Originations

TD Bank is hiring 87 new mortgage operations staffers, with 50 to be located at its Lexington, S.C., loan center. The rest of the new personnel will be placed in locations across the bank's retail branch footprint on the East Coast from Maine to Florida.

For a while it looked as though MetLife wanted to be a top player in mortgage banking. But not anymore. Late last week, the insurance conglomerate said it would explore a sale of MetLife Home Loans, Irving, Texas, stressing that it might only sell its “forward” business.

Despite rock bottom interest rates, mortgage applications fell 15% for the week ending October 14 with purchase money loans hitting their lowest level in 15 years, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

U.S. Bancorp, a top ranked player in residential mortgages, reported $17.2 billion of originations in the third quarter, more than double its home funding production in the prior period.

Morgan Stanley & Co. last week took a final round of bids on its residential servicing division, Saxon Mortgage, Ft. Worth, Texas, which holds $28 billion of contracts on its books, according to investment banking officials familiar with the situation.

Clayton Holdings, Shelton, Conn., Tuesday announced the formation of a new securitization group to aid the industry in what it hopes will be a revival of the private label MBS market.

SG Premier Lending Group Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., has ended its marketing relationship with RPM Mortgage and is now providing direct lending and mortgage brokerage services on both residential and commercial properties in California.

Bank of America said it is receiving more buyback requests for older vintages of loans from Fannie Mae and plans to contest some of these claims regarding breaches of representations and warranties.

The existing home market in the Baltimore, Md., area was basically flat in September, with both sales and prices rising by the thinnest of margins.

Freddie Mac economists are expecting a surge in refinancings during the fourth quarter and recently increased their origination forecast for the period by nearly 70%.

Fannie Mae's recently priced $577 million multifamily DUS REMIC highlights moves the agency is making to court an agency CMBS investor base that appears to be broadening as activity has subsided somewhat in the CMBS conduit market.

There is a tool available from the federal government that anyone in the mortgage sales process, from company owner down to the individual sales person can use to help formulate their marketing plans for both the near and distant futures.

Realtors are beginning to find that the lower GSE loan limits, which became operative Oct. 1, are having a negative impact on both homebuyers and sellers.

Examiners from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may look the same, but they won't necessarily see the same. The bureau is employing many of the same examiners -- and similar methods -- that the banking regulators have used for years to conduct exams, according to the CFPB's supervision and examination manual released last week.

Bank of America marked down the asset value of its residential servicing portfolio by a stunning 36% in the third quarter, but managed to post mortgage banking income of $1.8 billion during the period.

Citigroup reported a 50% jump in residential mortgage originations in the third quarter along with a large writedown related to mortgage servicing rights.

Historically low interest rates sparked an increase in refinance mortgage applications that helped Wells Fargo originate $89 billion in new residential loans during the third quarter of 2011. But troubled existing loans continue to impact results, with a 61% increase in Wells Fargo's mortgage repurchase provision.

Standard & Poor's today cut its projection of U.S. CMBS issuance in 2012 to $35 billion from $45 billion. That would translate to flat growth from this year's estimate. The agency reduced its forecast thanks to three consecutive months of rising spreads, an uncertain economic outlook and a slowdown in origination by lenders.

MADISON, Wis.-Credit unions need to make even stronger efforts to ramp up mortgage loans, according to one analyst.

The question of what should be done with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is drawing wildly different opinions.