According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, residential delinquencies hit a two-yearlow in the fist quarter, but the "past due" figure could be masking a rise in foreclosure activity. Theforeclosure business is so good that Foreclosures.com which tracks "notices of defaults" in 18counties (mostly California) is making a big push into Florida, Texas and Washington, all of which are high-volumestates. As anecdotal evidence, NMN correspondent Georgiana Lee reports that her brother can't sellhis house on the outskirts of San Jose because the price index has dropped by 40%. (San Jose is tech central.)It's a $900,000 house. In other foreclosure-related news, Ken Brennen of KAB Group LLC, has launcheda fund to invest in foreclosed properties in the New York City borough of Queens. His timing couldn't be better.New York City's wobbly economy worsened in May as investment banking activity remained soft and the city's servicessector struggled to emerge from its doldrums. For more details on foreclosures see the Monday edition of NMN...
Mortgage insurers are still hopeful they can get legislation passed that would make MI payments tax deductible.(MI tax deduction language was stripped out of the final tax cut bill.) But meanwhile, according to survey datacompiled by NMN, it appears that "80-10-10" loan structures are stronger than ever...
The mortgage insurance division of General Electric, GE Mortgage Insurance of Raleigh, N.C., earned $119million in the first quarter, the same amount it earned in the first quarter of last year. GEMI is one of the starsof GE's overall insurance group...
By now everyone knows how the stock of New Century Financial Corp. has been on a tear of late. But twoother publicly traded subprime stocks to watch include Accredited Home Lenders (Nasdaq: LEND) and SaxonCapital (Nasdaq: SAXN). Both recently hit 52-week highs...
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Mortgage industry veteran Joseph P. Bryant has been hired as chief operatingofficer of Paragon Financial Corp., a residential mortgage banker based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Overthe past 20 years, Mr. Bryant has served in senior posts at GE Capital Mortgage, Prudential Insurance,Travelers, Long Island Savings Bank and Roslyn Savings Bank.
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Homeownership Alliance will kick off National Homeownership Month (whateverthat is) on June 3 by presenting a "Homeownership Hero" award to HUD secretary Mel Martinez.(Mr. Martinez may run for a Senate seat in Florida in 2004.) According to HA, a "Homeownership Hero"is someone who has "contributed to the expansion of homeownership opportunities for all Americans." HAis headed by Rick Davis who ran Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. HA is funded by FannieMae, Freddie Mac and other housing/finance-related organizations. GSE foe FM Policy Focus, asyou might guess, is not a financial backer of HA. Unlike FMPF, HA does not lobby.
NO LONGER WITH US: John H. Rousselot, a conservative Republican who headed the National Councilof Savings Institutions, died two Sundays ago. He was 75. Mr. Rousselot, who served in Congress for 14 years,was a regional and national officer of the John Birch Society. He was also a lobbyist and held the distinctionof trying to buy Lincoln Savings (before it hit the skids) from Charles H. Keating Jr. Lincoln'sfailure resulted in criminal convictions and a $2 billion hole in the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp.
BOND MARKET NEWS: OK, this really has nothing to do with mortgages, but take note: Moody's InvestorsService said it may downgrade about $55 million of bonds backed by music royalties of rock music icon DavidBowie in light of the sales slump in the recording industry. Mortgage bonds on the other hand (as most NMNreaders know) have been a saving grace for Wall Street.
ALL MORTGAGE BANKERS TAKE NOTE ONE (THIS TIME WE REALLY MEAN IT) LAST TIME: National Mortgage Newsis still wrapping up its full-year 2002 lending/servicing survey. The final-final deadline to get your survey into us is Wednesday June 4. After that it will be too late. The information will appear in the Mortgage IndustryDirectory which is the "Who's Who" of mortgage banking. If you need a survey e-mail:
