Originations

Mortgage bankers funded $110 billion worth of commercial and multifamily mortgages in 2010, a 36% jump from the prior year, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Part of the routine for outside mortgage sales staff is to drive to open houses, to meet with their clients, to the offices of their referral sources, etc.

Financial technology vendor Fidelity National Information Services Inc.'s sales rose 8.8% from a year earlier to $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday.

Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest CU player in mortgages, originated $1.8 billion of residential loans in the fourth quarter, a 54% spike from the same period a year ago, and one of its best quarters ever.

Ameriprise Bank FSB is offering the Home Ownership Accelerator product created by CMG Financial Services. CMG first introduced the product in July 2005 and modeled it after a product found in Australia.

Fannie Mae provided $17 billion in mortgages for multifamily properties in 2010, down from $20 billion in 2009.

The confluence of GSE reforms and risk retention rules is forcing the Obama administration to consider ways to clamp down on the Federal Housing Administration program to prevent an explosion in its insurance market share.

Jpmortgage: Not sure if you have the same issues, but lately these days I have been having some very poor quality appraisals being completed. Missing bathrooms, bedrooms, using foreclosed and/or fire sale comps, simple spelling errors, etc.

Primary-to-secondary mortgage market spread compression that has kept rates relatively low despite upward pressure from bond yields may be nearing its limit, according to one investment strategist.

People's United Bank, Bridgeport, Conn., late last week confirmed that warehouse lending veteran Paul Best has joined the publicly traded thrift as a senior vice president in its commercial division.

Mountain America Credit Union said it now offers the option for all of its Utah members to close mortgage transactions electronically.

Inexperienced and uneducated real estate brokers and agents are hampering short sales in the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, according to a pair of real estate professionals that specialize in the distressed real estate sales.

Jim Rademann is evolving his business to meet the latest trends, but still keeps service to his clients and referral sources at the forefront.For a long-time mortgage originator like Jim Rademann, staying at the top of one’s game may require learning how to use the new tools that are changing the face of the business in order to serve clients better. But the basics of the business remain the same. “You have to deliver on what you say. You have to be customer-service oriented to your clients and your real estate agents.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers reached a turning point at its recent NAMB/West conference in Las Vegas.Just prior to the conference, Bill Howe, who had been serving as the group’s president, resigned due to ongoing health issues. Stepping up from president-elect is Michael D’Alonzo.

Bank of America late Friday said it would create a unit to handle 1.3 million distressed residential loans, many of which it inherited when it bought Countrywide Financial Corp. in August 2008.

Fannie Mae late Friday afternoon released information on the pricing of three separate DUS Mega securities totaling $450 million, reflecting for the first time a new sales execution option it had introduced earlier in the week.

The White House plan to revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will mandate that the two charge higher guarantee fees over the next few years, and also will allow the GSE loan cap to fall back to $625,500 by the fall, according to Washington sources.

The 10-year Treasury yield, a benchmark that can be a rough indicator of long-term mortgage rates, continued its upward trend Friday with a steep climb that had left it near 3.65% by late afternoon.

The key metric to the outlook for housing in 2011 is the modest improvement in the economy expected for this year as well as next, said an analyst with Fitch Ratings.Rob Curran said that there are still potential headwinds that can derail the positive housing outlook, including the possibility of the economy stalling or falling into a double dip recession.

Commercial property values have fallen 42% from their peak in 2007 and there are roughly $1 trillion in underwater CRE loans maturing the next few years that could be difficult to refinance, according to a new report from Trepp, LLC.