Originations

Triad Guaranty Inc. has retained Heidrick & Struggles to conduct a search for someone to fill the newly created position of chief operating officer.The COO will be responsible for the operations of the company and its subsidiaries, including Triad Guaranty Insurance Corp. The new executive will also ultimately take on some of the current duties of chief financial officer Ron Kessinger, Triad said. Mr. Kessinger has announced his retirement from Triad effective March 31, 2005, after which he will become a consultant to the company. Mr. Kessinger said he wanted to reduce his day-to-day involvement with Triad to spend more time with his family and to pursue personal and charitable interests. The search for a new COO is expected to take six months.

United Financial Mortgage Co., Oak Brook, Ill., has announced a joint venture with Troon Management Corp., Hatboro, Pa., to establish a new title insurance agency.The new company, First Family Title LLC, will be based in Bensenville, Ill., and will initially offer title services only in Illinois, UFMC said. It is expected to open for business within 60 days. "Having us involved with a title agency is an obvious and natural progression for our business," said Steve Khoshabe, president and chief executive officer of UFMC. Troon currently manages multiple title insurance operations in six states. UFMC can be found online at http://www.ufmc.com.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, rose from 797.8 to 837.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended Feb. 13, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications rose 7.0% on the week, but were down 22.3% from the level of a year earlier. The Purchase Index climbed from 402.2 to 413.9 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index rose from 3099.1 to 3298.3. Refinancings represented 56.6% of total applications, down slightly from 56.9% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 27.1%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from 5.60% to 5.46%, and points (including the origination fee) were unchanged at 1.40 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Single-family housing starts fell 8% in January as builders took a slight pause from a record-breaking construction pace in November and December.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that single-family starts fell from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.67 million in December to a 1.54 million rate in January. Construction activity dropped by 18.5% in the Northeast and 13.5% in Midwest, which was hit by severe weather in January. Single-family starts fell by 8.4% in the South and by less than 1% in the West. Last year, builders broke ground on 1.50 million new homes, topping the previous record of 1.45 million set 26 years ago. Economists at the National Association of Home Builders project that single-family starts will average 1.54 million in the first quarter of 2004.

CNL Hospitality Properties, Orlando, Fla., is acquiring KSL Recreation, a La Quinta, Calif.-based owner and operator of "upscale destination resorts," for $1.366 billion.CNL is also assuming long-term debt of $794 million on the KSL properties, the private real estate investment trust said. The KSL holdings include luxury hotels, golf resorts, and spas in Hawaii, California, Arizona, and Florida, CNL said. "The acquisition of these premium properties -- which are well managed and beautifully maintained -- fits perfectly with our strategy of building a highly diversified, world-class portfolio of hotels and resorts," said Thomas J. Hutchison III, CNL's chief executive officer. He added that CNL is seeing "signs that the travel sector is strengthening" and believes that this is a good time to invest in such properties. An affiliate of Deutsche Bank has committed to partly finance the transaction, CNL said.

The general partner of American Insured Mortgage Investors (AIM 84) has declared the final liquidating distribution of $1.60 per unit, resulting in the termination of the partnership.AIM 84 will close its stock transfer books at the close of business on Feb. 24. On that date, unitholders will be required to surrender their certificates representing depositary units of limited partnership interest, the company said.

CB Richard Ellis Group, Los Angeles, is planning an initial public offering of its common shares and has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the IPO.The company reported in the SEC filing that the maximum aggregate offering price for the IPO is $150 million. The IPO will consist of newly issued shares offered by CBRE and secondary shares offered by affiliates of Blum Capital Partners and "other selling stockholders," CBRE said. The underwriters will have the option to purchase additional shares to cover any overallotments. The offering is being made through an underwriting syndicate led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup Global Markets. L.J. Melody, a company that originates and services commercial mortgage loans, is a subsidiary of CBRE.

