Origination

It makes your head swim doesn't it? In 2011 alone, the mortgage industry averaged 22 mortgage rule changes per month according to www.MortgageCurrentcy.com - and that was just for loan originators. It seems like every day, there's a new social media platform. Phone apps. Everyone and his brother and sister are talking about new ways to use them in your mortgage practice.

The growing number of community banks starting warehouse lending programs has to be gratifying to the executives at Titan Lenders Corp., Denver. It was just three years ago they were so concerned about the future of this business they called for Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to fill the need.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc., Troy, Mich., lost $45 million for the fourth quarter, which represents a vast improvement over the $192 million loss for the same period in 2010, attributing the results in part to "near-record revenues from our mortgage banking business."

Mortgage loan application volume declined by 5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Jan. 20, as interest rates on some fixed-rate loans rebounded from their all-time lows, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The results for the current survey include an adjustment to account for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

Fannie Mae's final multifamily issuance numbers for 2011 are in and they reflect a 50% increase from the previous year, according to an executive at the government-sponsored enterprise.

Citigroup Inc. will no longer purchase "medium or high-risk" loans that could result in buyback requests from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, in the bank's latest effort to improve the quality of mortgages it buys from correspondent lenders, according to an internal memo obtained by American Banker.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will tap small lenders to review its approach to merging the RESPA and TILA mortgage disclosure forms before issuing a proposal for public comment.

Alaska developer Lee Baker, Jr., known in Anchorage as "The Condo King," has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied on loan applications to Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union.

The nation's largest mortgage insurer, MGIC Investment Corp., posted yet another large loss in the fourth quarter, $135 million, but managed to obtain an operating waiver from the Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A new year brings a clean slate for many area. And for those who own a mortgage origination shop, it means the books from 2011 are closed. It is time to rededicate to running that business like a business.