Originations

Warehouse credit for nonbank borrowers is probably the most plentiful it’s been since financial markets melted down three years ago. Banks, both large and small, have entered the sector, realizing strong profits can be made for little risk.

The Realtors' leading indicator of future home sales jumped 8.2% from April to May and it is up 13.4% from a year ago with all four regions of the country showing an uptick in sales contracts.

Bank of America Corp.'s proposed settlement of mortgage-backed securities claims against its Countrywide unit would force private-label investors in 530 Countrywide trusts to accept the bank's $8.5 billion offer, B of A officials said Wednesday.

Bank of America's pending settlement related to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Countrywide-issued first-lien RMBS released Wednesday would include not only an $8.5 billion cash payment to trusts involved but also about $400 million of servicing changes and improvements, according to an investor law firm involved.

For the second consecutive week, mortgage application volume declined, this time by 2.7% for the week ended June 24, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The drop in application volume occurred in spite of the fact interest rates for the 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate loans were at their lowest level since last November.

Freddie Mac said late Tuesday it has begun providing expanded disclosures on its multifamily loan portfolio and also improved access to information about its K certificate securities.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., said as of Tuesday afternoon it had become the only approved CU in California to offer Fannie Mae's HomePath mortgages along with additional incentives temporarily available.

A trend toward increased debt in general on the part of borrowers becoming eligible for reverse mortgages is something lenders that want to stay the course in this niche have to adapt to, and two veteran originators now entering the funding business believe the answer lies in careful underwriting.

Nearly three-quarters of middle-income Baby Boomers said in a recent survey that their financial situation, not their age, is what they will use to decide when to retire.

May home sales in Massachusetts dropped more than 25% from the prior year but median prices increased after five months of decreases, according to The Warren Group.

The recently acquired Generations Bank in the Kansas City area has been officially renamed The Federal Savings Bank and so far hired 20 new mortgage professionals and half a dozen operations staff for its new mortgage unit.

NovaStar Financial Inc., Kansas City, Mo., has completed its recapitalization program as its Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock has been exchanged for nearly 44 million newly issued shares of its common stock and $1.6 million in cash.

Housing prices rose 0.7% in April, snapping eight straight months of declines, as home values increased in 13 of the 20 cities in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, some mortgage lenders are choosing to relax underwriting requirements ever so slightly to offset a dramatic drop in loan origination volumes.

WASHINGTON—Small mortgage banking companies got crushed in the first quarter between falling loan volumes and rising expenses.

If there is anyone thing marketers seek to do in their programs about their company, its product and/or services, is to create buzz. The social media can create buzz much faster than any other method.But as social media expert Randall Craig elaborates, creating buzz is a game of "follow the leader."

On a day when the stock market soared upwards, the three stand-alone mortgage insurers all saw their stock price drop. This is in apparent reaction to an article that appeared over the weekend in another publication.

Barclays Capital reports that June commercial mortgage-backed securities conduit liquidations hit the new high of more than 450 deals worth nearly $1.9 billion, an increase that bodes well for special servicers of these portfolios.

A state appellate court in New York rejected the shield of the federal tax exemption for federally chartered credit unions and upheld a lower court ruling that Hudson Valley FCU and all of the state's federally chartered credit unions are liable for millions of dollars in New York State mortgage recording taxes.

There are a number of new rules and regulations relating to mortgage lending that credit unions must track closely, or risk penalties, fines, or even civil or criminal liability.