By now you've seen the exclusive on the National Mortgage News website about Arch Bay Capital of Irvine being the winning bidder on the $600 million Wells Fargo non-performing subprime loan portfolio. The full details - including the price paid - will be in the Monday morning edition of NMN. Don't subscribe? Call: (800)221-1809. A subscription includes both the newspaper and full access to all the exclusives on our website. Meanwhile, many players in the non-performing loan market say that Arch Bay - a vulture fund originally grubstaked by once high-flying alt-A giant Impac Mortgage - likes to stay under the radar and out of the newspapers. Oh well...
As for Impac, few people know that the company is still alive and trading on the OTC "pink sheets" market under the symbol 'IMPM.PK'. And yes, Joe Tomkinson and William Ashmore are still running the place. What you might not know is that a few months back Impac sold its auction company, REDC of California for a decent nickel...
In other non-performing loan news LoanMarket.net, the 'eBay' of distressed and sub-performing whole loans, is ramping up. According to company principal Jeff Freud, over the past four weeks it has added listings of $100 million (unpaid principal balance). Some of its seller-clients include hedge funds...
So, what does Treasury chief Tim Geithner and HUD honcho Shaun Donovan think of the job residential servicers are doing in regard to loan modifications? According to a letter sent out to 25 servicers, the answer is: not so much. The two Obama cabinet members are asking the 25 to designate a "senior liaison" who can work directly with Treasury/HUD in regard to loan mods. The two also want servicers to staff up on loan mod counselors. So there you have it, servicers: start hiring some people. Now. Don't think of it as added costs, think of it as employing someone who might potentially be unemployed and in danger of losing their home...
I must admit, earlier in the week I was a bit depressed by all the recent economic indicators and the downward motion of the stock market. But then on Wednesday night I was feeling a whole lot better after I saw CNBC stock picker Jim 'You Should Buy Countrywide's stock' Cramer saying he was feeling bearish. Cramer has been making plenty of bad calls the past 18 months and the general rule of thumb among the smart money is this: whatever Cramer thinks, go the other way. So if Cramer thinks the stock market is set for more immediate bad news that means the next few weeks will bring a rally. By the way, one reader wrote in telling me that Cramer, not too long ago, gave "businessman" (and former Met/Phillie) Lenny Dykstra a strong endorsement. Cramer apparently called Dykstra one of the great ones - "A guy who is applying the skills to money that he applied to sports. It's brilliant." Among Lenny's many businesses was a chain of car washes. (He eventually sold those.) Anyway, last week "Nails" filed for bankruptcy protection, saying he has more than $31 million in debt and less than $50,000 in assets. In an unrelated note, Lenny's former team, the Mets, continue to suffer from the 'Curse of Citifield.' The curse says this: As long as the taxpayer supported Citigroup is the sponsor of the Mets stadium this team will continue to suffer injuries and losses. Lots of them. And I'm a Mets fan...
It looks as though reverse mortgage pitchman Robert Wagner (of "It Takes a Thief" TV fame) is out on the streets after his employer, Reverse Mortgage Network, pulled the plug on its HECM origination program. A source familiar with the matter tells us that RMN's owner thought it had a deal to sell the company to a Delaware bank but the buyer recently backed out. At least one veteran mortgage banker looked at RMN too. The full story will be in NMN on Monday...
We're hearing that PennyMac may not be the only mortgage vulture fund that would like to go public. (Of course, it's still unclear whether PennyMac's IPO is going to actually happen.) There's at least one other established vulture firm that's contemplating such a move. Kondaur Capital? Arch Bay? Stay tuned...
A few mortgage insurance firms report earnings in the next few weeks: MGIC Investment Corp. on Thursday, July 16, and The PMI Group in early August...
Stop the presses: home prices are on the rise again! Of course, it's in France. According to Barclays Capital, French house prices rose 3.9% quarter over quarter but compared to the same period last year are down 6.7%...
Deutsche Bank on the economy: "Two weeks ago we slightly revised up our second half growth forecast from -1.0% to +0.5%. Given the sometimes large sequential swings in real GDP, this change was statistically insignificant but we believed nonetheless it needed to be made simply to reflect the fact that downside tail-risk to the economy had largely been eliminated thanks to a smorgasbord of government/policy initiatives such as expanded quantitative easing, favorable change in FASB accounting, successful passage of financial stress tests and the release of a detailed financial rescue plan." Got that?
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Senate isn't likely to act on the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency this year, or so we've been told -- but a few industry lobbyists believe that some type of CFPA could see the light of day next year via legislation. This past week House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D.-Mass, introduced his CFPA bill, which makes a few changes to the Obama administration's original proposal. His template delays the proposed merger of the Office of Thrift Supervision and Office of Comptroller of the Currency and leaves enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act with the federal banking agencies. Besides CRA, regulation and enforcement of all other consumer protection statutes will be transferred to the CFPA, which will set mortgage lending standards for all mortgage lenders - whether they are federally or state-chartered or licensed. Reporting by NMN's Brian Collins.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: CRT Capital Group, Stamford, Conn., has named Ron Kripalani its new CEO. Mr. Kripalani is part of an investor group that took control of CRT, formerly known as Credit Research and Trading LLC. Mr. Kripalani, a Wall Street veteran, was a mover and shaker at Countrywide Capital Markets where he served as CEO. That would be Angelo Mozilo's Countrywide.
The 'Annual Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report' is now available. It has complete rankings on the nation's top alt-A, jumbo, and second lien funders and servicers. To order a copy drop an email to:
MUST ATTEND CONFERENCES: This is turning out to be a very popular show. If you're involved in GSE loan modifications, servicing issues, workouts, delinquencies and related topics check out National Mortgage News' upcoming 'Mortgage Servicing Conference' that will be held July 20 - 21 in Dallas. For more information email:
SURVEY NOTICE #1: Time is running out but we still want your information. Loan officers for retail shops and brokerages, we want to know all about your business last year and what you expect for this year. To fill out our annual LO survey, please visit:
SURVEY NOTICE #2: Your mortgage banking firm (depository or non) still has time (but not much) to respond to the annual National Mortgage News/American Banker residential lending and servicing survey ritual. Results will wind up in the revamped eMortgage Industry Directory/MortgageStats.com product as well as the two newspapers and their websites. There is still time to give us your numbers - but not much! If you're a mortgage lender/servicer send an email to:
DATA NOTICE: You can now pre-order the upcoming eMortgage Industry Directory, which includes a subscription to MortgageStats.com. With this product we are significantly expanding our offerings in the data/information services space. One option subscribers will have is to get quarterly updates. We'll also offer a special white paper on 'Ten Mega Lenders to Keep an Eye on in 2009/2010.' To advance order the eMID/Mortgagestats.com email:
