Mortgages

Freddie Mac executive Anthony Renzi has accepted a senior mortgage job with Citigroup, after weighing a position with Wilbur Ross’ fast-growing mortgage empire.

PHH Corp. posted net earnings of $75 million for the first quarter, turning a profit on its residential mortgage operation, but suffering charges on its servicing business. In 1Q11, the company earned $49 million.

Mixed U.S. housing metrics suggest the speed of the recovery is as crucial as the recovery itself.

Michael D. Fraizer, chairman and CEO of Genworth Financial, resigned Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after the firm’s stock was hammered because of accelerating losses in its Australian mortgage insurance business.

Continuing its rapid expansion throughout the Northeast, Berkshire Hills Bancorp said that it has acquired Greenpark Mortgage Corp.

Bank-owned homes have seen a 5.5% increase in prices from a year ago, while fair market homes dropped 2.9%, Clear Capital said in its monthly home data index market report.

The real estate market enjoyed a splendid first quarter in Texas, where both sales and prices logged positive gains.

Fannie Mae and Citibank officials were developing a principal reduction pilot program that was supposed to go live in July 2010 when it was “mysteriously” stopped and later terminated.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc. lost nearly $9 million in the first quarter, but that is an improvement over the loss of $78 million in the fourth quarter last year and $32 million in 1Q11.

Radian Group Inc. lost $169 million in the first quarter, as the company's mortgage insurance business had a pretax loss of $45 million for the period.

Fannie Mae acquired $95.3 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in March, a stunning 53% jump from the month prior, and a performance a source close to the company attributed to recent guarantee fee hikes.

The New York Mortgage Coalition has provided a grant to the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant to help protect homeowners with property tax liens from foreclosure.

It appears that a flip-flop of sorts is happening in regard to the FHA and VA programs.

n this season of high political drama it is not really surprising that potential candidates, as well as a myriad of federal agencies, are all jockeying for the most complimentary spot in the limelight. The National Fair Housing Alliance is no exception.

The real estate owned-to-rental niche currently may be "the world's biggest $0 billion industry," as Rick Sharga of Carrington Mortgage Services said at the recent SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas, but it should start to grow.

Recent hikes in FHA premiums appear to be causing a shift in government-backed mortgage programs.

Costco, the discount merchandise warehouse, is planning to expand its financial offerings with a test pilot for mortgages and student loans.

Lenders are no more willing now to make a home loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac than they were six years ago, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey released Monday.

Industry veteran Tony Renzi, who joined Freddie Mac last spring as part of a major organization at the GSE, has resigned from the company effective May 11, according to a new SEC filing.

Nearly 50% of banks are not participating in the HARP 2.0 program and only 30% are actively soliciting applications, according to a Federal Reserve Board survey.