Origination

Bank of America Friday morning reported a fourth quarter loss of $5 billion on its residential finance and insurance unit, citing $4.1 billion in representation and warranty costs tied to buybacks from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the year ago quarter its mortgage loss was $1 billion.

Existing home sales in Florida increased 4% in December on a year-over-year basis although the median sales price decreased by 5% in the same period.

Investors overreacted to the fourth quarter loss posted by MGIC Investor Corp., a report from FBR Capital Markets implies.

Gains related to principal investments held by certain consolidated real estate funds contributed to relative improvement in Morgan Stanley’s earnings for the fourth quarter and the full year in 2010.

Lower loan sales revenues and fewer originations helped to drive down the earnings posted by PNC Financial Services Group's residential mortgage banking segment from $435 million in 2009 to $275 million for 2010.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage inched up a little in Freddie Mac’s latest survey, but other rates in the weekly report were mixed.

Single-family existing home sales jumped by almost 12% in December after rising 6.7% in November to end the year with a "strong finish," according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors.

Origination technology developer Calyx Software acquired Loan-Score Decisioning Systems Inc., a technology provider whose offerings include a product and pricing engine, an automated underwriting system and eligibility decisioning for Federal Housing Administration mortgages.

The Federal Housing Administration has stopped allowing lenders to use appraisals of model homes in a subdivision or condominium project to value units under construction.

Here is a script for mortgage brokers to sell against bank loan officers.Now don’t get me wrong; I’m sharing this script (written by a mortgage broker) because brokers need all the help they can get to sell against loan officers who work at traditional banks.