Origination

If there has been one lesson to heed from the current crisis is that to remain a successful mortgage professional, you need to build a referral-based business. But for quite a few people, they need to know the answer to the basic question how do they start.

Wells Fargo & Co. may soon be the most valuable bank in America based on market capitalization.

WASHINGTON—A federal watchdog agency for financial products could have prevented the 2008 mortgage crisis, according to the president’s pick to get the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau up and running by next summer. “The crisis of 2008 was a preventable disaster,” Elizabeth Warren told a Consumer Federation of America Washington conference.

Union Bank, San Francisco, this week rolled out a 30-year, fixed rate jumbo loan, adding to its arsenal of portfolio products. The mortgage will be offered through both its retail branches and outside loan brokers that work for the company.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition plans on challenging the policy of certain lenders that require higher credit scores on Federal Housing Administration-insured loans than the agency itself requires.

Americold Realty Operating Partnership is in the market with a $600 million securitization backed by cold storage facilities. The deal is called Americold 2010 Trust Series 2010-ART.

The economic recovery should accelerate gradually throughout 2011, with the second half of the year exhibiting more growth and job creation than the early part, according to Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft.

A bureau of the U.S Treasury Department may require mortgage brokers and independent mortgage banking firms to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and set up anti-money laundering programs and file suspicious activity reports for the first time.

Joseph Herbst, a top executive at two large corporate credit unions that failed under the weight of risky mortgage investments, emerged last week after being hired as the new CEO for CUMAnet, a mortgage lending credit union services organization based in Basking Ridge, N.J.

Roughly one in four houses sold nationally in the third quarter were distressed properties. But according to research firm Housing Intelligence, more than half the properties that changed hands in eight metro areas were foreclosures.