) andRobert Moulton (Americana Mortgage). Final results should be ready in a couple of weeks...
Why would General Motors, which has been trying to sell GMAC Commercial Mortgage, allowthe unit to buy yet another commercial mortgage banking company -- and not just any CMB, but the No. 3 ranked servicer,CapMark Services? Good question. Sources say it's probably because GMACCM is close to being soldand the buyer has given its blessing on CapMark. Late last week, some CRE professionals were speculating that GMACCMmanagement would be a key player in a buyout and that General Motors would retain a portion of the company whenit is sold. One source said two potential buyers include Dutch financial services giants ABN Amro and ING.Stay tuned...
As Oscar Madison once said, "Revenge is wrong, but oh, so sweet." During the past decade, manya commercial bank bolted the mortgage business, complaining vociferously about the profit margins of residentialfinance. Well, in the first quarter, commercial banks earned $105 billion -- with a ton of help from, you guessedit, mortgage banking. See the Monday edition of National Mortgage News for full details...
Puerto Rico is hot, and not just the weather. Mortgage banker Doral Financial of San Juan funded a record$1.5 billion in home mortgages during the first quarter, citing a strong demand for housing on the island...
How low can it go? At one point last Wednesday the 10-year Treasury was yielding 3.52%. Then on Friday it wasas low as 3.46%...
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: The common stock of subprime lender Delta Financial, Woodbury, N.Y.,began trading Wednesday on the American Stock Exchange. Two years ago, Delta was delisted by the New York StockExchange...
A LENDER THAT YOU MAY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT: American Mortgage Network, San Diego, funded $2billion in home mortgages during the first quarter.
PEOPLE: The real estate finance group of RBS Greenwich Capital has hired Thomas Aschmeyeras managing director and head of its Atlanta office. GE Real Estate has named Jeffrey Aldridge directorin charge of the company's North American debt business. Aldridge will work out of GE's office in Chicago. On TuesdayMay 20, NAR economist David Lereah will speak at the University Club in New York.
WASHINGTON WATCH: States would be permitted to tax the enormous profits earned by Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac under legislation introduced Thursday by Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif. But guess what?The bill likely is going nowhere, fast.
The House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Richard H. Baker,will hold a hearing on May 22 on the role hedge funds play in todays financial markets. In years past many a hedge fund has been involved in shorting subprime stocks.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Commenting on an observation that Fannie Mae's mortgage-related growth has beenslow relative to that of banks, Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines said he thinks banks are exposing themselvesto some risk by investing so heavily in mortgage products. Mr. Raines thinks that when interest rates rise andthe yield curve flattens, banks will exit the mortgage investment market in a way that will be disadvantageousto them, but advantageous to Fannie. However, keep in mind that the yield curve applies to all financial institutions,including Fannie.
ALL MORTGAGE BANKERS TAKE NOTE ONE LAST TIME: National Mortgage News is wrapping up its full-year2002 lending/servicing survey. Mortgage funders of all sizes are invited to participate. The information will appearin the Mortgage Industry Directory which is the "Who's Who" of mortgage banking. If youneed a survey e-mail:
