Mortgages

Training offered recently by mortgage insurer Radian has focused on topics ranging from the Uniform Appraisal Dataset and reading tax returns for self-employed borrowers to detecting fraud in loan documents, according to Kelli Brookman, director of national training.

The days of consumers driving around town to price-shop are fading fast. They still may be out and about while comparing prices, but they are doing so on their smartphones and other mobile devices.

Insight Lending Solutions, the developer of the PriceMyLoan automated underwriting system and pricing engine, has relaunched and rebranded its loan origination system.

A fourth quarter ranking of the best single-family rental markets for investment indicates half of the top 10 areas can be found in the Sunshine State.

Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp., Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday increased the conversion rate of its 6.25% series B cumulative convertible preferred stock to 3.6714 shares of its common stock from 3.6075 shares.

The Federal Housing Administration has suspended its anti-flipping rules for another year to facilitate the financing and sales of newly renovated foreclosed properties.

The mortgage market is expected to change dramatically in the coming year as some of the largest banks cede loan-origination market share to regional banks and nonbank mortgage lenders.

Watt Cos., a real estate asset management services business, recently created a new acquisition division to take advantage of opportunities in the Western region of the nation.

StreetLinks Lender Solutions has launched a new appraisal valuation tool that can be used by mortgage servicers and asset management firms.

Standard & Poor's late Tuesday said it is reviewing its rating criteria for U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities collateralized primarily by second liens.

With the demise of the infamous "liar loan" and no- or low-documentation mortgage programs, many industry professionals apparently believe that fraud has been eliminated.

Zillow is projecting that home values across the country are expected to have gone down approximately $700 billion in 2011, which would be 35% less than the $1.1 trillion that was lost in 2010.

Housing indicators in Northern and Southern California remained largely mixed in the latest monthly numbers available from DataQuick at press time. Southern California home values, which impact reverse mortgage originations, were up from October, but down from November 2010.

Cantor Fitzgerald last week filed a form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue CMBS under its CCRE Commercial Mortgage Securities trust.

Four federal regulators on Friday announced they would give commenters an additional month to weigh in on sweeping restrictions to banks' proprietary trading vehicles.

Do some managers in your workplace undermine others' inner work lives? One of my executive coaching clients, the managing partner of a Bay Area law firm and I were recently engaged in a conversation about assessing his firm's talent. We talked about how one of the manager's in the San Francisco location didn't feel that one of the employees had the capability of developing into a leadership role at the firm.

A small, privately-held mortgage banking company based in Wyoming has opened a new branch office, an indication that some home finance firms are thriving in the face of the housing recession.

The national composite index for consumer credit defaults increased in November for the third straight month from 2.15% to 2.22%, according to the latest report from S&P/Experian.

Home sale numbers in Northern and Southern California are relatively stable but it does not appear they are positioned for any major gains, recent statistics from DataQuick suggest.

The serious delinquency rate on Federal Housing Administration loans has risen a full percentage point over four months to 9.3% in November.