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Mortgage banking attorney Robert Lotstein and two other members of his firm have joined the Washington law firm of Buckley Kolar LLP.Grant Mitchell and Erika Jackson are moving along Mr. Lotstein to Buckley Kolar, which provides comprehensive legal services to the mortgage banking industry. The law firm can be found on the Web at http://www.buckleykolar.com.

Lawrence Yun has been named chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors.Mr. Yun has served at the NAR since 2000, most recently as vice president and senior economist. He has been the chief forecaster at the NAR for several years, pioneering the development of the Commercial Leading Index after assisting in the development of the association's residential Pending Home Sales Index, the NAR said. The NAR can be found on the Web at http://www.realtor.org.

David M. Applegate has been named president of Radian Guaranty and Paul F. Bognanno has been appointed to the newly created position of vice chairman, according to Radian's Philadelphia-based parent company, Radian Group Inc.Mr. Applegate has more than 20 years of mortgage banking and residential real estate industry experience, most recently as chairman and chief executive officer of GMAC Residential and chief operating officer of GMAC ResCap. He was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer of GMAC Residential. Mr. Bognanno served as president and CEO of Principal Residential Mortgage Inc. for the past 11 years. Concurrent with his mortgage banking duties, Mr. Bognanno was a senior vice president at Principal Life Insurance Co. and chairman of the board of Principal Bank. Radian also announced that Mark A. Casale is leaving the company.

Matt T. Weaver, a former president of Capital Mortgage of South Florida, has announced the formation of The Finance Group Worldwide in Boca Raton, Fla., as a specialist in mortgages and other lending for shopping centers, restaurants, and multi-unit buildings.Mr. Weaver, who will be the president of the new company, is partnering with Athan "Tom" Prakas, president/broker of The Prakas Group Inc. restaurant and commercial brokerage firm. The Finance Group will provide commercial and Small Business Administration loans, equity financing, and noncollateralized restaurant financing. It can be found on the Web at http://www.financegroupworldwide.com.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros has resigned from the board of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., to spend more time managing CityView, a company that lends money to urban homebuilders.According to a public filing, Mr. Cisneros' resignation letter is dated Oct. 18, but Countrywide did not issue a news release on his departure until Oct. 24. A HUD secretary during the Clinton administration, he joined Countrywide's board in 2001. In his letter of resignation he notes his "immense admiration" for Countrywide as a company. Countrywide can be found on the Web at http://www.countrywide.com.

Clear Capital, a property valuation outsourcing firm based in Truckee, Calif., has announced the hiring of Dave Shepard as vice president and Scott Richardson as director of product development to lead the company's new Appraisal Division.The pair will immediately begin a search for an appraiser staff and a network of experienced appraisers across the country, the company said. Mr. Shepard, a third-generation real estate professional with 35 years' experience as an appraiser, has built and led appraisal departments for the National Lending Center, Centex Home Equity, Goldman Sachs, and New Century, Clear Capital said. Mr. Richardson worked most recently for Collateral Risk Solutions managing the review and reconciliation of appraisal and other valuation products. He was previously the due diligence manager for Countrywide Securities. Clear Capital can be found online at http://www.clearcapital.com.

Joseph H. Badal will retire as senior executive vice president and chief lending officer of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., Santa Fe, N.M., effective Dec. 31.Mr. Badal, who will also leave his position as one of Thornburg's directors, will be succeeded as senior EVP and chief lending officer by Paul Decoff. Mr. Badal joined Thornburg as a founding director in 1993 and was named to his current positions in 2001, the company said. Mr. Decoff joined Thornburg in January 2007 after 13 years at Countrywide Financial Corp., where he was most recently managing director and chief operations officer at Countrywide Bank. Thornburg, a real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.thornburgmortgage.com.

Luminent Mortgage Capital, San Francisco, a struggling real estate investment trust that invests in mortgage-backed securities, says its chief financial officer has resigned effective Dec. 31.The resignation comes a few weeks after Luminent disclosed that Deloitte & Touche had quit as its independent auditor. The company said Christopher Zyda, its CFO and senior vice president, resigned because he did not want to relocate to Philadelphia when Luminent closes its San Francisco headquarters and moves its operations there. Luminent has already named vice president and controller Karen Chang to replace Mr. Zyda. Meanwhile, Luminent recently sued HSBC Capital, alleging that the lender wrongfully confiscated about $24 million in mortgage bonds that served as collateral for lines of credit. Luminent says HSBC seized the bonds this summer in regard to what it calls an "unreasonable" $5.75 million margin call. HSBC "confiscated the bonds for itself at an artificially steep discount by exploiting an aberrational market," Luminent says. HSBC has declined to comment on the lawsuit. The REIT can be found online at http://www.luminentcapital.com.

The CtW Investment Group, a nonprofit pension fund advisory group, wants Angelo Mozilo to resign as chairman and chief executive of Countrywide Financial Group, saying his "insider" stock sales have destroyed shareholder confidence in him.CtW advises union pension funds affiliated with Change to Win, which has 6 million union members. William Patterson, executive director of CtWIG, wrote to Countrywide lead director Harley Snyder, calling on the company's board to fire Mr. Mozilo. Change to Win unions hold about 3.5 million shares of Countrywide stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened an informal investigation into Mr. Mozilo's stock sales, which have totaled about $300 million over the past three years. In past interviews, Mr. Mozilo has defended his disposition of stock, noting that all sales have been disclosed and pre-arranged. At deadline time, Countrywide's spokesman Rick Simon had not returned a telephone call and e-mail message about the matter.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an informal investigation into the stock sales of Countrywide Financial Corp. founder, chairman, and chief executive Angelo Mozilo, according to combined news reports.The company has declined to comment on the matter. Over the past three years Mr. Mozilo has exercised options and sold shares, but last fall he made changes in his stock selling program to accelerate sales. The stock sales have been made under a planned program referred to as 10b5-1. The North Carolina state treasurer -- on behalf of state pension funds that own Countrywide stock -- recently asked the SEC to investigate Mr. Mozilo's stock sales. This spring, in an interview with National Mortgage News, the Countrywide CEO addressed critics who had questioned his massive selling. He said if he kept all the shares, he'd have to pay taxes on them. "These critics expect me to hold my shares forever?" he said. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.