Origination

Flagstar Bank, Troy, Mich., will reconfigure its wholesale mortgage sales operations, going from 12 sales regions down to eight. As part of the changes, Dave Bowers, executive vice president and national sales manager, will leave his post and move to Atlanta to manage Flagstar's new South region. His successor as executive vice president and national sales manager is Gregory Lutin. Mr. Lutin has been with Flagstar since 1994, serving in several management positions, most recently as senior vice president of the South division. He will relocate to Flagstar's headquarters in Troy. Other changes at Flagstar include Tim Kalaris managing the Northeast region, Linda Bissell remains as head of the Great Lakes region, Paul Wyner in charge of the North Central region, Rich Hoffman remains as regional manager of the Sunshine region, Rob Mally will oversee the Pacific Southwest region, and Mike Fowler and Kurt Mason are new managers of the Mountain and Northwest regions, respectively. The changes will be effective May 1.

Fannie Mae said its refinancing volume totaled $77 billion in March, up from $41 billion in the previous month, as borrowers took advantage of lower mortgage rates and a new flexible refinancing program. The mortgage giant it has not seen this level of activity since refinancing boom of 2003. "We anticipate that volumes will increase even more as millions of additional homeowners become eligible to refinance" under the Home Affordable Refinance initiative, according to Fannie executive vice president Tom Lund. Under that initiative, Fannie and Freddie Mac are expected to use flexible underwriting to refinance mortgages they already own or guarantee. Borrowers with loan-to-value ratios between 80% and 105% can refinance at current market rates under this initiative. Mortgage insurance requirements have been waived on those refinancing transactions. Existing insurance policies will be transferred to the new loan, however. Lenders and brokers can use Fannie's Desktop Underwriter to process those refinancing applications.

A new Southeast Mortgage Conference will take place on Oct. 7 to 9 in Destin, Fla. According to the sponsors of the show, the new multistate 2009 conference will aid mortgage professionals in adapting to ever-changing legislative and regulatory rules that shape the industry's future and the way it does business. The event is set to include education and networking opportunities as well. The show is co-hosted by six state mortgage broker trade groups from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. For more details, visit http://www.semc2009.com.

Gramercy Capital Corp., New York, has entered into an amendment and compromise agreement with KeyBank NA, the administrative agent for a group of lenders, to settle and satisfy at a discount pre-existing loan obligations of approximately $174.6 million.Gramercy made a cash payment of $45 million and agreed to pay over time an additional $15 million from a portion of free cash flow generated by its collateralized debt obligations. Furthermore, Gramercy satisfied all of its obligations under a $9.5 million master repurchase facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. by making a cash payment of approximately $1.9 million to the bank. JPMorgan assumed full ownership and control of, and responsibility for, the related loan asset. Gramercy and its advisors continue to negotiate amendments of its credit facility with Wachovia Bank NA, and its master repurchase facility with an affiliate of Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Kimco Realty Corp., New Hyde Park, N.Y., has priced its public offering of 91,500,000 shares of its common stock at $7.10 per share.The company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 13,725,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any. Merrill Lynch & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Citi, RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital and Wachovia Securities are acting as joint lead managers. Barclays Capital, CIBC World Markets and Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. are acting as co-managers. Subject to customary conditions, the offering is expected to close on or about April 8, 2009. The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, which are expected to be approximately $623.6 million (without giving effect to any exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option), for debt repayment and for general corporate purposes. The pricing took place prior to the markets opening on April 3. The day before, Kimco closed at $7.49 per share. On April 3, it opened at $8.68 per share.

With the unsecured bond market closed for nearly all issuers, U.S. equity real estate investment trusts will likely continue to use a variety of tools at their disposal in order to maintain adequate liquidity, according to a new special report from Fitch Ratings.In the report, entitled, "U.S. Equity REIT Liquidity Update: The Clock is Ticking," Fitch notes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing remains a key source of capital to the multifamily sector. In obtaining this financing, apartment REITs are faced with the challenge of maintaining strong unencumbered asset coverage metrics while weakening liquidity, or strengthening liquidity and likely weakening quality of the unencumbered pool remaining for unsecured bondholders. Also, many REITs have repurchased unsecured bonds in the open market at discounts to par. While this may be an opportunistic investment opportunity to reduce leverage, such transactions, if large enough, can weaken liquidity if longer-dated bonds are repurchased, according to Fitch. Additionally, many REITs have paid common dividends through a combination of cash and the issuance of new common shares to preserve liquidity.

Fannie Mae has priced a new $4 billion issue of three-year 1.875% Benchmark Notes at 99.874 to yield 1.918% at a spread of 74 basis points over a comparable U.S. Treasury issue. The Treasury spread is specifically compared to the 1.375% Treasury due March 15, 2012. Barclays Capital Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan & Co. are the joint lead managers. The co-managers include Cabrera Capital Markets LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, FTN Financial Capital Markets and Morgan Stanley & Co. The Committee for Uniform Securities Pricing number for the Benchmark Notes issue is 31398AWK4. Its payment dates are each April 20 and Oct. 20, starting this month.

Iberiabank Corp., Lafayette, La., is changing the name of its Little Rock, Ark.-based banking and mortgage operations to reflect the parent company. Effective May 4, Pulaski Bank and Trust Co. will become Iberiabank FSB, while Pulaski Mortgage Co., will become Iberiabank Mortgage Co. Pulaski was acquired in January 2007. The company has recently recruited commercial banking teams in Baton Rouge, La., Memphis, Mobile, Ala., New Orleans and Houston. It intends to open full-service offices in Mobile and Houston under the Iberiabank FSB name. Daryl G. Byrd, president and chief executive, said, "Expanding our company under the thrift charter also allows us tremendous flexibility to grow quickly and with great ease into new markets."

Triad Guarantee recently received a corrective order from the Illinois director of insurance, which would impact its insurance subsidiaries, Triad Guaranty Insurance Corporation and Triad Guaranty Assurance Corporation.Under the order, effective June 1, all valid claims under Triad's mortgage guaranty insurance policies will be paid 60% in cash and 40% by the creation of a deferred payment obligation. "Continuing volatility in the housing and mortgage markets, a high incidence of fraud and noncompliance with underwriting programs in the loan origination process make it very difficult to forecast Triad's future financial position and claims," said Triad CEO Ken Jones. The company said "there is more uncertainty today than when we entered run-off in July 2008." The MI, the nation's smallest, is in the process of self-liquidation. Its shares trade for just 29 cents each.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association is creating a new industry designation called the 'Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional — Loan Originator'. To receive the designation, applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements, such as a minimum two years of service originating reverse mortgages and 50 loans closed, 12 hours of continuing education and submission to a background check, before they can sit for the exam. To develop the new designation, NRMLA has financially supported a committee of a dozen industry professionals and lawyers for the past year to work on the standards. "This is some of the most important money we have ever spent," says Peter Bell, the president of NRMLA. "Our organization's viewpoint is that our first responsibility is to protect the consumer — and this new designation will provide seniors and their children with every assurance that they are dealing with educated, well prepared professionals."