Originations

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has reported net earnings of $2.5 billion ($4.11 per share) for 2005, compared with $2.2 billion ($3.63 per share) in 2004, citing record annual mortgage volume amid declining profit margins on prime loans.Countrywide said loan production volume totaled a company and industry record $491 billion for the year, compared with $363 billion in 2004. For the fourth quarter, the company reported earnings of $639 million ($1.04 per share), up 73% from $370 million ($0.61 per share) a year earlier. "Importantly, we achieved these results despite an environment that included volatile interest rates; declining production profit margins throughout the industry; and the adverse effects of 2005's hurricanes, primarily Hurricane Katrina," said Angelo R. Mozilo, Countrywide's chairman and chief executive officer. "If not for the hurricane charges, the company would have surpassed its record of $4.18 per diluted share, achieved in the peak refinance boom year of 2003." Countrywide's prime margins declined to 65 basis points in the fourth quarter, down 11 bps from those of the previous quarter and 25 bps from a year earlier, the company said. The servicing portfolio grew to $1.1 trillion as of Dec. 31, up from $838 billion a year earlier. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Aames Investment Corp., a Los Angeles-based mortgage real estate investment trust, has announced the resignation of its president and chief operating officer, John Vella, as part of a management restructuring that consolidates its retail and wholesale channels.Aames said Mr. Vella left "to pursue other opportunities" and will be replaced by Michael Matthews as chief production officer and James Fullen as executive vice president and COO for retail and wholesale. Mr. Matthews is currently EVP of national retail and marketing, and Mr. Fullen is senior vice president and head of the REIT's retail operations and settlement services. As part of the restructuring, Aames said it also eliminated an unspecified number of "corporate overhead positions" in its loan production operations. A. Jay Meyerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Aames, said the new consolidated structure is "a natural result of the continued refinement of our loan production operations" that will create greater efficiency and enhance service levels. Aames can be found on the Web at http://www.aames.com.

Argent Mortgage, the nation's largest subprime wholesaler, on Monday trimmed 15% of its work force (600 positions), citing a "challenging economic environment" in the industry.Mortgage officials told MortgageWire about the layoffs, and the company confirmed the job cuts late Monday. A company spokesman could offer no details about the job cuts, but most were believed to be production-related. Back in November Argent's affiliate, Ameriquest Mortgage, laid off 10% of its workers (800 positions). Both units are based in Orange, Calif. The mortgage lending industry as a whole -- prime and subprime alike -- is suffering from slim profit margins and reduced loan volumes. A few days before the Argent layoff, its parent company, ACC Capital Holdings, agreed to pay $325 million to settle claims with 49 states that Ameriquest Mortgage had engaged in abusive lending practices. Argent was not a party to the settlement.

Spirit Finance Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has priced a public offering of 12 million shares of common stock at $11.76 per share.Spirit said it has granted the underwriters an option to buy up to 1.8 million additional shares to cover any overallotments. The joint book-running managers of the offering are Citigroup and Banc of America Securities LLC. The REIT, which specializes in single-tenant, "operationally essential" real estate, can be found on the Web at http://www.spiritfinance.com.

A.M. Best Co., Oldwick, N.J., has initiated analysis and coverage of the U.S. banking industry and says it plans to publish a series of regular bank-related research papers and analytical methodologies.The company noted that real estate exposure continued its steady rise last year in the banking industry, increasing from 45% of total bank assets at the end of 2002 to nearly 50% as of Sept. 30, 2005. One- to four-family residential loans grew by 3 percentage points as a percentage of total assets, to 24%, the company reported. "Two additional factors that seem to have contributed to the growth in real estate exposure are the rise in outstanding balances under home equity lines of credit and the increased popularity of so-called 'nontraditional' or 'affordability' mortgage products, such as interest-only loans and payment-option adjustable-rate mortgages," A.M. Best said. The company can be found online at http://www.bestweek.com.

Oriole Partnership LLC, Palo Alto, Calif., has proposed to acquire all outstanding common shares of The Town and Country Trust, a Baltimore-based real estate investment trust whose board has already recommended a merger agreement proposed by another company.Oriole said its proposal provides for the payment of $36 per share, plus a pro-rata payment tied to TCT's regular quarterly dividend, in an all-cash transaction. Oriole is a joint venture of Essex Property Trust Inc., UBS Wealth Management - North American Property Fund Ltd., and AEW Oriole Co-Investment LLC. TCT also reported the Oriole offer, but said its board continues to recommend an existing merger offer from Magazine Acquisition for $33.90 per share. Magazine Acquisition, a joint venture formed by affiliates of Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Onex Real Estate, has the right to match any superior offer before TCT's board can change its recommendation or terminate the merger agreement, the multifamily REIT said. The companies can be found online at http://www.tctrust.com and http://www.essexpropertytrust.com.

