Article Archive for February 2012
By Ryan Schuette | 02/24/2012
The lights went dark for two banks in Georgia and Minnesota Friday, with one unable to secure an acquirer for deposits. The cash registers at Little Falls-based Home Savings of America fell silent without any bank scheduled to take up $434.1 million in total assets and $432.2 million in total deposits. The FDIC said in a statement that it approved payouts for customers worth the sum of their deposits. The agency insures deposits for up to $250,000 each. State regulators in Georgia also shuttered Ellaville-based Central Bank of Georgia.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/24/2012
On Capitol Hill, the American Guild of Appraisers is petitioning the Federal Reserve Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to overturn a recently adopted rule that stands in opposition to regulations contained in the Dodd-Frank Act. The AGA wrote the organization's plea based on the assertion that the Fed's new rule poses a threat to the viability of professional appraisal practice and undermines the legitimacy of real estate appraisals. The legislation in question was put in place last year by the Fed.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/24/2012
Bank of America announced Thursday that it will cease making new refinance mortgage sales to Fannie Mae as the mortgage heavyweights tangle over sensitive buyback claims from the financial crisis. The bank will stop selling first-lien refinance loans to the GSE for securitization purposes this month, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. B of A cited "contractual delivery commitments and variances" for a halt in sales against a backdrop of legal wrangling with Fannie Mae that it called "inconsistent" with past statements from the government-sponsored enterprise.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/24/2012
New home sales fell 0.9 percent in January, declining from 324,000 in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 321,000. The Commerce Department found that the new home sales from January reflected a 3.5-percent increase year-over-year, up from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 310,000. Sales in the Northeast accordingly leapt forward by 11.1 percent from December but fell 39.4 percent from January last year. The South boasted still-strong numbers on either basis, up 9.3 percent month-over-month and 15.3 percent year-over-year.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/23/2012
Interest rates for mortgage loans climbed close to 4 percent this week as a second Greek bailout sowed more confidence in the investor crowd and signs emerged that housing may see an upswing. Finance Web site Bankrate.com and mortgage company Freddie Mac each released separate surveys, with analysts attributing the rise to different causes. The GSE found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage lifting to 3.95 percent, up from 3.87 percent. Bankrate.com saw rates for the loan hit 4.16 percent, up from 4.10 percent last week.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/23/2012
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released its data from the fourth quarter of 2011, and findings from the government organization’s survey show that U.S. home pricing was slightly on the decline during the period. The FHFA’s seasonally-adjusted, purchase-only house price index (HPI) demonstrated a 0.1 percent drop in pricing between quarters, and year-over-year, the statistics displayed a decrease of 2.4 percent. In spite of the national trend, however, HPI findings from the FHFA indicated that 27 states and the District of Columbia recorded a rise for the fourth quarter of last year.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/23/2012
Releasing its February Home Value Forecast, Pro Teck Valuation Services revealed research that indicates that many core based statistical areas (CBSAs) around the U.S. are showing positive momentum. While Pro Teck's report acknowledged market data that demonstrates weak or soft status for many CBSAs, the company's recent statistics point toward a slow improvement for negative conditions throughout the country. Ranking CBSAs from "hot" to "distressed," Pro Teck also rolled out a new evaluation system with its February survey.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/23/2012
Gateway Mortgage Group has appointed a new chief credit and compliance officer. The privately held mortgage company recently named industry veteran Molly Reed Davis to the leadership position.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 02/23/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance were unchanged at 351,000 for the week ended February 18, following upward adjustments for numbers recorded the previous week which represented a four-year record low. The U.S. Department of Labor also reported that continuing claims fell 52,000 – the fourth drop observed during the first six weeks of the year. Total claims including emergency and extended federal programs fell 178,619 to 7,502,791 for the period, while extended claims – based on individual state unemployment rates – increased.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/22/2012
Despite the risk posed by more economic and political shock globally, the U.S. economy and housing market appear to be recovering, with more warmth expected for the latter in 2012, chief economists with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said this week. Doug Duncan, VP and chief economist with Fannie, and Frank Nothaft, with Freddie, each released separate forecasts in February for the year. The consensus: Low-interest rates and job growth will help strengthen a still-soft housing market, warding off broader economic forces.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/22/2012
