Originations

The Treasury Department this week unveiled a new joint task force to fight mortgage scams aimed at struggling homeowners seeking payment relief under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

Over the past week or so Bank of America began telling a select group of its warehouse lending clients that their lines would terminate within 30 to 90 days.

Looking for some decent housing news for a change? Try this: A major land developer with 22 master planned communities in 14 states has already equaled last year's sales.

Although some 4,700 units remain unsold from the last condo boom in South Florida, developers are now proposing to build 20 more towers in the tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

Mortgage companies ramped up hiring in October, adding 1,500 full-time employees to their payrolls, according to government figures released Friday morning.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac during the week ending Dec. 1 came in 2 basis points higher at 4%, but still left the average for the past month below 4%.

PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., plans to sell $250 million of unsecured debt, using the proceeds to pay off an equal amount of debt that comes due next April.

The Federal Housing Administration endorsed $15.7 billion of single-family loans in October, a 3% decline from the previous month, according to new figures released Thursday morning.

The LOS has an ubiquitous presence in the day-to-day work of loan officers, underwriters and other lender employees. For these industry professionals, the LOS is a technology used as often as Web browsers and productivity applications like the Microsoft Office suite.

I'll bet you could tell me exactly when the last time someone gave you a meaningful compliment. In fact, I'll bet you can remember exactly what the person said that made your day.

The mortgage industry is packed with folks who were probably high school kids who didn’t start studying until the night before an exam. While it’s possible to get a decent grade with last minute preparation in high school, in the business world it’s also almost impossible to make sound financial decisions when a deadline is biting at your heels. Quality takes time. Smart business decisions can’t be made in a hurry.

Fannie Mae acquired $58.4 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in October, its best purchase month since January and a sign that low rates are starting to spur new activity in the primary market.

The National Association of Realtors' leading indicator of future home sales unexpectedly jumped 10.4% in October after falling 4.6% the previous month.

The American Legion is calling on Congress to extend the $729,750 loan limit on Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed loans before the ceiling drops down to $625,500 on January 1.

BBVA Compass, a commercial bank based in Birmingham, Ala., will be opening a new mortgage back office processing operations center in Tempe, Ariz., and will hire up to 100 people to staff it.

October was the second best month of the year for the private mortgage insurers in terms of applications received, but the third worst in terms of the cure/default ratio, according to the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

Eastern Mortgage Capital, Boston, has issued a $5.1 million mortgage loan for a 117-unit affordable elderly housing facility in St. Louis.

The annual retirement survey conducted by Wells Fargo & Co. found that 76% of middle class Americans said it is important to have a specific amount of money saved before retirement, while only 20% said it was more important to retire at a specific age, regardless of savings.

Application volume fell by 11.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Nov. 25, with the data adjusted to take into account Thanksgiving, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In a worst case scenario investors in bonds issued by The PMI Group could lose upwards of $737 million because the notes are considered "unsecured" according to court papers issued in the mortgage insurer's bankruptcy filing.