American Bank of Saint Paul, St. Paul, Minn., has announced the acquisition of Minnesota Mortgage Financial Corp. from Gaertner Meiers Inc. for an undisclosed amount.Minnesota Mortgage is a mortgage broker for residential and commercial properties, with offices in St. Paul and Maple Grove, Minn. It will now be operated under the name Minnesota Mortgage Financial LLC, with Brad Thoreen as president and 17 loan originators, American Bank said. "Our current customer base can benefit from the opportunity of increased lending abilities in secondary-market mortgages," said John Seidel, American Bank's president and chief executive officer. The bank can be fund online at http://www.americanbankmn.com.

Lehman Brothers has trimmed roughly 300 workers from two of its nonprime mortgage affiliates -- Aurora Loan Services of Colorado and BNC Mortgage, Irvine, Calif., industry officials have confirmed to MortgageWire.It may also close one of its office locations in Irvine, executives said. "They're going to wind down that office in 90 days," said one lending executive, adding that he is receiving resumes from freshly fired ALS workers in Southern California. The cuts were made on Jan 25. Lehman would not comment for the record, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed that there were layoffs, blaming them on reduced production volumes in the industry and the "downward side of the mortgage cycle." ALS is the nation's top-ranked alternative-A lender, according to the Quarterly Data Report, an MW affiliate. BNC ranks 14th among subprime funders.

Healthcare Realty Trust Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Nashville, Tenn., has announced the closing of a new $400 million revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 12 banks.The facility, which matures in January 2009, is priced at 0.90% over the London interbank offered rate and carries a 0.20% facility fee. Proceeds from the new facility have been used to retire the outstanding balance on the previous $300 million revolving credit facility, the REIT said. The company said it may expand the facility to $650 million within two years, subject to securing commitments from lenders, and the facility may be extended for one year. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.healthcarerealty.com.

Strategic Hotel Capital Inc., a Chicago-based a real estate investment trust, has announced the pricing of a public offering of common stock that was recently increased from 9.0 million to approximately 18.03 million shares.The offering, priced at $20 per share, consisted of 7.50 million primary shares offered by the company and approximately 10.53 million secondary shares sold by stockholders associated with Prudential Financial Inc. and Whitehall Street Real Estate Limited Partnerships VII and IX. The offering will be made through a syndicate led by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, with Goldman, Sachs & Co. as underwriter, the company said. Strategic Hotel, which also operates as Strategic Hotels & Resorts, can be found online at http://www.strategichotels.com.

TRAC Financial Group Inc., Huntington Beach, Calif., which says it will pursue merger-and-acquisition candidates in the mortgage industry, has announced a change in its trading symbol to reflect its name change from Paramco Financial Group.The company will now trade on the Pink Sheets under the symbol TCFG. TRAC said it has undergone a restructuring of its capital and will operate as a financial services holding company. The company said it plans to acquire mortgage brokers and mortgage bankers with production consisting of loans to entry-level Federal Housing Administration borrowers as well as luxury homebuyers.

Wilshire Enterprises Inc., a real estate company based in Newark, N.J., has engaged Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. to conduct a strategic review of the company's options, according to Wilshire.Meanwhile, Wilshire will continue to pursue a previously announced strategy of rationalizing its asset base through geographic concentration and upgrading the quality of assets in its core markets, said company chairman Sherry Wilzig Izak. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., the broker-dealer subsidiary of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc., can be found online at http://www.fbr.com.

Peter Angelos, a nationally known class-action attorney, has filed lawsuits against six mortgage companies alleging that the lenders engaged in predatory practices in Maryland.Lawyers for Angelos' law firm have filed class-action lawsuits against Irwin Financial Corp., Provident Bankshares Corp., Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc., GreenTree Mortgage Corp., American Mortgage Express Corp., and Admiral Mortgage Inc., according to the Baltimore Sun. "In general, the complaints allege that the companies charged excessive or illegal fees," the Sun reported. During his career, Mr. Angelos has won huge settlements against tobacco companies. He is the owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

New-home sales ticked up 2.9% in December to end another record year on a good footing.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new single-family home sales rose from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million in November to a 1.27 million rate in December. (The November rate was revised downward from 1.25 million.) New-home sales totaled 1.28 million in 2005 -- up 6.6% from the previous record in 2004. RBS Greenwich Capital senior economist Michelle Girard said she expects a see a gradual decline of 5%-10% in housing activity this year. "We are not as pessimistic as a lot of people," she said, because of accelerating job and income growth in 2006. The Census Bureau reported a slight 2% rise in the inventory of unsold homes in December, but the monthly supply number remained unchanged at 4.9 months from November.

