Mortgages

Home builders increasingly are turning to private equity firms for land acquisition loans as banks continue to book losses on legacy loans they made during the housing boom, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

A new book from journalist Robert Neuwirth estimates that small, illegal, off-the-books businesses collectively account for trillions of dollars in commerce and employ fully half the world's workers. How much of this is going on in America is another question.

Origination News will have its annual top producer survey in the June 2012 issue. The survey is being developed right now and a link on the OriginationNews.com website will be ready shortly. Originators of all types, including those who do commercial real estate loans, are invited to participate.

Depending on whose foreclosure data you believe, the case is that more than five million units make up the current excess housing inventory in the United States. CoreLogic reports that north of 1.6 million units are in the foreclosure process, with more than 750,000 units that are “seriously delinquent,” meaning that the attached mortgages are 90 or more days late.

When we turn the calendar to 2012, the U.S presidential race will heat up. America's housing crisis is certain to be a hot campaign issue, and we will have no shortage of suggestions to stabilize communities—from expanded programs to purchase and redevelop vacant and foreclosed properties, to assistance to either buy a home or prevent foreclosure.

A top executive at Reverse Mortgage Solutions in Houston said the company's third party origination channel expansion efforts are starting to take root and will lead the company's growth in 2012.

When a potential homebuyer is looking for a house, many variables are taken into account, but generally location, location, location are the top three. This becomes an especially important consideration if the family involved has children who will be attending public school. Homes in school districts with the most generously filled coffers and highest ratings are always in demand, despite downturns in the real estate market.

If you were in charge of conducting a meeting with 25 people—some who know each other and some who don't —would you start it off with an icebreaker? Should you?

Successful selling almost always requires the salesperson to obtain information from the prospect to facilitate a sale. Regardless of your product or service, obtaining insightful facts about the prospect’s needs, concerns and desires should serve as a guide on how to accomplish a favorable outcome. The problem that always presents itself is determining how to effectively probe and extract information without sounding like a C.I.A. interrogator whose next question might involve waterboarding.

Although profit margins are still healthy for most mortgage banking firms, net income in the new year will continue to be impacted by "high" rep and warranty expenses, according to a recent report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Mortgage applications fell almost 4% for the holiday week ending December 30, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The decline is calculated on a sequential basis.

Large servicers are now embracing the notion of using special servicers to leverage their internal capacity, and finding that doing so creates an opportunity to involve all the necessary parties in the process through a single, integrated approach.

RealtyTrac reported today that foreclosure activity decreased by 3 percent compared to the previous month, and by 14 percent compared to November of 2010, but that a nine-month high in scheduled foreclosure auctions suggested that a “new set of incoming foreclosure waves” may be coming. I’m not so sure I agree.

Many organizations are feeling the impact of a stagnant housing market. Homeowners associations (HOAs) are no exception, but the pain they experience is also felt by mortgage servicers and investors.

Large servicers are now embracing the notion of using special servicers to leverage their internal capacity, and finding that doing so creates an opportunity to involve all the necessary parties in the process through a single, integrated approach.

Accountability is about responsibility, the responsibility to answer for your actions. The largest bank failure in U.S. history happened in 2008 with the colossal collapse of Washington Mutual. Three high-ranking executives, who were brought to task, recently reached a $64.7 million settlement with bank regulators.

The complex issue of how Wall Street relates to Main Street brought into the limelight by the Occupy Wall Street movement was in fact delivered by the ongoing economic crisis and the seemingly never-ending foreclosure disaster.

Publicly traded REIT Two Harbors Investment Corp. is laying the groundwork for a $200 million jumbo MBS deal, partnering with Barclays Bank PLC.

Despite improvements in the job market and low mortgage rates, Federal Reserve officials seem disappointed that their efforts to perk up housing are having little impact, according to minutes of the central bank's December monetary policy committee meeting.

The top 10 sellers of mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay 20 basis points in guarantee fees compared to 30 bps for firms outside the top 100, according to a new report from Keefe Bruyette & Woods.