Originations

Congress has extended the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act through 2014 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill that President Obama signed this week.

Lender Processing Services Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., earned $80 million in the second quarter, a 7% increase from the same period last year.

As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increasingly send problem loans back to their seller/servicers for repurchase, banks may not know their full liability in this area, according to a new research report.

Sales of existing homes in Florida rose for the 22nd consecutive month in June, a sign that this beleaguered housing market may be stabilizing.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said that U.S. housing policy, with its reliance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is "not sustainable."

A group of private label investors acting through the Dallas law firm of Talcott Franklin PC, said its members now represent ownership interests in about one-third of the $1.5 trillion PLS market.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston earned $18.7 million in the second quarter, a major improvement compared to the same period last year when it lost $22.9 million.

Was the increase in your business from the first-time homebuyer tax credit good for your bottom line? Was it expected or was it unexpected? Usually everyone says that they expect a good thing to happen to them, so I'll bet your answer is "Oh yea, I expected that."But did you expect the drop off in business when the tax credit expired? Usually the answer is "I thought in the back of my mind that business could drop off but I never expected it to drop off this much." Is that you?Your business, your family, your life, is an organization. Organizations require management. There are a number of aspects of management that you need to address. One of them is "The Unexpected."

Kondaur Capital Corp., an active investor in distressed and underperforming mortgages, is marketing a $79 million mortgage-backed security that is collateralized by $263 million of NPL loans.

The Federal Housing Administration's legislative and regulatory agenda to bolster its depleted insurance fund and tighten underwriting standards continues to be a work in progress.

Back in January, FHA commissioner David Stevens began talking about a legislative proposal to give the agency more flexibility in setting premiums, including a hike in annual charges.

The House eventually passed a bill, allowing the FHA to adjust its premium structure but Senate action is still in doubt.

Lewis Ranieri, the co-inventor of the mortgage backed security, believes the yield on the 10-year Treasury could fall to as low as 2.5% this year.

To enhance its loan origination process, Carnegie Mortgage LLC, a subsidiary of Grand Bank NA of Hamilton, N.J., is relying on a new partnership that has helped bring up to date its mortgage lending and document management technology platform.

The partnership brings together the private and consumer centric banking environment of Carnegie Mortgage with state-of-the-art platforms and service offerings of Mortgage Cadence that helps reduce manual processes, enforces compliant business policies, decreases risk and "allows for the relocation of employees to areas within the business that require a personal touch," says Michael Detwiler, CEO of Mortgage Cadence.

Carnegie Mortgage originates approximately $200 million in mortgages on a monthly basis through both its retail and wholesale channels, Ovation Home Loans and Icon Residential Lenders.

Regulatory changes continue to be what largely drives automation for those on the production side, especially when it comes to the documentation necessary, according to executives at DocMagic Inc., Carson, Calif., which does business as Document Systems Inc.

The StoneHill Group Inc. is seeing a downtick in errors under the new RESPA rules although the company still has some clients who are struggling with the total implementation of these regulations, which have been in effect since the beginning of January.

The Atlanta-based quality control provider has helped lenders who suffered procedural problems go back and implement changes in the way they process information for proper disclosure with the Good Faith Estimate.

"That has been a help as we begin to audit these loans and report the findings to our clients," said Doug Parker, quality assurance manager.

Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial Inc., earned $140 million in the second quarter, a 52% jump from the same period a year ago.

House prices rose 0.5% in May following a 0.9% jump in April, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, which has posted price increases over the past four consecutive months.

Only a few hours after regulatory reform was signed into law Wednesday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke assured lawmakers the central bank was well along toward implementing many of its biggest provisions.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants an explicit guarantee and preservation of the to-be-announced MBS market as part of any restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The record low average 30-year mortgage rate seen this week may not be sustained, but current economic and market conditions point to 30-year rates below 5% "for some time," according to a new Freddie Mac forecast.

As most of you know, I publish an e-zine that keeps loan originators (and their staff) updated on the new rules and regulations that have occurred over the last 30 days.One of the ways that I get the word out is by using Twitter.You know that just one rule update from Fannie could be 15 pages long and could have 12 rule changes in just one announcement.