Origination

Although the nation's labor markets are beginning to stir to life, mortgage banking and brokerage companies added just 900 new full-time jobs during September, according to figures released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The federal government may need to spend upwards of $700 billion to resolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and then create a new government "entity" to replace them, according to a report from Standard & Poor's.

Foreclosure-related problems could cost a quartet of U.S. banks $26 billion, according to a report published by analysts at Goldman Sachs, which noted that Bank of America will feel more than half of those losses.

Bank of America funded $72 billion of home mortgages during the third quarter, a slight decline from 2Q, the company reported Thursday.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations are at their highest level in nearly two years -- driven by sequential growth in the health care and multifamily sectors.

Will the Federal Reserve's $600 billion worth of "quantitative easing" lead to yet another significant dip in mortgage rates? Probably not, but loan rates may continue to fall, at least slightly.

WASHINGTON — With the GOP's sweeping victory in the mid-term elections, observers were already questioning the fate of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the new Congress.

ATLANTA—Headhunters are looking for any experienced, competent compliance person to help lenders deal with the new regulatory and business environment, an executive with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services said in an interview during the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention here.This is because the changes are putting an incredible compliance burden on the individual lender, said Edward Kramer, executive vice president, regulatory programs.

The most difficult thing about being a public relations professional is correcting a client’s perceptions about the field of PR itself.PR people are depicted in the movies as “spin doctors,” stretching the truth or lying outright to present their clients in the best possible light.That characterization couldn’t be further from the truth, and not because the portrayals are exaggerated and phony, but rather, because they proceed from the false assumption that a PR agent’s work is just about “selling” his client.

Tuesday's elections handed the Republicans control of the House of Representatives — and therefore the Financial Services Committee — which means GSE reform moves to the top of their agenda.