Originations

When it comes to technology, the mortgage origination space is holding out for what a panel at National Mortgage News' Mortgage Technology conference in Miami called "the Holy Grail." But lenders shouldn't hold their collective breathes, the presenters agreed.

Of the thousands of financial regulations on the books, which is the most burdensome? Dodd-Frank? Truth in Lending? Basel III?

Impac Mortgage Holdings earned $3.1 million in the third quarter thanks to gains from the sale of a title insurance affiliate and fees garnered from mortgage and real estate services, which offset legacy costs and charges.

First, the good news: mortgage bankers that process loans for pooling into GNMA securities will continue receiving a 44 basis point fee for servicing those mortgages.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust recently entered into a master repurchase agreement with Bank of America that allows a subsidiary of the publicly traded REIT to sell -- and later repurchase -- new originations in an aggregate principal amount of up to $200 million.

Despite falling house prices and rising claims, the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance fund clung to a slim capital ratio of 0.24% on its book-of-business for the year ending Sept. 30, compared to 0.5% a year ago, according to independent actuarial reports released Tuesday morning.

State regulators have issued guidelines to mortgage examiners on how to test state-licensed nonbanks for steering and other violations of the Federal Reserve's loan origination compensation rule.

House and Senate conferees have agreed to restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit for Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages for two years – but left the GSE cap unchanged.

We all know that the social media is the latest hot trend in sales and marketing. Look at how many companies have created a Facebook presence that seeks to interact with consumers. Personally, I follow Tabasco and Disney.

The acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told a Senate panel this morning that the agency is moving ahead with "private" risk sharing opportunities between Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and firms outside of the government's control.

The Justice Department began sending letters Monday to servicemembers who are entitled to $20 million in damages from Bank of America Corp. for alleged violations of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

First-time home buyers are no longer a force to be reckoned with. According to new research from the National Association of Realtors, just 36% of buyers in the 12-month period between July 2010 and June 2011 were first-timers, a sharp decline from a record 50% in the last survey.

Home prices, on average, ended August at $205,000, an almost 4% drop from last year, according to new figures compiled by Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

The Federal Reserve's Operation Twist might not have an immediate impact on the mortgage industry, but its aim to keep interest rates down could have a longer-term effect on originations, said one veteran industry observer.

Small and midsized mortgage originators want to have access to marketing materials that typically meet two criteria: they are effective and they are inexpensive.

In just 22 months in business, Willie Newman has built Cole Taylor Mortgage from nothing to an operation that recently did $200 million in production in a single month.

Sales contracts are falling through at twice the rate of last year, according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors at its annual convention in Anaheim.

The Federal Housing Administration, which sold more than 102,000 government-owned homes in fiscal year 2011, expects to sell that many again in the new fiscal year.

The ever-optimistic National Association of Realtors believes the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression is almost over.

House and Senate conferees will not restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit on GSE-backed mortgages in high cost areas, sources told National Mortgage News this weekend -- but they have agreed to bump up the limit on Federal Housing Administration loans in lower cost areas.