Freddie Mac says it exceeded its affordable housing goals for 2003, even though the secondary-market agency had indicated late last year that it would be a "stretch" due to the record level of refinancings.The federally mandated AH goals require that 50% of Freddie Mac's and Fannie Mae's loan purchases benefit low- and moderate-income homeowners. Freddie said 51.1% of its single-family and multifamily loan purchases met the AH goal. Fannie Mae has not reported its results yet, but a spokeswoman said they expect to meet the goals. The Department of Housing and Urban Development sets the AH goals to encourage the two government-sponsored enterprises to purchase loans made to low-income and minority families. In 2003, Freddie purchased 5.5 million loans totaling $826 billion, including $106 billion in financing for 700,000 minority families, the company said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

North Fork Bancorp, Melville, N.Y., is buying its city-based neighbor Greenpoint Financial, the nation's 18th-largest residential lender, for $6.3 billion in stock.The acquisition will catapult NFB -- which has little or no presence in residential finance -- to the top tier of mortgage banking. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, Greenpoint's subsidiary, Greenpoint Funding of Novato, Calif., is also the nation's 25th-largest residential servicer. NFB is a commercial bank, and the New York-based Greenpoint is a thrift. According to NFB, the deal will create "the largest regional bank" in the New York metropolitan area, and the 16th-largest bank in the United States. The combined institution will have $50 billion in assets and 340 branches. Greenpoint's sale has been rumored for months. Recently it was thought that a foreign bank would be the buyer.

American Residential Investment Trust Inc., San Diego, has reported record earnings of $29.0 million ($3.57 per share) for 2003, compared with $1.6 million ($0.20 per share) a year earlier.However, as previously announced, the company did take a loss in the fourth quarter of $406,000 ($0.05 per share) compared with profits of $4.7 million (0.59 per share) for the same period in 2002. John M. Robbins Jr., chief executive of ARIT and its subsidiary American Mortgage Network (AmNet), explained "Loan volume did decline in the fourth quarter and margins on that volume were compressed. During the second and third quarter, we aggressively entered new markets and increased staff to handle volume and to capitalize on this unprecedented market opportunity. However, when fourth quarter activity abruptly slowed, the staffing levels we put in place to respond to second and third quarter volumes were no longer necessary, so we have reduced headcount in most branches and eliminated overtime and temporary labor costs. Our ongoing challenge will be to balance future growth opportunities with the reality of today's mortgage market. Consequently, as we enter new markets and add to our sales force, operations in existing branches will continue to be evaluated and rightsized to align infrastructure costs with volume levels."

About 65 million low-income Americans, representing 24% of the entire U.S. population, have housing problems such as "cost burdens, substandard conditions, overcrowding, or homelessness," according to a report released by The National Low Income Housing Coalition."America's Neighbors: the Affordable Housing Crisis and the People It Affects" finds that the No. 1 problem is cost, as about 55.5 million low-income people spend over 30% of their income on housing. In contrast to previous reports based on households, this one examines individuals with housing problems, NLIHC said. "For too long the true extent of the housing crisis in America has been hidden," said NLIHC president Sheila Crowley. "We need to look past the front door to the people inside low-income households to understand how serious the problem really is." One third of the population, or 95 million Americans, have at least one housing problem, and of these, 43.6 million earn less than $25,000 a year, the study said. The most severe problems are faced by those who earn 30% or less of the area median income. The study found that housing problems are not faced by renters only: about 30.2 million low-income homeowners also reported such problems.

Trizec Properties, Chicago, has reported net income of $198.5 million ($1.32 per share) for 2003, compared with a net loss of $188.8 million ($1.26 per share) for 2002.For the fourth quarter, Trizec reported net income of $71.0 million ($0.47 per share), compared with a net loss of $16.5 million ($0.11 per share) a year earlier. Net income for the fourth quarter was boosted by tax benefits and gains on the sale of real estate, the real estate investment trust said. Among the performance highlights touted by Trizec was the sale of its second-mortgage interest in the Sears Tower to a subsidiary of MetLife for $9.0 million.

