If you're looking for an update on the shakeup at the Lehman Brothers - owned Finance Americaread the Monday edition of National Mortgage News. Lehman has put BNC Mortgage chief KellyMonahan in charge of FA. Don't subscribe to NMN? Call: (800) 221-1809...
Is the subprime production market still on fire? Apparently so. In the first quarter the industry funded a second-best-ever$169 billion in mortgages, but set a new record in terms of market share. The story is in Monday's NMN andthe rankings of the top 50 are in the new Quarterly Data Report...
How's this for a "tough" GSE bill: under legislation passed Wednesday Fannie Mae and FreddieMac will be given access to certain chunks of the jumbo market in exchange for being placed under a stricterregulator who likely will not have any (real) juice to reduce their $1.5 trillion in mortgage holdings. And theyget to keep their AU systems, too. In other words, if you thought Fannie and Freddie had lost their Gucci Gulchlobbying magic, think again. These two GSEs continue to play Congress like a string fiddle. Will the White Houseand Treasury cave? Will the mega-banks (Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase) cave? And what aboutthe future of FM Policy Focus? If a bill passes, is it time to pull the plug on that organization? (I wouldn't.)Then again, as one lobbyist told us, "Let's face it: this whole bill can be rewritten in conference"...
The "housing bubble" has finally made the national news. And you thought the networks only did "feel-good"stories. ABC News this past week reported on one Realtor/investor who bought a home in South Florida for$150,000 and later that day sold it for $200,000. Now, if only we can get ABC, CBS, NBC and Foxto cover Fannie and Freddie, the budget deficit...
Which residential funder had the highest average loan size in the first quarter? Could it be a San Francisco-basedlender? According to the new QDR the Bay Area First Republic Bank had an average loan size of $921,779...
Nonconforming giant Ameriquest Mortgage is sponsoring the U.S. leg of the Rolling Stones' "OneStage World Tour." Ameriquest, the industry's most aggressive marketer, also sponsored Sir Paul McCartney'sperformance during the Super Bowl...
Meanwhile, racecar driver Danica Patrick will be sitting in the fourth position, the closest to the polefor any woman who has ever started at the Indianapolis 500. Ms. Patrick is featured in ads for ArgentMortgage, a sister company to Ameriquest. Ms. Patrick made the front page of the Washington Examineron Wednesday...
Countrywide Financial this past week said its long-term target for annual earnings growth remains at15% to 20%. It noted that its goals still include achieving an origination market share of 30% by 2010. Accordingto NMN and the QDR it currently is at 13.79%...
Existing home sales surged in April to a new all-time record of 7.18 million units at an annualized pace. RecentlyFederal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan noted that in some regions the housing market is a bit toofrothy...
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Freddie Mac announced that longtime director John B. McCoy will not stand forre-election at its July 15 stockholders' meeting. The Federal Housing Finance Board has named John Kennedyits new general counsel. Advantage Title Agency has named Joseph Taylor vice president of sales.
FINAL-FINAL SURVEY REMINDER: It's almost too late but not quite yet: Lenders and servicers please fillout NMN's annual production/servicing survey. Respondents will receive FREE our daily mortgage newsbriefing (which is called, of course, Daily Briefing) plus will be ranked in NMN, the MortgageIndustry Directory and other publications. To view the survey
DATA NOTICE: The first-quarter 2005 edition of both the Quarterly Data Report and AlternativeProducts Quarterly Data Report is now available.
The AP-QDR features rankings on the top interest-only, alt-A and jumbo lenders. For more info about these productscontact:
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