What do former industry veterans Glen Corso(PMI), Bob Englestad(Fannie Mae), and Pete Mills(Countrywide Home Loans) have in common? They've banded together to form 'The Warehouse Lending Project' whose goal is to unfreeze the supposedly frozen warehouse credit pipeline. Unbeknownst to most Americans, there are plenty of non-bank mortgage originators still left and they need warehouse credit. Anyway, that's what Mr. Corso said this past week. One idea the group is kicking around is allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide warehouse financing at the closing table. A few years ago that idea would've gotten a mortgage banker lynched. If you want to read the full exclusive story see Monday's National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800)221-1809...
Was that former Countrywide president Stanford Kurland on CNBC this past week getting his very own profile on the show? It was indeed. Mr. Kurland -- who left CFC before it got ugly there -- is now running loan bottom-fisher Penny Mac. Of course, in the old days CFC founder Angelo Mozilo was a mainstay on the business channel, giving his views on the mortgage market, rates and how CFC would benefit by becoming stronger as other lenders failed. In the end, it didn't turn out that way though. Scribes have written books about Countrywide and Mozilo, me among them. But I'm not the only though. Adam Michaelson, a former marketing executive at Countrywide has just penned "The Foreclosure of America, the Rise and Fall of Countrywide." The book was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal this past week...
Meanwhile, National Mortgage News is about to send out its fourth quarter survey on residential lending and servicing. If you would like to participate send an email to: Deartra.Todd@SourceMedia.com. If you would like to give us commercial mortgage numbers drop a line to: Sharon.Hutcherson@SourceMedia.com. Ms. Todd also sells the Quarterly Data Report, an Excel spreadsheet that ranks the nation's top 100 lenders and servicers and much more...
Remember when JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Stearns in early 2008 and the Federal Reserve agreed to take billions in losses on its mortgage and derivative holdings ? According to one source, there could be some revealing information in JPM's next earnings statement in regard to Bear-related losses now bleeding into JPM...
Beal Bank of Texas has been making several inquiries to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. about buying troubled mortgage portfolios, according to some players in the 'scratch and dent' market...
Among the other items revealed when the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its last FOMC meeting is that the central banker's balance sheet has ballooned to $2 trillion -- compared to $900 billion just a few months earlier. The reason: its purchase of mortgage-backed securities and other assets. Whose managing all these assets for the government? Good question...
The jumbo market presumably caters to people who are millionaires, right? But millionaires ain't feeling too happy these days. According to some reports, nearly a third of their assets have disappeared in the downturn...
Originators are continuing to tell me their latest problems refinancing clients in a declining home market. The latest comes from Scott Dorsett of Orlando, Fla., which has one of the hardest hit condo markets in the nation. He writes (edited by me): "To refi, lenders want an 80% LTV. Hardly anyone that purchased a home in the last four years has that much equity due to the values dropping. The best rates of 4 7/8's is not quite good enough in many cases. Plus to get the best rates you need the best credit 700 FICO-plus"...
By now, you've all read about how the commercial real estate (and mortgage) market is about to get whacked. Time will tell on that one but one large commercial project that recently went bust is the Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C. About $400 million was spent on developing the park which opened in April 2008. One featured roller coaster was Led Zeppelin, The Ride. I'm a Zep fan and was looking forward to taking my kids there but now I'll have to settle for listening to "Black Dog" while riding my mountain bike over speed bumps...
WASHNGTON NEWS: The economic stimulus package, which is slated for a full House vote next month, will hike the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limit back up to $729,500, said Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The Democrat from Massachusetts said the loan limit increase has received the blessing of the incoming Obama Administration. For the full story see Brian Collins' story on National Mortgage News Online:
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Sandy Spring Bancorp has named Daniel Schrider president and CEO of the Maryland based bank and mortgage lender. Ronald A. Rosenfeld has resigned as chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board. The FHFB recently completed its merger with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The new agency -- which oversees all housing GSEs -- is called the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
DATA NOTICE: The Mortgage Industry Directory is still available as well as the online version of the book, the eMID. If you need rankings on the top 400 lenders and servicers, loan brokers, and much more this could be your product. The MID/eMID also provides executive names and telephone numbers, mailing addresses, delinquency info -- and news updates (the eMID only). Buy the book and receive a free Quarterly Data Report. For more information email:
