Mortgages

Whoever writes the copy for the Blondie comic strip has to have a marketing and motivation background. Once again, this strip has some marketing advice that is dead on for any person in a sales position, let alone a mortgage originator.

Despite signs of a recovery and increased levels of real estate lending, devaluation is expected to lead to defaults at maturity for almost half of all securitized commercial loans monitored by Fitch Ratings.

At Origination News’ discussion with the officers of FAMP at its annual convention in Tampa, national housing correspondent Lew Sichelman asked how the changes to federal law have impacted the state’s education requirements and how conditions are in the various markets that make up this very diverse state.

MountainView Servicing Group, Denver, recently completed the sale of three bulk packages of mortgage servicing rights that had combined balances of $487 million.

Community Trust Bank had $385 million in outstanding warehouse commitments at June 30, almost double what it had a year ago.

Churchill Mortgage chief operating officer Matthew Clarke states “an investment in training is so important” for a mortgage lender and the Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm is putting its money where its mouth is.

The Federal Housing Administration reported Monday that applications for streamline refinancings of existing FHA borrowers jumped 400% in June from the month prior. In total, 84,600 new applications came in.

A Florida jury convicted two defendants last week for running a foreclosure rescue scheme that took advantage of homeowners who had trouble making their monthly mortgage payments.

The Home Affordable Modification Program has long since left the spotlight. But data shows that after initially dragging their feet, the largest mortgage servicers have modified nearly 70% of loans to eligible borrowers largely because they are receiving major incentives from the government.

The financial health of state housing finance agencies is mixed, Fitch Ratings reported last week.

Chip Mahan, the founder of the first online bank, Security First Network Bank, and current CEO of Live Oak Banking Company in Wilmington, N.C., has helped launch a cloud-based technology company called nCino that has already signed up Live Oak and five other banks.

CertusBank has agreed to buy Myers Park Mortgage, a private mortgage company in Charlotte, N.C.

NMN’s Lew Sichelman met with members of the Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals for a roundtable discussion on a variety of topics, including the state’s ongoing housing recovery.

I’ve just seen a vision of the future. Not a vision of the mortgage future, but the future of the media business, as shown by the work of the student journalists who were all over the coverage of the UNITY 12 conference in Vegas.

The average cost to close a residential loan in the U.S. dropped 7% over the past year to $3,754, according to Bankrate.com’s eighth annual closing costs survey.

To date, Redwood Trust has completed six jumbo securitizations in the post financial crisis era through its Sequoia Residential loan business – with no delinquencies, according to the REIT’s new ‘Redwood Review’ report.

The nation’s largest residential servicers—which just so happen to be megabanks—are marking down their MSRs to near fire sale prices.

We’ve been hearing whispers about a Fannie Mae nonperforming loan auction for several months now. We understand the GSE has been actively telling people it could happen by yearend or early 2013.

In Origination News’ discussion with the officers of the Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals at its annual convention in Tampa, national housing correspondent Lew Sichelman asked how the changes to federal law have impacted the state’s education requirements and how conditions are in the various markets that make up this very diverse state.

The latest draft of the CFPB's origination disclosure reform rule is drawing mixed reviews, with some saying the simplification is helpful and others that it adds to an already heavy regulatory burdens.