A major tenant, Beijing Vantone Real Estate, has been signed on for at least 200,000 square feet of space on the top five floors of 7 World Trade Center, and a preliminary, nonbinding agreement has been signed on the deal, according to Silverstein Properties.Beijing Vantone, a Chinese real estate developer and the anchor tenant at the property, says it expects to use the space, floors 47 through 52, as a hub for Chinese companies locating offices in New York and for U.S. and other firms looking to invest in China. The development "represents a significant demonstration of confidence in downtown's rebuilding and again reinforces Lower Manhattan's position as the financial capital of the world," said New York Gov. George E. Pataki.

Thanks in part to high levels of CMBS-related capital flow, the prospects are bright for the U.S. lodging market this year, according to the 2006 U.S. Lodging Report by Ernst & Young LLP.Other positive factors are solid fundamentals and the opening of more foreign markets, the company reported. "Last year we saw a doubling of financing activity for hotel real estate in the commercial mortgage-backed securities sector, and we see another strong year ahead," said Michael Fishbin, national director of hospitality services at Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services. "Given the fact that the lodging sector is clearly an asset class of choice -- as evidenced by the huge flows of capital into the sector and cap rate compression we saw in 2005 -- we expect investor appetite for hotel deals to grow in 2006, especially in major markets where room rates have shown strength and occupancy rates have improved." Ernst & Young can be found online at http://www.ey.com.

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., Melville, N.Y., has reported net earnings of $16.7 million ($0.27 per share) for the fourth quarter, compared with adjusted net earnings of $48.6 million ($1.14 per share) a year earlier.For the full year, the company reported adjusted net earnings of $189.4 million ($3.97 per share), compared with $146.3 million ($3.74 per share) in 2004. "During the fourth quarter, our company's income was negatively impacted by low gain-on-sale margins due to poor market conditions for whole-loan sales at the end of the quarter," said Michael Strauss, American Home's chief executive officer. ".... In addition, credit spread widening and continued high repayment speeds caused writedowns of our junior mortgage securities, our inventory of newly originated loans, and our pipeline of locked loan applications." The company can be found online at http://www.americanhm.com.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., the holding company for IndyMac Bank, has reported record net earnings of $300.2 million ($4.54 per share) for 2005, up 42% from pro forma net earnings of $211.3 million ($3.40 per share) in 2004.Mortgage loan production totaled a record $60.8 billion, up 60% from the volume recorded the year before, IndyMac said. For the fourth quarter, the company reported net earnings of $72.3 million ($1.09 per share), compared with pro forma net earnings of $58.4 million ($0.91 per share) in the fourth quarter of 2004. Mortgage loan production totaled a record $18.0 billion during the quarter, up 60% from that of a year earlier. "The 2005 fourth-quarter results clearly demonstrated the power of our hybrid thrift/mortgage bank business model," said Michael W. Perry, IndyMac's chief executive officer. "Of our $1.5 billion of average capital during the fourth quarter, we allocated 34% to our mortgage production divisions, 20% to our MSR division, and 45% to our thrift segment, with each providing strong returns on equity in line with our established targets." The company can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

While auto giant General Motors continues to struggle, its mortgage division ripped the cover off the ball in 2005, posting record earnings.According to financial statements released Jan. 26, GM's mortgage operations earned $1.4 billion in 2005, a 27% increase from the prior year. (The figure includes earnings for both the residential and commercial mortgage units.) Despite the stellar results of its financial services operation, GM posted a $4.8 billion loss in the fourth quarter. GM, which is closing plants and laying off thousands in an effort to modernize and survive, still hopes to sell a controlling stake in both Residential Capital Corp. (where the residential divisions are housed) and GMAC Commercial Mortgage. Recently, banking giant Wachovia Corp. was mentioned as having an interest in ResCap, but both parties declined to discuss the matter.

BB&T Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., has announced that it will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build private projects on land taken from private property owners by eminent domain.The policy change was attributed to a controversial Supreme Court ruling last year in Kelo v. City of New London that governments can seize private property to make way for private development projects. "The idea that a citizen's property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided -- in fact, it's just plain wrong," said John Allison BB&T's chairman and chief executive officer. In the Kelo case, the court held in a 5-4 ruling that 15 homes in a New London, Conn., neighborhood could be turned over to private developers as a way to generate tax revenue and jobs. Thirty-eight states have passed or are considering laws banning the use of eminent domain for private development, and a similar bill applying a federal ban has passed the House, according to BB&T. The company can be found online at http://www.bbandt.com.