Originations

The New York Senate on Wednesday confirmed Benjamin Lawsky to be the state’s first superintendent of its new Department of Financial Services.

A year after the federal home buyer tax credit gave housing a big shot in the arm, the end of this benefit continues to cast a shadow over the Houston market.

Virtus Real Estate Capital, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm, has created a fund to invest in student housing with the goal of acquiring more than $300 million of properties over the next two years.

Christopher Vincent Hussain, the No. 1 producer on our list, says he benefited from the changing landscape in the business. This is because much of the competition on the residential side exited the business.

With their legislative sessions winding down for the year, 60% of all states have now acted to curb private transfer fees.

No doubt, these are tough times for loan officers at both nonbanks and depositories. Loan production is down, the purchase money business is in the tank, and new compensation rules may result in LOs taking home less money over time.

The Senior Citizens League said older Americans have lost 32% of their buying power since 2000. This is because the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment has gone up just 31% since that year, while typical expenses have jumped 73%.

Mortgage application volume increased 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 20, with the gain in purchase applications outpacing the increase in refinancings. However, five weeks of declines in the interest rate on fixed rate loans came to an end, according to figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Although rising new issuance and increasingly successful loan modifications are helping slow commercial MBS loan defaults, delinquencies likely will climb 12% this year, according to a new report from Fitch on fixed rate conduit loans.

Freddie Mac's issuance of mortgage-backed securities fell 5% in April following a 38% drop in March, according to a monthly activity report the GSE issued Wednesday morning.

Generation Mortgage Co., a reverse mortgage lender based in Atlanta, has opened a branch office in San Juan, P.R. to serve senior borrowers across the island.

Retail originations by commercial banks and savings institutions fell 30% in the first quarter, on a sequential basis, according to new figures compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Residential Credit Solutions on Tuesday said it sold a $110.6 million asset-backed security collateralized by performing and delinquent mortgages, real estate loans, and property.

Sterling American Properties is giving up a struggling three-building office complex in Hauppauge, N.Y., to its creditors after more than a year of missed mortgage payments.

WASHINGTON—As the debate continues over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at least one prominent conservative think tank director believes lenders can form a cooperative to issue mortgage-backed securities without a government guarantee or backstop.

When it comes to the social media, one of the themes I have consistently written is that you just can't have a policy of throwing things against the wall and hoping that some, if not all, of it sticks.

Sales of new single-family home sales rose 7.3% in April from the month prior to notch their second straight month of gains -- and prices increased – but compared to a year ago the business was still in a depression, registering a 23% slide.

Although the banking industry had its best quarter since the start of the financial crisis, the number of depositories at risk of failing in 1Q accounted for nearly 12% of the sector – the highest reading in 18 years.

Columbia Credit Union, Vancouver, Wash., this week inked a deal with Security One Lending, allowing the CU to offer its customers reverse mortgages.

The much-maligned Capital Purchase Program — better known as the bank bailout — is turning out to be a decent investment for the federal government.