Originations

CoreLogic, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based analytics firm, believes existing home sales for all of 2010 may be 15% to 20% lower than reported by the National Association of Realtors.

Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its intention to sell a $292 million MBS backed by jumbo mortgages.

The CMBS delinquency rate for multifamily product tracked by Moody's jumped 121 basis points in January, marking the biggest increase seen in that property class since the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town loan was added to its calculations in March 2010.

The PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., posted a $184 million loss in the fourth quarter, compared to $242 million of red ink spilled in the same period a year earlier.

The Federal Reserve Board late last week handed down a new interpretation that places tough compensation restrictions on transactions where the borrower agrees to pay the loan officer of a mortgage brokerage firm directly.

Cleveland Selfreliance Federal Credit Union said it has converted to the XetusOne Loan Management System, using it as an online mortgage origination platform.

The Federal Reserve is giving lenders two options for determining “customary and reasonable” appraisal fees and it appears many are moving toward the more pragmatic approach instead of relying on independent surveys.

Now that I have had time to digest what we've seen and eaten on Super Bowl Sunday, there was one company whose commercial was a colossal failure in both content and in integrating its message with its online marketing efforts.

In response to embarrassing recent revelations that JPMorgan Chase & Co. failed to enforce a law protecting military members from foreclosure and high-cost credit, the nation's third largest mortgage banker announced several significant changes to its practices.

Ginnie Mae lenders securitized $35.3 billon of government guaranteed residential mortgages in January, a 5% increase from the prior month, according to new figures released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Freddie Mac on Monday said next week it expects to offer to the market via a dealer syndicate its first-ever offering of structured pass through certificates backed only by multifamily mortgages with seven-year original terms.

Mortgage bankers are expected to write $322 billion worth of FHA-backed loans in the coming fiscal year, according to updated budget projections made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A pickup in CMBS issuance is giving the market a much-needed liquidity boost, but underwriting standards are slipping as sponsors scramble to find enough collateral for deals, which are drawing investors looking for extra yields.

Given the high expectations, and long wait, surrounding the Obama administration's proposal to create a new housing finance system, it was likely inevitable that it would disappoint. Critics said the plan was tepid, scant on key details and, in the words of Sen. Richard Shelby, "lacked a sense of urgency."

The National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions is exploring whether a federal bond program could be used as a funding source for long-term assets and to bolster secondary capital for Community Development Financial Institutions.

Rockwood Capital LLC and Crow Holdings have invested $200 million in Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC Dallas to create a joint venture to invest in multifamily real estate development, construction and acquisitions.

There was a 21% increase in homes valued at $1 million or more sold in California in 2010 over the previous year, according to DataQuick Information Systems, La Jolla, Calif.

In several different venues Friday morning, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended the administration's decision not to offer a full-fledged plan for the future of the housing market, insisting that Congress had only asked for an array of options.

Mortgage servicing may be changing and self-adjusting into a new still-not completely undefined model, but the fact that it appears to be a work in progress is not discouraging bankers from eyeing what it has to offer.Without much fanfare the crisis has irreversibly turned in-house mortgage servicing and specialty servicing into hot markets.

First the good news: mortgage lenders had a strong fourth quarter and profit margins on new originations were still exceedingly high even though rates began ticking up the last few weeks of the year. Now for the bad news: few in the industry think the good news of the past several months will continue much beyond March.