Originations

Blackstone Group said second-quarter profit more than tripled as holdings rose and its funds realized profits.

The median price of a home sold in June was $193,750, up 12.6% from the same month last year, according to the Re/Max Housing Report.

STORE Capital Corp. is preparing a $218.5 million commercial net lease mortgage-backed securitization.

Fitch did note that while multifamily starts were down in June, the residential numbers were better.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp. has gotten an increase in its Citigroup revolving funding facility to $125 million from $86.2 million.

New business practices mandated by regulators in an effort to reform the primary mortgage servicer market appear to have leveled off large versus small bank differences in customer satisfaction.

Astoria Financial Corp. reported net income of $12.8 million in 2Q13, similar to its earnings for the same period in 2012.

At least $238 million of the more than $575 million that was raised for Sandy relief had not been spent as of April of this year.

Averaged over the course of the week ending July 18, the 30-year mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac dropped 14 basis points to 4.37%.

Raj Date estimates that nonqualified mortgages make up as much as $1.5 trillion of the $10 trillion home-loan market.

For those who do use social media, they have to decide where they are going to get the best return on their efforts.

Fay Servicing has developed an employee training program that focuses on borrower management skills and teaches new hires how to foster close relationships with mortgage borrowers.

Travis Armstrong has high credit score, but because he owes more than his home is worth and has a private-label loan, he’s stuck paying 7.5% interest.

There were 14 of 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite stocks which benefited from the better mood in the market on Wednesday.

A real estate broker/former mortgage broker is turning to the Grapevine to find a source to refinance a multifamily property.

Sergio Benitez, a real estate developer of affordable housing projects for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was sentenced to a 22-month prison term for wire fraud.

M&T Bank remains comfortable with its decision to acquire Hudson City Bancorp even though a recent rise in mortgage rates could crimp Hudson City's profits.

I was pleased to hear from many readers who read my column last week about trying to reboot their businesses in the midst of rapid market change.

Regulators have begun a push to significantly limit, and in some cases completely eliminate, the use of automated valuation tools in property valuation efforts.

While mortgage bankers joined customers in support of the Senate’s reconfirmation of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, challenges remain.