Originations

Kinecta FCU, Manhattan Beach, Calif., is opening of a new mortgage center in Newbury Park, Calif., to serve members in San Fernando Valley, Ventura County and Santa Barbara County residents.

Loan servicer C-III Capital Partners LLC has committed to put $10 million into commercial real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis Co., by investing in a line of credit issued earlier this year by Colony Capital LLC.

When it comes to mortgage banking, Bank of America hasn't had a good month. Over the past few weeks it has suspended cash-out refis on government loans, announced that the sale of its correspondent division had fallen through and lost one of its top retail loan officers to a competitor.

Residential lenders issued $350.3 billion of Ginnie Mae MBS in fiscal year 2011, down 15% from the previous fiscal year, according to new figures released by the Government National Mortgage Association.

The traditional fall slowdown in home sales has come to the strong Washington, D.C., market -- but the region still registered a better-than-usual September.

Rates are attractive to borrowers but lenders are finding the advantage of the housing market's low prices more difficult to explain to them, Scott Stern, chief executive of the St. Louis-based Lenders One cooperative, told this publication.

Home sales are still lackluster, but FirstBank in Lakewood, Colo., is ramping up its mortgage lending as if immune to the weak demand.

Now that Bank of America has signaled its intention to exit the correspondent lending arena, speculation is centering on the next mortgage shoe to drop at the company: warehouse credit and whether it might have a successor of sorts.

Home sales fell in September after rising all summer, including a 4% increase in August, according to the Re/Max National Housing Report.

The numbers show it. Between midyear 2010 and midyear 2011, the originations share of the top five mortgage lenders dropped by more than 250 basis points.

Existing home sales in California fell by over 2% between August and September on a seasonally adjusted basis due to the debt debate in Washington, a weaker stock market and the pending drop in the conforming loan limit, the California Association of Realtors said.

Fitch Ratings said it could cut Bank of America's viability rating one notch if certain concerns regarding the company's exposure to the residential mortgage business are worse than what the rating agency expects.

The House of Representatives this week passed a bill to assist unemployed veterans through a measure that also extends the maximum VA loan limits for three more years.

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.

Bank of America, which has been cutting many of its non-core mortgage divisions for well over a year now, said it is committed to maintaining a retail loan officer work force of 4,000 well into 2012.

Joe Pierce doesn't hold a grudge when a farmer finds more favorable terms with a Farm Credit lender, but he isn't prepared to give up government-backed home loans as easily.

The first myth I want to address goes something like this: Sure, housing is important, but when you consider vital social issues, it's not at the top of the list. Health care, education and jobs, for example, demand more attention and resources.

While the Federal Reserve's Operation Twist might not have an immediate impact on the mortgage industry, the fact that it will keep interest rates down could have a longer-term effect on originations, said one industry observer.

Many readers are either in one-person businesses, in very small departments in companies with just a handful of employees. Still others of you are in large organizations but doing some kind of freelance work on the side. What are the ethical challenges of "flying solo" or virtually so?

Credit Suisse is making plans to possibly shut down the origination side of its commercial mortgage-backed securities business, according to a person familiar with the situation.