It seems the old gang at Cohane Rafferty Securities, a once - prominent deal maker in mortgage land,is drifting away. Cohane managing director Ed Elanjian recently joined Lehman Brothers' AuroraLoan Services. (Cohane was bought by Lehman a few years back.) Also departing: Tom Donatacci who returnsto GMAC Mortgage, hence, he came. See upcoming stories in National Mortgage Newsand on MortgageWire
It's finally ready: the brand-new Mortgage Industry Directory, featuring rankings and profileson the nation's top 400 lenders and servicers, including contact names and telephone numbers. Brand new to the1,000-page book is a chapter on the nation's top 400 loan officers. For more information contact
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Late Friday afternoon Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama unveiled hislong-anticipated GSE bill. Although the legislation offers no hard caps on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac'sportfolios, it calls for them to have a "limited inventory" of mortgages to support their MBS business.It also gives their regulator the authority to force their MBS portfolios to run off (amortize) over time. Staytuned for updates
It appears that raiding the top executives at Chase Home Finance has paid off for Washington Mutual.WaMu's second-quarter profits jumped by 73% to $844 million. Moreover, WaMu CEO Kerry Killinger told investorsthat his company is "positioned to go toe-to-toe with any competitor in the mortgage business." (CountrywideHome Loans give us a call.) See Ted Cornwell's story in Monday's NMN
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo posted record net income in the second quarter despite taking a $304 million servicingimpairment charge
In case you haven't noticed, the share price of Genworth Financial (which owns a mortgage insurance unit)is now at $32. It went public in the spring of 2004 at less than $20. That's a nice little bump up
Friedman Billings Ramsey has initiated coverage of PHH Corp., calling it an "outperform."PHH is the parent of PHH Mortgage, the nation's largest private-label funder
This past week Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan once again picked on interest-only loansas well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac, by the way, has been buying a ton of IOs -- from Wells, WaMuand Countrywide
Here's a conspiracy theory making the rounds: Wall Street's real estate analysts are trumpeting housing "bubble"concerns louder than ever because they want investors to ditch housing in favor of stocks. Eliot Spitzertake note
RESPA NEWS: At a July 21 RESPA forum in Los Angeles, Department of Housing and Urban Developmentofficials got an earful from pest inspectors, title company owners and other settlement service providers who saidthey firmly oppose packaging. "They were very dubious of the suggestion that in a 'package world' cost savingswould be passed onto consumers," said HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan. "They were very apprehensiveabout this and told us so in no uncertain terms," he said
COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE NEWS: The federal government likely will extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Actfor only one year, predicted Lisa Pendergast, managing director for CMBS strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital.Speaking at a media gathering in New York, Ms. Pendergast said the government expects the industry to figure outsome kind of private insurance market, for which there are models in some countries such as the United Kingdom.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: What is it with July? A ton of personnel changes have occurred this month. Here's justa sample: Citigroup has named Bill Beckmann president of CitiMortgage of O'Fallon, Mo. RBCMortgage named former Wall Streeter Randy Lightbody managing director of its wholesale division. (Mr.Lightbody was national production manager at Morgan Stanley.) New Century Financial namedKarl S. Weiss senior vice president of capital markets for its NC Capital Corp., affiliate.Fannie Mae named Thomas Lund EVP of its single-family mortgage business and Kenneth Bacon EVP ofhousing and community development. Fannie also named Richard Lawch SVP of multifamily. HanoverTradepromoted Anne T. Akers SVP and sales manager of its loan sales advisory group. Saxon Capital saidthat Bradley D. Adams and Mark D. Rogers are no longer employed by the company. Mr. Adams was thesubprime lender's EVP for capital markets, Mr. Rogers, SVP and corporate strategies director. Saxon gave no reasonfor the departures. Franklin Credit Management, an investor in “scratch and dent” product, has hired SteveSchloss as a sales executive. Steve, by the way is a former, NMN ad salesman.
MORTGAGE PR PEOPLE: Freddie Mac has lost one of its best PR officials. Departing the company last weekwas Douglas Robinson whose knowledge of the industry helped reporters understand some of the more complexangles of the MBS market. He will be sorely missed. (Point of disclosure: Doug used to work for NMN. Healso is the author of children's books.)
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-Aand jumbo lenders. For more info about these products contact:
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