Originations

With the current low interest rate environment, a financial planner is saying unorthodox income-planning strategies need to be considered, such as using IRA or 401(k) funds sooner in the retirement timeframe to avoid drawing on Social Security benefits earlier than necessary.

Innkeepers USA Trust has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by completing the sale of 64 of its hotels to a joint venture between the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and the real estate investment trust Chatham Lodging Trust.

Single-family originations by commercial banks and savings institutions jumped almost 17% in the third quarter from the prior period, but compared to a year ago production is down 23%, according to new figures released by the FDIC.

Big banks are fleeing the reverse mortgage industry, leaving specialty lenders with more business than they know what to do with.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has reached a settlement with Wells Investment Securities Inc., where the latter will pay a $300,000 fine for using misleading marketing materials in the sale of Wells Timberland REIT Inc., a non-traded real estate investment trust.

A whistleblower lawsuit filed by two mortgage brokers has been unsealed in Federal District Court in Atlanta claiming that 13 banks and mortgage companies have cheated veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

We all give thanks for many things on Thanksgiving, but do you who are owners and managers show your employees some gratitude for all the hard work they do for your business?

Technology vendor a la mode said its connection to the GSEs' new appraisal delivery portal has passed testing and is now operational, submitting appraisals to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal, or UCDP.

Bank of America Corp.'s board has been told the company could face a public enforcement action if banking regulators aren't satisfied with recent steps taken to strengthen the bank, according to a report by Dow Jones.

David Bochsler, one of two Bank of America divisional production managers who got the ax when the bank exited a handful of retail states early in the fall, has accepted a position with Cobalt Mortgage in the Seattle area.

Webster Financial Corp., Waterbury, Conn., received court approval to settle longstanding litigation over a condominium project in Columbus, Ohio, that had previously resulted in an almost $19 million verdict.

The first-ever statewide PACE program, which already has $2 billion of validated bonding capacity from a Florida court, is on an aggressive track toward implementation with the selection of nationally recognized financial advisors.

November remittance data showed that the $192 million loan backed by the Manhattan Apartment Portfolio was liquidated. According to Barclays Capital CMBS analysts, if the loan's disposition strategy is right, this might be considered the largest note sale ever in CMBS.

The unemployment rate will remain above 7% for the next three years and the country won't be at “maximum employment until 2016,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president and chief executive John C. Williams said Friday.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the rating of Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) to A2 from A1 on Friday.

Sales of existing single-family homes rose 1.6% in October after falling 4% in September with purchases remaining "stuck in a narrow range," according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors.

Over the years, the mortgage industry has had its share of celebrity endorsers. The most famous were probably Jim Palmer and the late Phil Rizzuto who were, at different times, the pitchmen for subprime mortgage lender The Money Store.

Mike D'Alonzo last week officially stepped down as president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, saying he wants to spend more time running his Pennsylvania-based brokerage firm.

An Idaho bank holding company is shutting its own mortgage production operations and instead will use a third-party originator to provide mortgage funding for its clients as part of its expense reduction efforts.

An estimated 1 million homeowners with Federal Housing Administration-insured loans could benefit by refinancing at today's low rates -- but the government's mortgage insurer doesn't think it will happen.