As the weekend approached it became clear that John Korsmo's enemies (in and outside of the Federal Home Loan Bank system) wouldn't have him to kick around anymore. Late on Friday the Federal Housing Finance Board chief offered his resignation to the White House. Why did he resign? It's indirectly related to a fund raising dinner he lent his name to. Keep in mind that fund raising dinners were also at the heart of Mitch Delk's recent exit from Freddie Mac. Moral of this story? Don't mix mortgages and meals...
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Remember former Freddie Mac executive Byron Boston who exited from the mortgage giant late last year? Mr. Boston has landed on his feet, signing on as vice chairman and EVP of Sunset Financial out of Jacksonville, Fla. Sunset, a REIT that recently went public, invests in residential, and commercial bridge loans...
Also resurfacing is Bob Howard, best known in the industry for his days at Southern Pacific Funding , a West coast-based subprime shop. Bob is with a new firm called Sunset Direct Lending...
This past summer Fannie Mae said not to worry about its investments in bonds backed by manufactured housing loans (MHL). But the company's new 10-K reveals that its MHL portfolio declined to $8 billion at year-end from $10 billion a year earlier. Especially revealing is a $155 million impairment charge it took. Interestingly, in the same filing Fannie says the sector is showing signs of improvement and that liquidity and pricing are improving. Wasn't it Fannie Mae that gave the MHL market a much needed shot in the arm in February when it said it would buy MHL loans with down payments as low as 5%?..
Call it the 'Friends' Effect? According to SMR Research, single people probably will become a majority of all home buyers in 2004. Back in 1990 singles accounted for just 26.7% of the home purchase market, SMR says...
Barron's recently reported an already reported rumor that Citigroup is eyeing Washington Mutual...
Subprime lender Aames Financial said its board is considering converting the company into a real estate investment trust. I have a question to ask: why are subprime firms using REIT structures? To save money on warehouse lines?..
Sandler O'Neill has added North Fork Bancorp to its "focus list" which is not surprising since Sandler was its banker on the recent Greenpoint deal...
PMI Mortgage Insurance has opened an office in Milan, Italy, naming Giuliano Giovannetti Italian country manager. Giovannetti will manage the Italian branch office of PMI Europe and will lead the company's drive to expand its client base within the Italian market...
WASHINGTON NEWS: As the mortgage world already knows by now, this past Monday the White House and Office of Management and Budget chickened out on RESPA, asking for another 30 days to review the controversial revamped final rule that nobody has seen -- which means we really don't know how controversial it is -- right? Washington attorneys following the ups and downs of RESPA predict that something will come out before the summer. While we're speaking of RESPA, former HUD executive Grant Mitchell (who worked on RESPA while at the agency) owns the domain name Mr. RESPA. The domain name RESPA.com is owned by a company that has nothing to do with mortgages.
UPCOMING CONFERENCES: The Mortgage Bankers Association will hold its annual "National Secondary Market Conference and Expo" in mid-April in Washington. Panel discussions will be held on GSE reform, predatory lending and much more.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Subprime lender American Business Mortgage Services of Pennsylvania has named William Winters senior vice president, in charge of the company's broker business. Freddie Mac has named David Brickman vice president of multifamily capital and portfolio management, a new position that consolidates other functions at the company. Washington Mutual said that its current chief investment officer David Beck has been named executive vice president of its capital markets group.
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.
