THIS JUST IN: At least two more midsized subprime firms -- both non-depositories, hurt by buybacks --are considering selling their shops. (One, we're told, is owned by a large publicly traded company.) We're stillchecking out the particulars and hope to have confirmation next week. As one SoCal mortgage executive told us latelast week: "If you don't have liquidity, you're gone"...
Meanwhile, Ownit Mortgage Solutions is asking a bankruptcy court for expedited permission to speed upthe sale of its hard assets which include office furniture, computers, equipment and the like. In a new filing,the nonprime lender also lists its unsecured creditors, which include Countrywide, Lehman Brothersand a host of others. The legal document also mentions the role two warehouse lenders -- J.P. Morgan Chaseand Merrill Lynch -- played in its closing. For the full story see the Monday edition of NationalMortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
Also in Monday's NMN a story about Clayton Holdings advising on $7 billion in loan buybacks andan article by Brian Collins on Congress holding hearings on the subprime industry and foreclosure...
One due diligence expert told us wholesale lenders should hold their loan brokers responsible for their buybacks.He believes brokers have been getting away with too much for too long...
With all the cutbacks, restructurings and failures in the subprime industry, there are a ton of account executiveslooking for work. CMG Mortgage president Chris George told us recently that many AEs "are inplay"...
Alt-A lender Impac Mortgage is expanding its commercial operations. Impac Commercial Capital Corp.recently agreed to purchase certain commercial assets and hire the employees of Fidelity Bancorp Funding,Westminster, Calif. Impac CEO Joseph Tomkinson said one of the mortgage REIT's strategic goals is to increaseits small-balance multifamily and commercial loan origination business...
Subprime lender Novastar Financial this past week hit a 52-week low. Its stock has been trading around$23.65. Meanwhile, subprime servicer Ocwen Financial is trading near a 52-week high...
Reverse mortgage lenders take note: There are 78 million baby boomers in the U.S., according to the U.S. CensusBureau. They account for 25% of the population. An estimated 7,918 boomers will turn 62 each day in 2008 -- or330 an hour...
Delinquencies in home-equity loans fell to 1.79% in the third quarter, from 1.89% in the same period a yearearlier, according to the American Bankers Association...
David Lereah is a senior economist with the National Association of Realtors. I've always appreciatedDavid's insights on the market, and of course -- like many in the industry -- he got a little too caught up inthe real estate boom, hence his book, "Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?: The Boom Will Not Bust and WhyProperty Values Will Continue to Climb Through the End of the Decade." (Publisher: Double Day/Currency.Sixty-eight new and used books are available via Amazon.com starting at $1.13.) OK, so maybe things didn't turnout as rosy as he thought -- but at least he didn't predict a 36,000 Dow like that wild and crazy financialcolumnist James K. Glassman in his book of the same name. In other financial book news, a few years backJim Collins -- author of "Built to Last" -- published a book called "Good to Great"which highlighted 11 companies that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. One of the 11was none other than Fannie Mae, whose fortunes soared under the politically connected Franklin Raines,only to hit the skids -- under the same Mr. Raines...
Well, it looks as though the GSE "watchdog" group, FM Policy Focus can raise the "missionaccomplished" banner. (I understand the White House won't be using its banner again.) FM's chief spokeswoman,Beneva Schulte has departed for greener pastures. We're told the group no longer needs to try its case inthe media and is concentrating on getting a GSE reform bill passed...
MORTGAGE MEETINGS: It's the best mortgage technology show in the business. That would be NationalMortgage News/SourceMedia's 10th annual MT conference, which is being held Jan. 28-30 in Tempe, Ariz. For moreinformation call: (800) 803-3424.
WASHINGTON NEWS: Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., suspects subprime lenders are responsible for risingforeclosure rates, and plans hearings soon. "Foreclosures are on the rise, and most evidence points to predatoryand subprime lending as a major cause," the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee said lastweek.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: The Federal Reserve has named Joseph Falk, a past president of NAMB,as a new member of its consumer advisory council. Clayton Holdings has chosen John P. Courtney asits new chief information officer. Martin J. Levine, co-founder, executive vice president and chief operatingofficer of Opteum Financial Services, will retire March 31.
DATA NEWS: NMN has just raised prices on its popular Quarterly Data Report and AlternativeProducts Quarterly Data Report. The QDR tracks the nation's top lenders with breakouts on subprime and servicing.The AP-QDR focuses on second-lien funders, alt-A lenders, payment-option funders and more. For more info contact
