RESPA day is March 15. (We think.) No one is quite sure what the Office of Management and Budget will do, but one thing is certain: the agency's 90-day review period ends on that day. OMB is expected to issue an "interim" rule giving the industry a 30- to 60-day comment period. One Washington lobbyist said that the Realtors are happy with what will come out. Stay tuned and read the Monday morning edition of National Mortgage News ...
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As part of our continuing (but somewhat informal) series on bringing to light fast-growing lenders that aren't widely known in the industry, we present Franklin American Mortgage of Franklin, Tenn. FAM is an independent, privately held non-depository mortgage banker headed by Dan Crockett. Dan started Franklin back in 1993 as a small five-person broker shop. Last year, the company funded $5.3 billion in loans and now employs north of 250 people. Mr. Crockett told us that Franklin hopes to be a buyer of other firms. (Recently, NMN incorrectly reported that the firm was for sale.) The chairman, president and CEO of Franklin has set a goal of becoming a top 15 ranked national lender. It currently ranks 69th, according to the Quarterly Data Repor t. See an upcoming story on Franklin in Origination News...
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the ranking minority member on the House Financial Services Committee , made an interesting point last week. He jokingly said in the old days banks didn't have to worry about being accused of predatory lending because they were too busy engaging in another practice: redlining. Rep. Frank's comments were met with wide laughter at a legislative policy conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association ...
Fannie Mae last week upped its 2004 origination forecast to $2.4 trillion from $1.9 trillion. The reason? You guessed it: lower rates. Also, Fannie Mae economist David Berson noted that the labor market remains tepid. "Even though non-farm payroll employment has risen for the past six months, the pace of job growth has lagged well behind every other economic expansion since the Great Depression." A poor jobs picture could affect the home purchase market...
Nonconforming lender First Franklin Financial has opened a new wholesale office in Farmington Hills, Mich. The branch office replaces First Franklin's existing office in Livonia, Mich...
Is the boom in bank and S&L stocks over? Last week Smith Barney equity strategist Tobias Levkovich lowered his rating on the bank sector to "underweight" from "market weight." Banks, of course, own the nation's largest mortgage banking firms...
On Monday, FTN Midwest downgraded Astoria Financial to "neutral" from "trading buy." On Tuesday, J.P. Morgan upgraded the mortgage lender/thrift to "neutral" from "underweight"...
AllRegs, an online publisher of reference information for the mortgage industry, said it has begun the search for a new president and chief operating officer as a result of the consolidation of ownership by Glenn Ford, one of the company's co-founders. Mr. Ford was recently named chairman and chief executive. "We're looking for a seasoned professional to take over the operational responsibilities of what is already a very successful company," said Mr. Ford...
Remember Neil Kornswiet who used to be at Aames Financial? He is now the CEO of People's Choice Home Loans in Irvine, Calif. In the third quarter, PCHL funded (wholesale) $850 million in mortgages...
MISC. MORTGAGE STAT FACTS: IndyMac of Pasadena, Calif., saw its alt-A production grow by 34% in the fourth quarter, according to NMN and the Quarterly Data Report. CEO Mike Perry said last week that IndyMac hopes to rank among the top residential lenders by 2008...
HOUSING STATS: What's the hottest housing market among the top 20 MSAs? That would be Los Angeles where values rose 7.25% in the fourth quarter. San Diego was a close second with 6.71%. San Francisco, which is known for its nosebleed home prices, saw values rise just 2.8%.
WASHINGTON NEWS: Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac's chief lobbyist has left the company after 13 years of service. The Federal Elections Commission is investigating his lobbying activities. (Again see NMN's Monday edition.) The Mortgage Bankers Association has warned the Bush administration that its RESPA reform changes could easily be overturned in court and has suggested that it might be better to re-propose the rule for public comment. The MBA commissioned a legal opinion from its outside counsel, who found that HUD is proposing some Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act changes -- such as penalties for inaccurate good-faith estimates -- that Congress rejected in 1976.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Patti M. Dodge and Kevin M. Cloyd have been promoted to executive vice presidents at subprime lender New Century Financial. Mr. Cloyd will be responsible for whole-loan sales, securitizations, warehouse line management, and pipeline/hedging management. John M. Robbins has resigned as a director from Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. John, as many in the industry know, is chairman and CEO of American Residential Investment Trust, San Diego. He has served as a director since 1996. He tendered his resignation from the board to avoid any potential for a conflict of interest resulting from AmNet's recent entry into the nonprime mortgage sector.
MORTGAGE DATA INFORMATION: National Mortgage News has just completed and published a special white paper on " 15 (Mostly) Private Mortgage Firms to Keep an Eye on in 2004 & 2005." This 18-page exclusive report, which comes in a PDF format, is available for just $79 and includes summaries on some of the industry's more up-and-coming lenders. It provides addresses, telephone numbers and the names of key contacts at the firms. To purchase a copy or see a sample, contact Elizabeth Washington at Elizabeth.Washington
@ThomsonMedia.com or call (202) 434-0328. Also, NMN has just published the fourth-quarter edition of the Quarterly Data Report. The QDR ranks the top 100 firms in many different mortgage sectors. For information contact Deartra Todd at: Deartra.Todd@ThomsonMedia.com.
MORTGAGE SURVEY NOTICE: NMN is still conducting its full-year 2003 production and servicing survey. If you would like to participate, gaining free publicity for your institution, contact Ms. Todd or call (202) 434-0320.
