Originations

Just wondering, why in the world do some salespeople feel like they must sound like a salesperson when they get someone on the phone?

Cambridge Realty Capital, a Chicago-based lender which specializes in senior housing and health care properties, processed 19 loan origination requests in January totaling more than $317 million.

Stability is the word from Standard & Poor's when it comes to unenhanced and unsubsidized affordable multifamily housing.

Some 3 million houses – two to three years worth of production – weren't built as a result of the housing recession, according to the National Association of Home Builders' chief prognosticator.

Government controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac posted a meager $113 million net loss in the fourth quarter — but actually earned $1.2 billion before having to pay the U.S. Treasury a hefty $1.6 billion dividend payment.

Title insurance giant First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., posted net earnings of $47 million in the fourth quarter, just about flat compared to the same period a year earlier.

In a new letter industry trade groups are urging the Federal Reserve to reject a recent staff interpretation regarding its loan officer compensation rule that would restrict payments between mortgage companies and "affiliated" real estate brokerages and title agencies.

Mortgage bankers originated $23.1 billion of Federal Housing Administration-backed loans in January, a 12.5% decline from the prior month, according to new figures released Thursday.

More than 71% of short sales can take four to nine months to complete — and almost 10% of these transactions require at least 10 months, according to new survey figures released by Equi-Trax Asset Solutions.

New home purchases fell 12.6% in January to start the new year off on the wrong foot, erasing a 15% gain in December sales.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Alexandra, Va., said it plans to open at least ten additional offices for its PenFed Realty affiliate by yearend.

Origination services and technology at Lender Processing Services showed annual and quarterly revenue gains in the fourth quarter of 2010. But its corresponding business in the mortgage servicing and default arenas closed out the year with quarterly declines, according to recent regulatory filings.

Synovus Financial Corp., which ranks 55th among all residential lenders nationwide, is reportedly entertaining the idea of a sale.

With the ever-growing use of social media and networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), more and more employees are both using and abusing them on the job. There are plenty of great, beneficial uses for these media in the work environment but you're setting up a variety of potential legal, ethical, and reputational disasters if you aren't clear about how they can and can't be used while on the job.

A California lender began selling jumbo loans this month to global asset manager BlackRock Inc., proof that private investors are not waiting for the securitization market to fully recover before getting back into mortgages.

J.I. Kislak Mortgage LLC, Miami Lakes, Fla., by yearend hopes to at least triple the number of loan officers currently under its employ as it expands its retail mortgage franchise in Florida and other parts of the Southeast.

Last week's bankruptcy filing by book retailing giant Borders Group is expected to cause trouble for several commercial real estate owners, including the Michigan-based Agree Realty Corp.

A sharp drop in the level of loan loss provisions helped the banking industry earn $21.7 billion in the fourth quarter, the second highest quarterly total in more than three years, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported.

Residential refinancing activity in the fourth quarter pushed bank originations to the highest level since the spring of 2009 when the Federal Reserve was still purchasing mortgage-backed securities.

Single-family existing home sales rose 2.4% in January following a 12% jump in December, according to new figures compiled by the National Association of Realtors.