Origination

Private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, Greenwich, Conn., has purchased a non-performing commercial real estate loan portfolio with an outstanding principal balance of $157 million from an undisclosed Midwest regional bank.

Glimcher Realty Trust, Columbus, Ohio, has priced its 13 million share public offering below the amount the stock traded at when the markets closed Wednesday afternoon.

Rates in Freddie Mac’s closely watched survey have started the year at levels that are below the market’s recent rate spike and those seen in the previous week. But they are still above the record lows seen in the past year.

Most people tend to agree that the future of financial service exchanges is in a virtual marketplace. What has never been very clear is how fast it will happen and who will turn out to be the primary drivers of that switch: the banks or their customers. A survey conducted by Fiserv Inc. showed 11% of online consumers are currently connected with their bank or credit union through a social site while up to 36% of those not yet connected expressed interest in doing just that

Organizations often proudly trumpet their ethics training programs and, in doing so, frequently point out the significant time and money they spent on developing or purchasing their program. Some of these programs are certainly extremely well designed.

CALCAP Financial, a hard money lender based in Southern California, hopes to double its loan volume in 2011.

The 30-day plus delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities hit a record high of 9.2% in December, up 27 basis points from the previous month, and a 300 bps jump from a year ago, according to Trepp LLC. Multifamily overdues were even worse, at an increase of 68 bps.

All Home Equity Conversion Mortgage applications which received case numbers after Dec. 1, 2010 must have contain the revised closing certification, which includes language that pertains to home sellers and purchasers involved in a HECM for Purchase transaction.

Having recently completed its acquisition of Massachusetts-based lender ClearPoint Funding, investment bank Gleacher & Co. Inc. has made plans to—among other things—officially transfer its related capital markets group to New York from Marlborough, Mass.

Agricultural Federal Credit Union of Washington, D.C., is the first credit union to complete a CU Mortgage Association HarmonyLoan, which allows homeowners to adjust their interest rates with the market without the expense and trouble of a traditional refinance or new mortgage.