Originations

The Concord Group is projecting a national home sales recovery for the fourth quarter of 2012 based on its just-completed United States Housing Outlook report.With approximately 18 months of supply on the market, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm said it expects a return to normalized absorption rates by the first quarter of 2012.

For the second consecutive quarter, Triad Guaranty Inc., the Winston-Salem N.C.-based mortgage insurer in run-off, reported a profit, this time because of an extraordinary item. But the company said it remains unlikely that it will be able to cover all of its policyholder obligations by the time business winds down.

The concept/law of continuous process improvement begins with the concept that a plan—a process—is needed in most areas of your business and your life. Process simply is defined as the way-the best way-to accomplish a business plan and even a basic task.

Federal regulators need to create a definition for "qualified residential mortgage" that is safe for homebuyers, but not so safe that it funnels most of the business into the Federal Housing Administration insurance program.

Impac Mortgage Holdings, a former alt-A giant that survived both the housing bubble and a NYSE delisting, has launched a new wholesale division, promising the industry "pipeline transparency" and "industry innovation."

Sales of existing condominiums rose 15% in Florida in the third quarter as lower prices continued to attract both domestic and foreign bargain hunters.

Three U.S. senators are urging federal regulators to consider industry analysis of the default risks on certain loan products and features in drafting a rule that will exempt "qualified residential mortgages" from risk retention rules.

Mortgage rates continued their race to the basement, setting new lows for the week ending Nov. 11, according to a new survey compiled by Freddie Mac.

TPG Capital's purchase of the property information division of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates puts the California-based private equity firm squarely in the middle of the foreclosure crisis.

Mortgage underwriting standards have become "excessively tight" and the Federal Housing Administration and GSEs need to "reassess and amend their policies," according to the National Association of Realtors

Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Alexandria, Va., one of the most active CU home lenders in the Washington, D.C. metro market, plans to open as many as ten new offices of its wholly owned PenFed Realty unit.

A California mortgage lender says its partnership with a technology and warehouse funding provider made it the first to use a warehouse line of credit to originate a fully electronic mortgage and sell it directly to a government-sponsored enterprise. The transaction represents a unique mortgagee/warehouse lender relationship that’s rarely seen in the mortgage industry. If it catches on, it would represent a dynamic shift in how warehouse lenders operate.

There is a writing movement out there called “Six-Word Stories." (Example: Coin swallowed. Mom froze. Grandma whacks.) Twitter is your 140-character story version, that forces you to convey your thoughts in short, meaningful words.

Citigroup, an active seller of nonperforming residential loans, recently sold a $1.4 billion pool of multifamily and commercial mortgages to OneWest Bank FSB, Pasadena, Calif., for an undisclosed sum.

Industry groups want the Federal Reserve and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make the merger of the TILA and RESPA mortgage disclosures a "first priority" and halt other related rule changes.

The President's bi-partisan commission on deficit reduction wants to cap the mortgage interest deduction at $500,000 — a 50% reduction from current tax rules, according to a proposal released late Wednesday afternoon.

BlackRock Inc. hopes to invest upwards of $1 billion in jumbo mortgages with the hope of eventually issuing securities backed by the loans, according to secondary market officials familiar with the plan.

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., reported core earnings of $7.9 million in the third quarter, a five-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

Mortgage applications rose 5.8% last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, with similar increases for both refinancings and purchase loans, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury jumped above 2.7% on Wednesday, compared to a reading of 2.5% earlier in the week, a sign that mortgage rates may be headed upward.