THIS JUST IN: Washington Mutual's production chief, Tony Meola, has resigned. Sources sayhe's joining a competitor
It's survey season once again. Origination News and Broker magazine are conductingtheir annual survey of loan officers. To participate
Housing secretary Alphonso Jackson told the mortgage industry last week that HUD's RESPA proposal iscoming very "soon" and if Congress doesn't like it -- guess what? HUD will start over again! For thefull story see the Monday edition of National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809
HUD, by the way, has hired a private firm to conduct RESPA investigations for it. The firm includes severalformer FBI agents, according to HUD official Gary Cunningham
Here's something to think about: A few weeks ago Freddie Mac settled a consolidated shareholders lawsuit,agreeing to pay $410 million in damages. The plaintiffs sued, arguing that they were misled by the company aboutits finances. When Freddie's accounting scandal broke wide open in June 2003, its shares went on a rocky ride.But Freddie's woes were a bit different from that of its sister company, Fannie Mae. Freddie was earningso much money that it felt compelled to sock away $5 billion for a rainy day. Fannie, on the other hand, was cookingits books to hide $11 billion in losses that it should've been taking. Now, this is where it gets interesting.Fannie, too, has been sued by shareholders. If Freddie's settlement cost it $410 million, what's Fannie's goingto cost? If I were a betting man (and I'm not) I'd wager that it could be close to $1 billion. I wonder how Fannie'sdirectors will react to that? After all, most of the "Frank Raines-era" board is still employedby the company, and according to the shareholder suit filed in Washington, the board just rolled over and playeddead for Mr. Raines
Meanwhile, former Fannie Mae president Larry Small is in the news again and the news isn't good. Mr.Small, who now heads the Smithsonian, was president of the GSE when some of its accounting problems tookplace. The inspector general of the Smithsonian is now probing the accounting practices of the museum's businessdivision. Also, Mr. Small's salary as head of the Smithsonian -- $813,000 -- is raising eyebrows
ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO: The Congressional Budget Office unleashed a historic report saying FannieMae and Freddie Mac received $6.5 billion in federal subsidies in 1995, citing their ties to the government. TheCBO report -- often cited by the GSEs' enemies -- described the two as "spongy conduits -- soaking up $1 forevery $2 delivered"
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA'S REAL ESTATE MARKET: A surge in the number of vacant and newly constructedapartment buildings in that fast-growing (sort-of communist) nation is fueling press reports that a shakeout mightbe just around the corner. Speculators are playing a key role in the boom, and low- and moderate-income familiesare being priced out of certain markets. Sound familiar?
CLARIFICATION: Last week we reported that Citigroup was doing away with its CitiFinancialsubprime brand. Apparently, that's not the case, at least not in regard to the retail channel. See Monday's NMNfor more details.
WASHINGTON NEWS: A Colorado insurance regulator told Congress on Thursday that a "black market"exists in which real estate agents, homebuilders, lenders and mortgage brokers are demanding and receiving illegalkickbacks from title insurance firms. For the full story see Brian Collins' story in Monday's NMN.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: GSC Partners, which manages $9 billion in assets, has named Thomas E. Dialvice president of structured finance group. Mr. Dial will be a portfolio manager and structurer of CDO's wholeloan securitizations. National Cooperative Bank has named Gloria Exum vice president of real estateand commercial loan closings.
MORTGAGE DATA & RESEARCH: NMN is still offering its Annual Data Report, which ranksthe nation's top overall and nonprime funders and servicers, complete with channel breakdowns and much more. Alsocheck out our Alternative Products QDR, which offers rankings on the top alt-A, IO, payment-optionARM and jumbo lenders (and more). For pricing information contact
