Originations

Home prices fell 1.3% in October after a 1.1% decline in September, according to new figures release by CoreLogic.

WASHINGTON—Congress has handed the Federal Housing Administration a golden opportunity to increase its share of the jumbo mortgage market, but HUD secretary Shaun Donovan doesn't want to exploit the situation.

This is yet another column discussing running your mortgage originations business (be it broker or banker) like it was any other business. Successful business owners don't necessarily reinvent the wheel especially when it comes to what might be termed "human resources" stuff.

Equity Residential, a real estate company that owns and invests in multifamily properties, has agreed to purchase a 26.5% ownership stake in Archstone, which is in the same business, from Bank of America and Barclays Bank PLC, for $1.325 billion in cash. This move is the opening salvo in what is likely to turn into a battle over control of Archstone's assets.

Bank of America is continuing to lose top retail loan officers and managers to the competition, the latest departure claiming a handful of employees in the Columbia, S.C. area.

PNC Bank is searching for a divisional manager to oversee mortgage operations in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, South and West, according to a job notice provided to National Mortgage News.

Supreme Lending, a Dallas-based mortgage banker, has hired James E. Iley Jr., as the company's new senior vice president, national production manager.

Five banks across the nation failed in November, according to Trepp LLC's latest report, with commercial real estate a major contributing factor.

National Cooperative Bank FSB, Arlington, Va., originated $41 million in residential cooperative loans during the third quarter. This brings its total up to $118 million in new loans for 542 residential cooperative unit owners through Sept. 30.

Overall satisfaction with mortgage originators is up 13 points, which is "a pretty sizeable increase," noted an analyst with J.D. Power Associates regarding its 2011 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study.

Tim Galu rose to being a leading originator by treating clients' loans as if they were his own. There are more than a few examples of customers deciding to become active in an industry because of the pleasant experience they had using their product.

The improvements in mortgage industry technology in recent years should have helped to improve loan quality and compliance. Yet, as a discussion put together by Origination News during the recent Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Chicago thrashed out, there is still a long way to go to effectively use automated processes.

Fitch Ratings said Friday that an outlook change to negative for "defeased" U.S. CMBS looks unlikely despite the use of government debt in defeasance and a recent revision of the sovereign outlook to negative.

PNC Financial Services is taking a look at parts of MetLife Mortgage, according to industry advisors familiar with the situation.

The composition of the housing markets is changing, as are some key housing demographics, according to the latest edition of the National Association of Realtors' annual profile of buyers and sellers.

Delinquency rates on securitized commercial mortgages fell sharply in November for the first time in three months, but analysts at Trepp LLC don't see it as a trend.

GMAC Mortgage on Friday said it will no longer purchase loans originated by mortgage correspondents or brokers in Massachusetts, citing the regulatory environment in the state.

Title insurance firms wrote $2.35 billion of new business in the third quarter, down slightly from the same period last year, according to new figures compiled by the American Land Title Association.

Confidence surveys suggest consumer borrowing might be stabilizing as the economy shows signs of recovery, but it remains unlikely to increase in the short run, according to a Moody's conference call on the outlook for consumer finance.

The difference between a sales technique being effective, and sounding cheesy is sometimes like the old real estate adage: location, location, location.