Mortgages

Grapevine poster MTB has started a thread commenting on the latest malaprop from Vice President Joe Biden regarding the word “jobs” and the number of letters used to spell it.

Barry Habib, chief market strategist for Residential Finance, said the latest CoreLogic HPI report is very encouraging because it does account for some of the recent rise in rates.

Analysts credit improving housing prices and low interest rates that helped homeowners refinance or sell for driving down delinquencies and the average mortgage debt from $188,341 in 2Q12 to $187,635 in 2Q13.

PHH Corp. Tuesday commenced a tender offer to purchase for cash up to $300 million aggregate principal amount of its $450 million outstanding amount of 9.25% senior notes due 2016.

Starwood Property Trust, a Greenwich, Conn.-based real estate investment trust which makes commercial mortgage loans, had net income of $62.3 million for 2Q13, up from $44.5 million one year prior.

The origination business at Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is currently benefiting from strong refinancing activity but the giant servicer also is focusing on the purchase mortgage side.

Richmond, Calif.’s plan to keep homeowners out of foreclosure by seizing underwater mortgages through eminent domain is unlikely to be successfully implemented, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Ethics concerns raised by House lawmakers about Raj Date, the former No. 2 at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who left to form his own firm, appear overblown.

Title margins at Fidelity National Financial increased by 200 basis points in 2Q13 over the year prior, the best for any second quarter at the underwriter since 2003.

First Financial Network Inc. is offering two loan portfolios from two unnamed sellers.

Including distressed sales,—short sales and real estate owned properties—the CoreLogic Home Price Index report jumped 1.9% from May to June.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings reported net income of $123.4 million for the second quarter, up from $36.3 million a year ago.

The Obama administration will be calling on Congress to pass legislation that will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance underwater loans in private label securities.

Thomas Weldon Egan, who served as president of the Connecticut Mortgage Bankers Association from 2006 to 2008, died Aug. 2 at the age of 65.

As Gen. Douglas McArthur said, “Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.”

It was being a working capital lender that led Fidelity Bank into the mortgage warehouse business in the late 1980s.

The speed of homes entering the market being sold is slowing as inventory starts to creep up, Redfin’s June Fastest Markets report claims.

LenderLive Network has been approved by Ginnie Mae as an issuer of the agency’s mortgage-backed securities.

There were 12 of the 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite stocks which lost value on Monday.

Banks reported strong demand for purchase mortgages but very little in the way of easing their tight credit standards.