Mortgages

Here's a couple of names you don't usually see at the top of any housing list: El Paso and Boise. Yet there they are, leading the pack in new home closings in the third quarter.

If MGIC Investment Corp. were to downstream $200 million in capital to its Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. subsidiary, the parent company's ability to meet $589 million in senior debt obligations might be stressed and the holders of its $390 million in junior subordinated debt could face substantially losses, according to the analysts at Moody's Investors Service.

Three years into the nationalization of housing finance by government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Authority, it is time to start reducing their footprints.

The national 30-day delinquency rate improved by 2% in October over September and by nearly 15% compared to a year ago, according to a new "first look" report from Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

Due diligence provider Clayton Holdings LLC on Friday said it has agreed to buy Green River Capital, West Valley, Utah, a provider of REO, short sale and broker price opinions whose client base includes mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

For those salespeople and managers out there who whine about how hard it is to actually talk to people, and that they are contacting so many more people by email because it's more effective, here's something to chew on.

Federal Home Loan Banks have been purchasing single-family mortgages from their member banks and thrifts since 1997—when the Chicago FHLB first launched its flagship Mortgage Partnership Finance program.

Mortgage bankers soon will able to originate Federal Housing Administration loans of up to $729,750 in high cost areas thanks to Congress, which passed a "minibus" appropriations bill Thursday night.

Some lenders are already chomping at the bit on 'HARP 2.0' and plan to hit the ground running to refinance Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-backed mortgages when the application process commences on December 1.

The appeals court ruling against MERS that caused the GSEs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reinitiate foreclosures on more than 1,600 Michigan properties was overturned by the state's highest court this week.

CWCapital LLC, Boston, on Thursday revealed that it has bought $2.6 billion of Fannie Mae multifamily servicing rights from Citigroup. No price was disclosed.

Freddie Mac wants to securitize reperforming residential loans and plans to issue its first bond – a Participation Certificate – by the end of November.

Mortgage interest rates were essentially flat between this week and last, as good economic news kept the markets calm, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Officials from the government-sponsored enterprises continue to encourage lenders to be proactive with their appraisal and origination technology vendors in preparation for the new requirements in the Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

I was recently working with one of my San Francisco Bay Area executive coaching clients, the CEO of a boutique hotel and restaurant company. We had an enlightening coaching conversation about how he has handled failure and learned from his mistakes. We talked about how he was able to bounce back from failure by viewing business as a learning laboratory.

Single-family housing starts rose 4% in October from the previous month, but multifamily activity fell 13%, according to new government figures released Thursday morning.

Residential delinquencies – excluding foreclosures – fell to 7.99% in the third quarter, the lowest reading since late 2008, when the nation's financial crisis was peaking, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In the first criminal case involving robo-signing of mortgage documents, Nevada's attorney filed charges Wednesday against two people accused of filing tens of thousands of false documents.

Quicken Loans received the highest customer satisfaction score in this year's J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, while Bank of America -- the poster child for consumer missteps -- received the lowest.

Effective technology strategies will help define the “winners and losers” in the new era of mortgage banking, the CEO of loan origination system provider Ellie Mae said during this week's Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.