Originations

A number of commercial real estate experts are predicting 2011 will be a year of recovery for that business, continuing on trends that developed at the end of 2010.

Modifications of securitized commercial real estate loans more than doubled in 2010 from the previous year, according to a new report from Standard & Poor's.

Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke said he is dismayed by the persistence of high foreclosure rates, declining home values, and the futility of government efforts to engineer a recovery in the housing market.

PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., could write up the value of its mortgage servicing rights by between $125 million and $175 million for the fourth quarter 2010, an earnings preview report from FBR Capital Markets predicts.

Citigroup Inc. is soliciting potential buyers for its subprime lending unit CitiFinancial, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing sources it did not identify.

"Let me drive the boat."It was the one statement from the creative director that I'd come to dread. It usually came within moments of his reading over my shoulder as I wrote advertising copy on my computer.It meant, "Get out of your seat; I'm going to start changing your work."

I’m pleased to have the opportunity to join everyone to discuss the findings of the Conference of Mayors’ Hunger and Homelessness Survey. I want to thank each of the 27 cities for participating in this survey, as well as the Conference of Mayors. In doing this survey these last two decades, you have helped us understand what was happening around the nation and prodded us to action.

Mortgage companies shed 1,300 full-time employees from their payrolls in November despite strong refinancing activity, according to new government figures released Friday morning.

There is an ample supply of building lots up for grabs these days, but real estate consultant John Burns doesn't think there is much of a market for them, at least not from the nation's largest home builders.

CUNA Mutual Group has hired Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg -- the man responsible for restructuring troubled bond insurer Ambac Securities – to head its mortgage insurance business.

Gerding Edlen Development of Portland, Ore., has handed over the keys to its $500 million Seattle condo project, Bellevue Towers, to lenders headed by Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital.

CMG Mortgage Services is becoming one of an increasing rare breed: a nonbank lender with strong growth and a franchise model that relies on both retail lending and loan brokers

While Bank of America's settlement with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae provides greater clarity for its ultimate exposure regarding representations and warranty losses, there is still uncertainty for the bank holding company regarding losses in the areas the deal does not cover, a report from Fitch Ratings said.

Private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, Greenwich, Conn., has purchased a non-performing commercial real estate loan portfolio with an outstanding principal balance of $157 million from an undisclosed Midwest regional bank.

Glimcher Realty Trust, Columbus, Ohio, has priced its 13 million share public offering below the amount the stock traded at when the markets closed Wednesday afternoon.

Rates in Freddie Mac’s closely watched survey have started the year at levels that are below the market’s recent rate spike and those seen in the previous week. But they are still above the record lows seen in the past year.

Most people tend to agree that the future of financial service exchanges is in a virtual marketplace. What has never been very clear is how fast it will happen and who will turn out to be the primary drivers of that switch: the banks or their customers. A survey conducted by Fiserv Inc. showed 11% of online consumers are currently connected with their bank or credit union through a social site while up to 36% of those not yet connected expressed interest in doing just that

Organizations often proudly trumpet their ethics training programs and, in doing so, frequently point out the significant time and money they spent on developing or purchasing their program. Some of these programs are certainly extremely well designed.

CALCAP Financial, a hard money lender based in Southern California, hopes to double its loan volume in 2011.

The 30-day plus delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities hit a record high of 9.2% in December, up 27 basis points from the previous month, and a 300 bps jump from a year ago, according to Trepp LLC. Multifamily overdues were even worse, at an increase of 68 bps.