Origination

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Irvine, posted a profit just shy of $1 million in the third quarter, a 68% decline from the same period last year, as it struggles to generate new revenue from its mortgage and real estate service businesses.

J.I. Kislak Mortgage, Miami Lakes, has hired Edward Scott, a former JPMorgan Chase executive, to be its southeast regional manager.

For all of the effort put on brand development, marketing and advertising, it still comes down spending money on employee development in the area of customer service to be successful in sales, according to a report from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement.

WASHINGTON—Under David Stevens’ lead, the FHA has implemented a whirlwind of reforms, including higher net worth requirements for government-approved lenders, steeper downpayments for borrowers with low FICO scores, and a new mortgage insurance premium structure that was approved by Congress. And he’s not done yet.His focus on reducing credit risk, while ensuring access to FHA financing, has been unrelenting. The commissioner has been tough on enforcement, too. He never forgets to mention that some 1,500 lenders have been kicked out of the FHA single-family program under his watch.

The Federal Housing Administration ended fiscal 2010 with a cash reserve ratio of just 0.50%, a slight decline from the same period a year ago, but strong enough that Congress will not have to use taxpayer money to bolster the fund.

Home prices rose 3.6% in the second quarter, but Fiserv economists expect prices to fall 7% nationwide by the end of next summer before stabilizing toward the end of 2011.

Scranton, Pa., leads the nation with the largest median price gain on a year-over-year basis for the third quarter, according to the most recent Hanley Wood Market Intelligence report.

A Pennsylvania nonprofit group is offering home loans with 0% interest rates in a “rent-to-own” arrangement to first-time homebuyers and distressed borrowers.

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Co. Inc. is making a big push to build a residential mortgage origination platform in the metropolitan New York area’s so-called vertical housing market and has brought on board, among others, former IPI Skyscraper and Wells Fargo executive Neil Bader and his former Wells Fargo colleague Russ Pfeffer.

Without a good reason for marketing in this fashion, strategies may not work.A lot of time is spent encouraging businesses to join the social media craze. In fact, many small businesses now have a Facebook page or post on Twitter or are being followed on LinkedIn. But they have never examined why they should have a social media presence. Without knowing the “why” for doing something, a business will likely see its marketing efforts in this area fail.