Based on data showing that Hispanics are avid Internet users, Wells Fargo has launched El Futuro en Tus Manos ("The Future in Your Hands"), an Internet-based program in Spanish that targets Hispanic homebuyers, small businesses, and other customers.The financial literacy program provides tips and tools on how to manage one's personal finances, how to buy a house, or how to establish a business. The program allows users to research their financial options and available credit products and services. Moreover, for the first time users can apply -- online, in Spanish -- for a checking or savings account, and use InterCuenta Express to wire funds to their families in Mexico, through a Wells Fargo account. Citing comScore Media Metrix statistical data, the company said Latinos are the largest minority group online, representing 12.5 million users nationwide.

The median prices of existing homes increased at "respectable rates" during the fourth quarter in most metropolitan areas, but "the rate of growth has cooled," according to the National Association of Realtors.The association's metro area home price report for the fourth quarter found 33 of the 127 areas surveyed with double-digit annual increases in median resale prices, and 22 with "generally small" price declines. "In the third quarter, the median price was 10% above [that of] a year earlier, the strongest rate of appreciation since the fourth quarter of 1980," said NAR chief economist David Lereah. "What we're seeing now is a natural easing after a record pace of home sales in the third quarter." The top rates of year-over-year increases in median resale prices were in the Riverside-San Bernardino area of California, where the median price was up 28.9%, to $239,400; Sarasota, Fla., up 26.1% to $222,100; and the Los Angeles area, up 24.5% to $382,200.

Total existing-home sales -- including condominiums and co-operatives -- set the second-highest pace on record in the fourth quarter, rising in 47 states from the levels recorded a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.The seasonally adjusted annual resales rate was 7.20 million units in the fourth quarter, up 9.3% from 6.59 million in the fourth quarter of 2002, but down from the record 7.39 million pace set in the third quarter of 2003, the NAR reported. The biggest year-over-year gains were recorded in Wyoming, where the resale rate was up 32.8%; Nevada, up 32.6%; and Alaska, up 24.0%. The NAR can be found online at http://realtor.org.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.66% for the week ending Feb. 13 from 5.72% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 5.03% to 4.96%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages dipped from 3.61% to 3.57%. Fees and points averaged 0.7 of a point for all three mortgage categories. "Markets remained tame while waiting for Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's semiannual testimony to House members about the state of the economy," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Greenspan led the markets to believe that the Fed's actions would be on hold until there was more than sufficient growth in the economy to warrant a change in monetary policy. In other words, there is still enough slack in the economy to leave rates at their current accommodative level for some months to come." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.86% and 5.26%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 3.89%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Commercial Net Lease Realty, an Orlando, Fla.-based equity real estate investment trust, has been added to the Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 Index.The index consists of 600 domestic stocks chosen for market size, financial viability, liquidity, and industry sector representation. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.cnlreit.com.

Maguire Properties, Los Angeles, is acquiring a 1.7 million-square-foot Orange County, Calif., mixed-use property from an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors for approximately $260 million.The purchase price includes the assumption of the existing mortgage on the property and mezzanine financing of approximately $164 million, the office real estate investment trust said. The property, Park Place, consists of one 10-story office tower, six four-story office buildings, and a concourse building in the John Wayne Airport submarket of Orange County, Maguire said.

MFA Mortgage Investments Inc., New York, has priced a public offering of 7.5 million shares of common stock at $10.13 per share.The company said the proceeds are expected to be used for working capital and to buy additional adjustable-rate and hybrid mortgage-backed securities. MFA has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 1.125 million additional shares of common stock to cover any overallotments. The lead manager of the transaction was UBS Investment Bank. MFA, a real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.mfa-reit.com.

Domania, a Boston-based provider of services to banks, mortgage lenders, and Realtors, has announced the introduction of Domania Real Estate Polls, which will measure consumer sentiment in three real-estate-related categories.The categories are: Home & Lifestyle; Real Estate Transaction; and House and Home Intention. "For 10 years, Domania has been answering the question 'What did that guy down the street pay for his house?' for the American real estate consumer," said Ben Joslin, Domania's general manager. "Now we are answering the question 'What does that guy down the street think?'" Domania can be found online at http://www.domania.com.