Mortgage application volume contracted by 4.5 percent from the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Market Composite Index, a measure of volume for loan applications, fell 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the MBA’s weekly survey. Seasonally adjusted purchases declined by 2.9 percent from the week before and rose by 1.4 percent on an unadjusted basis. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity declined from 5.4 percent of total volume to 5.3 percent.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 02/22/2012
Existing-home sales rose in January for the third time in the last four months, according to the National Association of Realtors. January sales – completed transactions – were up 4.3 percent from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million. December’s total was revised downward to 4.38 million from 4.61 million. The January 2012 sales pace was up 0.7 percent from January 2011. The median price of an existing-home was $154,700 in January, down 2.0 percent from January 2011, falling to lows from 2001.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/22/2012
Revealing results from its predictive modeling survey of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoneix, Arizona, Carwin Advisors is forecasting the recovery timeline for both metropolitan areas. According to Carwin, Las Vegas will have a longer wait for housing market improvement, while Phoenix is expected to be well on the way to recovery by 2013. Carwin predicts that the housing market will eventually normalize to levels of new and existing home sales that were average for the metro area during the early 2000s.
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By Abby Gregory | 02/22/2012
Bolstering support for its executive sales and client activities , DRI Management Systems, Inc., is enhancing its leadership lineup. The technology solutions company has hired Michael J. Bailin to the newly added position of regional sales executive for the western states division, and DRI also announced the recent promotion of Nancy Schaefer to the role of senior vice president of client operations.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/21/2012
A Realtor and mortgage broker, his wife, and several others found themselves in the crosshairs of prosecutors Tuesday, along with a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker and nine co-conspirators. MReport sourced the stories from two news outlets to create the mortgage fraud blotter for Tuesday. According to one news source, former linebacker William Tisdale received convictions along with nine co-conspirators for their involvement in millions of dollars in mortgage fraud from the North Texas area.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/21/2012
Signaling the still-steady role played by eurozone affairs in U.S. markets, real estate Web site ZIllow found interest rates for mortgage loans by and large rising this week. The Web site found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticking up to land somewhere between 3.67 percent and 3.76 percent before arriving at the latter rate Tuesday. For the 15-year loan, the rate hovered around 3 percent, while rates for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages stayed near 2.75 percent.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/21/2012
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took steps Tuesday to engage mortgage lenders by forming a small business panel to review the integration of mortgage disclosure requirements into a single uniform document. The Dodd-Frank Act obligates the bureau to streamline conflicting rules and statutory requirements from the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and Truth-in-Lending Act. The CFPB billed the panel as a way to increase transparency with mortgage lenders.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/21/2012
The federal agency responsible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a proposal Tuesday that calls for lawmakers to gradually wean the GSEs off taxpayer funds and stand up a new secondary market, replete with new institutions, securitization measures, and servicing standards. The proposal outlines steps for ways to shift risk and responsibility from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a new market that lawmakers would need to establish without destabilizing a cornerstone of the economy.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/20/2012
A onetime candidate for mayor of a city in Georgia and woman in New Jersey found themselves sentenced by separate courts to several years in prison. MReport sourced the stories Monday from several news outlets. According to one, ex-mayoral candidate Gregory Cordell, a real estate agent and developer, received his sentence for $1.25 million in mortgage fraud for a property in Cartersville. The woman in New Jersey bilked CitiFinancial out of funds for a mortgage, according to another news source.
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By Ryan Schuette | 02/20/2012
As many as 100 wounded veterans and service members may receive homes free of charge, thanks to a new partnership between the mortgage lending unit for JPMorgan Chase and nonprofit Operation Homefront. The financial institution will pair homes it currently owns with qualifying families the nonprofit serves, including active-duty, Guard or Reserve, and honorably discharged service members. Any veteran from any era is eligible to apply, as are surviving single spouses of service members killed-in-action and post-9/11 disabled veterans.
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