Origination

The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate's annual survey shows the majority of respondents plan to increase their investment in U.S. commercial real estate this year, even though the percentage is lower than last year's notable high.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement a congressionally mandated increase to their loan guarantee fees on April 1.

Big news in the online lead generation world—Google is no longer selling mortgage rate advertising to lenders in all but four states and the District of Columbia.

Home builders increasingly are turning to private equity firms for land acquisition loans as banks continue to book losses on legacy loans they made during the housing boom, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

A new book from journalist Robert Neuwirth estimates that small, illegal, off-the-books businesses collectively account for trillions of dollars in commerce and employ fully half the world's workers. How much of this is going on in America is another question.

Origination News will have its annual top producer survey in the June 2012 issue. The survey is being developed right now and a link on the OriginationNews.com website will be ready shortly. Originators of all types, including those who do commercial real estate loans, are invited to participate.

A top executive at Reverse Mortgage Solutions in Houston said the company's third party origination channel expansion efforts are starting to take root and will lead the company's growth in 2012.

If you were in charge of conducting a meeting with 25 people—some who know each other and some who don't —would you start it off with an icebreaker? Should you?

Successful selling almost always requires the salesperson to obtain information from the prospect to facilitate a sale. Regardless of your product or service, obtaining insightful facts about the prospect’s needs, concerns and desires should serve as a guide on how to accomplish a favorable outcome. The problem that always presents itself is determining how to effectively probe and extract information without sounding like a C.I.A. interrogator whose next question might involve waterboarding.

Although profit margins are still healthy for most mortgage banking firms, net income in the new year will continue to be impacted by "high" rep and warranty expenses, according to a recent report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.