Mortgages

We're hearing more and more cities are flirting with the use of eminent domain to condemn mortgages and that is going to cause a lot of trouble for the HUD secretary.

Juan Velez, 60, of Waterford, Conn., pleaded guilty Friday to one count of bank fraud stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme.

It was a week of wild gyrations over if and when the Federal Reserve will end the stimulus program.

A scenario posted on the Mortgage Grapevine involves a $1.8 million loan secured by a multifamily property in Memphis.

A U.S. House subcommittee has approved an appropriations bill that includes cuts to federal spending for public housing and transit.

Amherst Securities Group has brought on UBS veteran Chris McDowell as part of an effort to expand its commercial real estate finance business.

Loan modification activity slowed in April to 70,000, down from 84,400 in March.

Moody’s Investors Service has put on review for downgrade 1,079 tranches from 299 shifting interest/pro-rata U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities transactions that are reaching or getting closer to the end of their terms.

Nearly 1,000 mortgage banking employees have been or will be laid off from two JPMorgan Chase locations in New York.

The top regret for homeowners was that they wished they bought a bigger home.

First BanCorp has sold $237 million in nonperforming residential mortgages, plus an additional $22 million in real estate owned for $128 million in an all-cash transaction.

First American Title Insurance Co. has opened a commercial real estate version of its myFirstAm Web portal.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan climbed to 3.93% earlier this week from 3.35% last month and the record low 3.31% reached in November.

When Howard Bluver took over as CEO and director of Suffolk Bancorp, the bank had a total book value of $81 million in nonperforming loans.

The Federal Housing Administration is revising its scorecard for rating servicers on their loss mitigation efforts and the agency is seeking one last round of comments on the changes.

The Men's Wearhouse-George Zimmer situation should be watched by mortgage marketers.

A compliance incident does not have to involve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the violation of a consumer protection law to be a concern.

Of the 17 Mortgage Industry Equity Composite stocks, 15 were losers on Thursday.

We're hearing from the great state of Washington where there has been an increase of almost 1,200 loan originators from November 2012 through March of this year.

Pacific Investment Management Co. sees value in European commercial mortgage-backed securities on signs of a lending recovery