Once again (and just a few days before Thanksgiving) the media Gods shone their light down on journalists covering Freddie Mac (and Fannie Mae.) Here's some of the highlights of the past week: Freddie admitted that it indeed under reported earnings for the past several years by a whopping $5 billion, but wait, it actually overstated earnings by $1 billion in 2001 and should've been taking (but wasn't) some massive writedowns on its derivatives. To boot, it fired its director of shareholder relations, Rob Weiss (a MortgageWire exclusive) and has spent at least $100 million (and counting) on fixing its accounting woes. Yes that's right -- $100 million. It has yet to report any earnings for any quarter in 2003. It revealed on Friday that 2003 earnings won't be ready until mid-year 2004. During the conference call announcing the long awaited earnings restatement, interim CEO Greg Parseghian said, in general, "the best is yet to come." We assume that this is not a tip-off to reporters that we'll have plenty more negative news to write about in the coming months...
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The biggest question on the minds of many reporters covering Freddie Mac (okay, maybe just me) is whether it would hold its annual holiday press luncheon where we gain access to most of its top brass. The answer is: Yes! I got my invitation in the mail on Thursday. It's being held December 15 at the swank Sofitel Hotel. Talk about being a good sport...
While Fannie and Freddie are getting pilloried inthe media, the Homeownership Alliance keepsissuing white papers and positive press releases. Its latest explains how the fixed-rate mortgage has made homeownershippossible for millions of Americans since the 1930s. (This is indeed true.) Fannie and Freddie, which fund HA (inpart), are the largest investors in the FRM market...
Not so good news for publicly-traded subprime lenderAmerican Business Financial Servicesof Pennsylvania. The troubled B&C lender reported a net loss of $26.3 million (-$8.91 per share) for the recently-endedquarter. Albert W. Mandia,EVP of ABFI, said, "The quarterly loss was primarily due to liquidity issues which substantially reduced ourability to originate loans and generate revenues." The company notes that under its "adjusted businessstrategy," it needs to increase quarterly production to at least $700 million. In the most recent quarterits production volume was just $124 million...
The QuarterlyData Report of NationalMortgage News tracks loan production data on a quarterlybasis. According to the new 3Q QDR, eight lenders had refi rates (refis as a percentage of total production) of45% or lower. Three of the eight are mortgage banking firms owned by home builders...
Non-conforming lender FirstFranklin funded $2.29 billion during October, setting anothercompany record. In case you haven't heard FF founder Bill Dallas is talking about getting back in the mortgage business...
National City,a major player in the prime and subprime mortgage markets, has agreed to acquire AllegiantBancorp, a $2.5 billion asset bank holding company headquarteredin St. Louis, Missouri. Allegiant has 37 branches throughout the area...
Staten Island Bancorp'smortgage subsidiary, SIB Mortgage,lost $1.5 million in the third quarter. This compares to net income of $17.4 million for the quarter ended September30, 2002. SIB Mortgage is on the auction block. Sources note that its parent may be for sale as well...
Data Warehouse Corp.,a lead generation/prospect solutions provider, said it has been named one of South Florida's five fastest-growingprivate companies by the South Florida Business Journal. The selection is based on the company's revenue growth for the combined timeperiod of 2000 to 2002...
Countrywide Financialwants to increase the number of shares of common stock it has the authority to issue to 500 million from the current240 million. CFC recently announced a four-for-three stock split. A few weeks back its stock hit an all time highof $108. On Friday it was trading at $99 or so...
WASHINGTON NEWS: The National Association of Home Builders is looking for a new lead lobbyist. The person hired will be in charge of one of the nation's largest political action committees and will oversee a staff of 26.
The Office of Thrift Supervision says the nation's thrift industry earned $3.4 billion in the third quarter, a 16% jump from the same quarter a year ago. Washington Mutual accounted for $1 billion of the $3.4 billion.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Freddie Mac has retained the services of Charles M. Elson, the Edgar S. Woolard, Jr. , chair in corporate governance and the director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Mr. Elson, an expert in corporate governance, will work with the company and its directors to strengthen the company's corporate governance practices, policies, and guidelines.
Homestar Mortgage Services of New Jersey has hired Brian Penkoski as a loan officer in its Rutherford office. He reports directly to branch manager Sharon Dellay .
WATCH ON THE 10-YEAR: As we went to press the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.13% compared to 4.45% a week ago.
MORTGAGE DATA: Need reliable research on mortgage loan origination software (LOS) systems, or wholesalers' use of the Internet? Two new National Mortgage News white papers address these important technology topics. For more information contact: Liz Washington (202) 434-0328 or e-mail: Elizabeth.Washington
@ThomsonMedia.com . You also may want to check out the new 3Q issue of the Quarterly Data Report, which ranks the top 100 lenders and servicers every quarter with breakouts on prime, subprime, production channels, servicing and much more. For more information contact Deartra Todd at (202) 434-0320 or email: Deartra.Todd@ThomsonMedia.com.
There will be NO briefing the weekend after Thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday.
