Who was the top jumbo lender in the fourth quarter? If you said Washington Mutual go to the head of the class.For a top 20 ranking or the complete fourth-quarter list see Monday's National Mortgage News or NMN'snew Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report. For more info on the AP-QDR, which has rankings on secondlien and interest-only lenders, contact
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We know that J.P. Morgan Chase president Jamie Dimon has never been a big fan of the residentialmortgage business, which might explain why so much of that company's mortgage talent has been jumping ship. Latelast year Luke Hayden left, then in January Chase Home Finance chief Steve Rotella took the No. 2job at Washington Mutual. And then last week WaMu hired away three more JPM executives and we're told more arebeing, shall we say, talked to. Do we see a pattern here? Mr. Dimon has only been with JPM since the Banc Onedeal closed. Before that he was in Chicago. Last year Banc One sold its residential wholesale division. Yes,I believe there is a Dimonesque mortgage pattern here, which raises a larger question: Maybe one of these daysJPM might exit the mortgage business, at least the conventional part of it, entirely...
Late last week PHH Corp., the nation's 13th largest lender, filed a statement with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission, saying it has adopted a policy of not entering into "employment agreements"with any of its executives or workers, including its chief executive, Terry Edwards. A few days earliera hedge fund official told us his firm has been investing in PHH's stock. All things being normal, someone mightspeculate that PHH is open to offers again. But the company -- formerly known as Cendant Mortgage -- wentpublic a month ago. Confused? Join the club...
Fieldstone Investment Corp. has come to market with a $728.6 million security backed by nonconformingmortgages. Lehman Brothers, which owns a few nonconforming lenders itself, was the lead manager...
Television and movie actor Robert Wagner has been named the official spokesman for the Senior LendingNetwork, a New York-based group that promotes reverse lending. When I was a kid I waged many a battle to stayup late to watch Mr. Wagner play Al Monday on "It Takes a Thief"...
The Mortgage Partnership Finance program and related FHLB programs were supposed to be a tool the industrycould use to break the hold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have/had on the conventional market. It's no secret thatWells Fargo -- a key backer of FM Policy Focus -- has been a big backer of MPF. But it would appearthat MPF is on wobbly legs these days. Case in point: The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle said last weekit is ending its mortgage purchase program...
EYE ON THE 10-YEAR: On Tuesday the 10-year Treasury was yielding 4.373%. On Wednesday 4.392%. On Fridaythe yield was back down to 4.31%.
AUTHOR AUTHOR: Currency/Doubleday has just published "Are You Missing the Real EstateBoom" by David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. The book,according to its jacket, discusses why home prices and other real estate investments will "climb through theend of the decade." Fannie Mae economist Dave Berson and others supplied book jacket blurbs. Meanwhile,NAR says the second-home market is on fire. See Monday's NMN for more details...
WASHINGTON NEWS: Chicago Title Insurance has entered into a $6.2 million settlement agreementwith the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Texas Department of Insurance. Regulators alleged that ChicagoTitle violated Section 4 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by providing inaccurate HUD-1 settlementstatements. HUD also alleged that Chicago Title's conduct was part of an agreement for referrals in violation ofSection 8 of RESPA. In addition, the Texas agency says Chicago Title of Houston was allegedly engaged in "landflip" transactions. The agreement requires Chicago Title to revamp the manner in which it conducts real estatesettlements nationwide. HUD, OTS and OCC said the company is cooperating with the regulators and has already begunaddressing their concerns.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: CitiMortgage has named Jeff McGuiness managing director of its correspondentlending division. His new responsibilities will include oversight of sales, operations, pricing and customer delivery.Freddie Mac has formed what it calls "a new customer-focused leadership team" in its single-family division.Freddie named Charles Coulter vice president for national lending, Iliana Ghanem vice president forcommunity lending and John Britti vice president for regional lending. First American Real Estate InformationServices has named Andy Williams executive vice president of client relations for its mortgage informationservices group.
DATA NOTICE: NMN has just published its 4Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report. For more infocontact
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