Origination

The chairman of Fort Worth, Texas-based homebuilder D.R. Horton said foreclosures and tighter mortgage lending standards are among the items hurting his company’s performance.

Thrift industry veteran George Engelke announced that he will step down as CEO of Astoria Financial Corp., a top ranked residential and multifamily lender in the New York area, but will remain as chairman of the company. His departure date is July 1.

Read the scenarios below and ask yourself—which type am I? No. 1. The customer says (either on the phone or in person): "Tell you what—I've decided not to take the Blue Widget." Answer from a passive person: "OK, thanks." Customer feels nothing.

Now that residential application volumes are on the wane—thanks to rising mortgage rates—the obvious question becomes the most gut wrenching: When will mortgage bankers begin cutting heads and which firms will bite the dust?

Tight credit conditions, higher mortgage rates, and a big drop in refinancings will push residential originations below $1 trillion this year to levels not seen since 2000, according to economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In the first full year of operation under New York Community Bank ownership, the former AmTrust residential mortgage banking platform produced $10.8 billion in loans in 2010, with $3.8 billion coming in the fourth quarter.

PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., expects to more than double its fourth quarter profit to $181 million, thanks in part, to a huge upward adjustment concerning the value of its residential mortgage servicing rights.

The sector of real estate investment trusts that specialize in the secondary mortgage market will post returns on equity averaging in the mid-teens for the fourth quarter, a Credit Suisse analyst predicted in research released this week.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc., Troy, Mich., lost $192 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with a loss of $23 million in the third quarter of that year and a loss of $72 million for the fourth quarter of 2009.

One of the things I enjoy most is reading books on sales and influence (also known as persuasion). It may sound strange to you at first. But stop and think about it. Isn’t everything we do everyday involved in persuasion and trying to convince someone to do what you want?