Originations

Welcome to 2011! As has been true for the last several years, few areas in ethics or the law are changing as rapidly as those related to the use and maintenance of electronic documents. Case law is rapidly evolving and, even so, it still lags behind the ever-changing uses and abuses of electronic technologies.

The residential mortgage division of JPMorgan Chase saw its net earnings more than double to $577 million in the fourth quarter, thanks to rising loan demand and strong profit margins in residential finance.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says after a double-digit decline since its peak in 2007 the U.S. remodeling industry is “poised for growth.”

Freddie Mac has engaged for the first time two rating agencies to provide conventional public ratings in conjunction with its “K” certificates as part of its first multifamily deal of this type in 2011.

The average 30-year mortgage rate tracked by Freddie Mac continued to fall this week, dropping to 4.71%, but it still is 25 basis points above where it was before its dramatic run-up in December.

American Assets Trust Inc., a San Diego-based company that is in the process of becoming a real estate investment trust, has priced its initial public offering of 27.5 million shares of common stock at $20.50 per share. The shares began trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AAT.” As of 11 a.m., the price had risen to $21.71 per share.

The National Association of Home Builders is projecting a 16% increase in multi-family housing starts this year. But the 133,000 units apartment developers are expected to produce will not be nearly enough to meet demand.

Recovery in the housing market, and the economy at large, is dependent on what the government does — and doesn't do — to influence the recuperation, according to a panel of economic observers at a real estate conference in New York.

The housing market will start its long awaited recovery this year, two key economists predicted at the National Association of Home Builders convention in Orlando. But because starts and sales are at such a low point, they warned, even a big percentage jump in the two important indices will not result in much of an improvement.

The debate on regulating how ISPs manage online use has largely been focused on the online activities of consumers, but mortgage executives and their technology vendors believe the regulation of Internet access could affect the daily operations of the lending industry as well, leaving smaller players with fewer financial resources at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to loan processing speed and costs.

Did you forget about the $8,000 tax credit for military and certain federal employees? A little-known (and mostly forgotten) provision of the Home Buyer Tax Credit bill that became effective on Nov. 6, 2009, is that certain military personnel and Foreign Service employees have an extra year to purchase a home and qualify for the tax credit.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is seeking to overturn a recent Department of Labor interpretation that requires mortgage lenders to pay their loan officers overtime pay.

J.I. Kislak, Inc., Miami Lakes, said it inked a deal to buy three distressed multifamily properties from Ocean Bank of Miami. No purchase price was disclosed.

Home prices could fall 5% this winter, right before the start of the much anticipated spring home buying season, according to Standard & Poor's chief economist David Wyss.

A New York appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against bond insurer MBIA brought by twenty of the world's largest financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. The lawsuit claimed that the 2009 split of MBIA amounted to a fraudulent conveyance.

Loan applications, on a seasonally adjusted basis, inched up in the latest week tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey as purchase apps decreased slightly and refinance apps increased a bit in response to a slight drop in rates.

The Federal Housing Administration's guidance regarding reverse mortgage borrowers who are in default because of nonpayment of taxes and/or insurance is a good "first giant step" towards dealing with the problem, an executive at a company that specializes in servicing Home Equity Conversion Mortgages declared.

One of the biggest questions Sue and I get from our subscribers at www.reversemortgagesuccess.com is “Please tell us what your 'best' reverse mortgage marketing strategy is?” or “If you could only do one thing to get new business what would it be?

As the backlog of foreclosures continues to drive down housing values, losses on private label MBS will increase in 2011, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

Even though its core business is homebuilding, the problem loan business has been a profitable one for Lennar Corp. in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, which ended on Nov. 30.