Originations

Five months and counting. That's the number of months the Houston market has showed gains in its existing home sales.

Here's a couple of names you don't usually see at the top of any housing list: El Paso and Boise. Yet there they are, leading the pack in new home closings in the third quarter.

If MGIC Investment Corp. were to downstream $200 million in capital to its Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. subsidiary, the parent company's ability to meet $589 million in senior debt obligations might be stressed and the holders of its $390 million in junior subordinated debt could face substantially losses, according to the analysts at Moody's Investors Service.

For those salespeople and managers out there who whine about how hard it is to actually talk to people, and that they are contacting so many more people by email because it's more effective, here's something to chew on.

Mortgage bankers soon will able to originate Federal Housing Administration loans of up to $729,750 in high cost areas thanks to Congress, which passed a "minibus" appropriations bill Thursday night.

CWCapital LLC, Boston, on Thursday revealed that it has bought $2.6 billion of Fannie Mae multifamily servicing rights from Citigroup. No price was disclosed.

Mortgage interest rates were essentially flat between this week and last, as good economic news kept the markets calm, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Officials from the government-sponsored enterprises continue to encourage lenders to be proactive with their appraisal and origination technology vendors in preparation for the new requirements in the Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

I was recently working with one of my San Francisco Bay Area executive coaching clients, the CEO of a boutique hotel and restaurant company. We had an enlightening coaching conversation about how he has handled failure and learned from his mistakes. We talked about how he was able to bounce back from failure by viewing business as a learning laboratory.

Single-family housing starts rose 4% in October from the previous month, but multifamily activity fell 13%, according to new government figures released Thursday morning.

Quicken Loans received the highest customer satisfaction score in this year's J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, while Bank of America -- the poster child for consumer missteps -- received the lowest.

Effective technology strategies will help define the “winners and losers” in the new era of mortgage banking, the CEO of loan origination system provider Ellie Mae said during this week's Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.

Many of the mortgage industry’s leading professionals were on hand for the return of Mortgage Technology’s annual conference this week, and the beautiful Miami weather wasn’t the only thing that had attendees excited.

The willingness and ease of adopting new technology is tied to how that experience reduces or increases stress to the end user. When technology vendors and lender executives understand that dynamic, new mortgage technology can be implemented more effectively and with less resistance from employees, said Rene Rodriguez during a presentation at this week’s Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.

Effective technology strategies will help define the “winners and losers” in the new era of mortgage banking, the CEO of loan origination system provider Ellie Mae said during this week’s Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp. recently relocated to a new Indianapolis headquarters, hired 45 of the 300 employees it wants to add in Central Indiana by 2015, and has other expansion plans underway outside the state.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week issued a proposed rule to clarify its fair housing regulations which encompass lending practices.

Two areas in Florida that attract a lot of retirees to move to, Central Florida and Miami, are looking a little better in separate reports on the two regions issued recently, but while some refinancing has picked up in the former region and sales increased in the latter, financing remains relatively scarce.

Julie McMillin Lee has been promoted to president of NewDay Financial's reverse mortgage division, where she will manage the direction of the unit as well as the selection and training of originators.

Residential application volume fell 10% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Nov. 11, as interest rates remained essentially flat compared to the previous week, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.