Originations

Despite the surge in refinancing activity, Freddie Mac said its purchases of refinanced loans declined slightly in July.

Jay Sidhu is headed back to Wyomissing, Pa., the ground from which he built an $80 billion thrift empire.

Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan bottoming out at 4.36% for the period ending August 26, according to Freddie Mac.

New home construction is one of those concepts where real estate agents (and the general public for that matter) have trouble wrapping their heads around.

It was 30 years ago that Lester Dominick founded MortgageFlex Systems Inc. And to prepare for the future, the company is moving into a new environmental-friendly headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

Mortgage servicers often are "not delivering" key best practices such as providing transparency around fees during the loan modification process compared to when they originate loans, according to a new study from J.D. Power and Associates.

For years, Californians looking to escape the state's high housing prices – the highest in the country, by far – found the pickings a lot cheaper in neighboring Arizona and Nevada. Now Canadians are taking over where the 49ers left off.

It would be easier for underwater borrowers to utilize the Home Affordable Refinancing Program if Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and banks drop their fees on these refinancings, according to the Amherst Securities Group.

The Rural Housing Service is telling lenders that in mid-September it will begin processing and guaranteeing loans that were originated with conditional commitments once it completes an "interim enhancement to its electronic systems."

Thrifts originated $30.8 billion of single-family loans in the second quarter, a 13% hike from 1Q with the industry posting its fourth consecutive quarterly profit.

Real estate professionals in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, are getting $16 million in special allocated funds to pay claims for loss of income due to the Gulf oil spill.

Mortgage applications rose 4.9% last week as more borrowers refinanced at the lowest rates in decades, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Home prices fell 0.3% in June on seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, which had trended upward for the past four months.

The Federal Housing Administration is opening the door for conventional borrowers with negative equity to refinance into government insured loans.

An Irvine, Calif.-based reverse mortgage lender has created a new website designed to answer senior citizens questions regarding the product.

The decline in home equity in recent years has affected the strategy of those seniors who were looking to sell their properties and use the proceeds to move into assisted living or retirement communities, said an executive with a marketing company that specializes in providing assisted living referrals.

Fitch Ratings is worried that JPMorgan Chase could be overwhelmed by future mortgage repurchase requests from investors in the secondary market, namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The nation's top accounting standard setter is retiring.Robert Herz, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, announced that he will step down after eight years. Leslie Seidman, a FASB board member since 2003 and a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounting policy vice president, was appointed acting chairman, effective Oct. 1.

After nearly a year of gains statewide, existing home sales in Illinois fell in July at the hands of the weak job market and the poor economy.

The housing and mortgage markets were hit with yet another blast of ugly news Wednesday morning with new home sales falling 12.4% in July and the Mortgage Bankers Association reporting that purchase money loans now account for just 17.6% of all new loan applications.