Mortgages

A Senate panel wants the chief GSE regulator to explain why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives continue to receive millions of dollars in bonus money for running the giant mortgage companies which continually need government assistance to stay afloat.

Ally Financial Corp. this week announced what it calls "modest" layoffs in its correspondent lending division, but declined to specify how many workers were cut.

European concerns' effect on the larger market drove the average weekly rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage down to 4%, a level Freddie Mac said is the second-lowest ever.

Efforts to reinstate the $729,750 maximum loan limit for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA loans has garnered the support of 137 House members, including 25 Republicans.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations in the third quarter were almost double what they were for the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

CIT Group Inc., New York, is getting into the commercial real estate lending business, looking to originate and underwrite transactions in the Boston, New York and Washington markets.

With the winter months quickly approaching, there seems to be an ominous picture for national home prices.

Two Harbors Investment Corp., a hybrid single-family residential mortgage REIT, recorded net GAAP earnings of $54.6 million during the third quarter when it completed a secondary stock offering and repositioned its portfolio to anticipate the HARP program change.

CoreLogic posted a net loss of $107 million off revenue of $348 million, the result of substantial losses from the discontinued operations of five business units in the third quarter of 2011. The results compare to a net loss of $93 million off revenue of $330 million in 3Q10.

Loan origination system provider Ellie Mae reported net income of $1 million for the third quarter of 2011, down from a $1.7 million profit in 3Q10, but better than its losses of $40,000 in 2Q11 and $800,000 in 1Q11.

Bill Beckmann begins each week with a flight from his home in St. Louis to Washington. The weekly flights have become a routine of sorts since he took on a job that of late, has become the most daunting among executive jobs in the mortgage industry, president and chief executive of Merscorp Inc.

Two AOL online destinations will incorporate the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace into their websites beginning in 2012.

Executives can learn from Hollywood. During speech coaching sessions I always ask, "What is your story?" So often executives ask, "Does my audience want to hear this?" "Yes!"

It may have been Raj Date's first time testifying before Congress as the interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but Republicans did not let him off easy.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke Wednesday afternoon said the central bank might scale up its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities if conditions warrant, but not right now.

The government controlled Freddie Mac posted a net loss of $4.4 billion in the third quarter, blaming the performance on higher credit costs, and declining interest rates, which impacted the fair value of its investment in derivatives.

Fannie Mae recently opened a mortgage help center in St. Louis to provide free education and counseling services to local homeowners who are facing hardship.

Case Property Services has added a new service that helps borrowers and lenders resolve a commercial real estate workout.

Delinquency rates on securitized commercial mortgages continued to creep up in October with CMBS issuance slowing to a halt.

First Federal Savings and Loan Association, a subsidiary of First Financial Holdings, has signed an agreement to sell nearly $198 million of selected performing loans and classified assets to Varde Partners' joint venture partners FirstCity Financial Corp., Mountain Real Estate Group and Shelving Rock Partners.