Originations

Bensalem, Pa.-based ISGN provides outsourced services for mortgage originators and servicers, and as such its staff needs to meet the same licensing and training requirements that the in-house staff at the companies which hire it need to meet, one of its top executives noted.

Manufactured housing is a key source of quality affordable housing for 19 million Americans. Our greatest attribute is delivering quality and value to consumers.

When word leaks out that your company is for sale top producers – the smart ones at least – start weighing their options. Readers of this column and the National Mortgage News website have been kept abreast of all the LOs walking out the door at Bank of America.

Senator David Vitter, R-La., late this week introduced legislation that would pressure the Federal Housing Administration to recapitalize its single-family mortgage insurance fund in two years.

California home sales rose 2.1% in November on a sequential basis, and were up 2.3% compared to the same month a year ago, according to the state's premier Realtor group.

Friday morning, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to lows not seen in the last couple of months, a sign that mortgage rates will stay low.

O2 Funding, Foothill Ranch, Calif., late this week closed its East Coast mortgage production operation, electing to concentrate on West coast lending, according to industry officials familiar with the matter.

Fannie Mae's latest multifamily DUS REMIC priced under its guaranteed multifamily structures program included some exceptionally large orders - and high demand for a yearend auction.

Perhaps, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers should license the Aretha Franklin song "Respect." As most industry professionals know, brokers have taken their fair share of blame for the mortgage/housing collapse while retail LOs at many shops have escaped scott free.

When is the best time to start ethics and values training? I suppose the obvious-sounding answer is, "Today at the latest!" However, if you are looking to end up with the very most effective ethics and values training, that answer may not really suffice.

An offhand, deleterious comment about mortgage brokers by President Obama has raised the ire of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers - and brought a strong rebuke from trade group president Donald Frommeyer.

A House Financial Services subcommittee has approved a bill that would establish a foundation for a new private-label securitization market for mortgages.

UMH Properties Inc., a Freehold, N.J. real estate investment trust that owns manufactured housing communities, has received a new $15.5 million mortgage from Oritani Finance Co., a subsidiary of Oritani Bank. The loan is a refinance secured by five MH communities located in Pennsylvania.

Kirchmeyer & Associates, an appraisal and real estate data company, is rebranding itself as The Kirchmeyer Group and has created a new division to offer alternative valuation products.

The average weekly Freddie Mac survey rate for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped 5 basis points during the week ending Dec. 15, returning to its record low of 3.94% for the first time since the week ending Oct. 6.

Are the challenges of a difficult market bringing business intelligence technology to the fore in mortgage lending?

A healthy mortgage/housing market relies on two key factors: low rates and robust employment. We have the former, but the latter seems to be lacking - big time. Or is there true hope on the horizon?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has again delayed implementation of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program, an initiative to update and streamline the loan and appraisal data collected by the government-sponsored enterprises.

In 1997 there was no Google. In 2002 there was no Facebook. There was no Twitter in 2004, and the iPad only made its debut in 2009. There is no indication that the pace of innovation will slow, so how can you plan for the future when the target is moving, and moving quickly?

Wells Fargo & Co. continued to dominate the origination landscape in the third quarter, funding $90 billion of product and amassing a market share of just over 25%—the largest reading ever for one lender.