Originations

ViewPoint Financial Group, Plano, Texas, has agreed to purchase Highlands Bancshares, and its subsidiary bank, First National Bank of Jacksboro, in a stock deal valued at $71 million.

House Republican leaders have included a hike in GSE guarantee fees in their bill to extend a payroll tax holiday that is similar to a Senate version, which means seller/servicers could be facing higher g-fees next year.

BNC National Bank's Doug Brendel is shoulder deep in all of the challenges facing mortgage lenders in the new post-crisis market - expansive compliance requirements, new disclosures, compressed loan processing times, a growing mountain of documentation, and the need for staff buy-in to necessary changes in familiar work processes.

The drop over 3Q11 of commercial and multifamily loans is a credit positive for CMBS, according to Standard & Poor's in a note released Friday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had so far limited its complaint process to just credit cards. But CFPB began taking complaints related to home mortgages as of Dec. 1.

Radian Guaranty Inc.'s delinquent loan inventory declined by a scant 256 loans between October and November as new notices of defaults outpaced cures by nearly 1,800 loans.

One failing common among many small business owners (and in this universe we can include owners of mortgage brokerage shops and small mortgage banking shops) is that they do not run their business like it is a business.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust is among those moving forward with expanding correspondent origination plans as larger players cut back, as a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released last month shows.

More than 90% of the nearly 49,000 condominium units built in South Florida since the real estate boom began in 2003 have been sold. But that still leaves about 4,700 units to go.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority to finalize an "ability to repay" standard for lenders is being questioned, a situation that likely will slow efforts by other regulators working on a rule that exempts certain high qualify mortgages from risk retention.

Only one county in the country, Fairfield, Conn., will have a higher conforming loan limit in 2012. The ceiling in the other 3,200-plus counties will remain unchanged.

Fannie Mae recently told its seller/servicers that all mortgage insurance rescissions, cancellations and claim denials tied to loans it bought must be reported to the agency immediately.

Even with the housing market stabilizing and a settlement between megaservicers and state AGs on the horizon, the mortgage industry shouldn't expect an increase in originations next year, according to a new forecast from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Craig Cole, a former mortgage production chief who recently retired from Union Bank, San Francisco, has launched a new consulting firm to advise clients on their jumbo lending and execution strategies.

The deadline to nominate industry professionals to serve on MISMO's residential governance committee is today.

Although insurance giant MetLife Inc. is contemplating bids for its banking and mortgage divisions, the company's warehouse lending unit is nearing the $1 billion mark in terms of commitments.

Perhaps the future for loan brokers isn't so bleak after all. Wholesale lenders table funded almost $33 billion of loans in the third quarter, giving the channel a 9.2% market share, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Barclays Capital has a cautious outlook for both residential and commercial mortgage credit, its researchers indicated in their global outlook report Thursday.

The Senate this week passed a six-month extension of the National Flood Insurance Program and supporters are hopeful the House will act quickly to prevent any disruption in the issuance of new policies.

Thanks to a growing refinancing boom that gathered steam in the third quarter, small mortgage banking companies benefited as their profits per loan more than doubled during the period.