Tag Archives: Investors

SunTrust Banks, Inc., has announced a new chairman for its board of directors, naming the company's president and CEO to the position. William H. Rogers, Jr., who has served as president and CEO of SunTrust since June, will take over as chairman of the board on January 1.

The same day that lawmakers deluged the GSEs and their regulator with criticism, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finally released guidelines Tuesday for lenders and servicers about modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program. The Obama administration ended weeks of speculation when it announced the modifications ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô specific to HARP 2.0, as dubbed by the media ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô in October. New guidelines effectively took lenders and servicers off the hook by nixing their legal culpability for original loans before homeowners refinance with the GSEs.

Fixed-rate mortgages remained largely popular with consumers over the third quarter, according to Freddie Mac, despite the willingness by some lawmakers and policymakers to part ways with the loan product. The GSE found that more refinancing borrowers opted to contract their mortgage terms over the course of the second quarter. Forty percent of borrowers with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage exchanged their old products for 15- and 20-year mortgages, topping off the most such since 2003, Freddie found.

Pressure from Congress over some $13 million in bonuses for GSE executives crystallized in a hearing Tuesday that saw Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco defend himself and the controversial pay packages against critical questions from lawmakers. Members of the Senate Banking Committee largely took turns criticizing the FHFA's decisions and probing for statements about the housing finance system. The head of the agency responsible for regulating the GSEs portrayed his decision as one that would ultimately help keep taxpayers off the hook.

ServiceLink has appointed a new general counsel, with the announcement that Donald Blanchard will join the company. The end-to-end origination provider plans to capitalize on Blanchard's experience in corporate, contract, and real estate law to enhance their legal support.

The current complexion of the national housing market is prompting Bank of America Corp. to focus on new lending measures, including taking steps toward facilitating loans that are not backed by the government-sponsored enterprises. BofA's CEO Brian Moynihan highlighted future initiatives from the financial institution during his speech at the BofA Merrill Lynch conference in New York recently, and his remarks revealed the bank's key interest in pursuing changes related to the influx of investor cash into real estate markets around the country.

In international real estate news, True Green Energy Group (TGEG) is teaming up with the president and CEO of Universal Resources Development Incorporated (URD) to create housing projects in the Philippines. TGEG, which is based in the country, will become partners with Paul Lu of URD in the development, in collaboration with CJ Consortium Group, Inc., and its various partners.

In California, one city is on the decline, with San Diego reporting an 8 percent drop in home sales year-over-year for the month of October. The survey from The Berkland Group notes that the shrinking housing numbers in the city didn't discriminate, affecting all price ranges, but having the greatest impact on the upper end of the real estate market among homes priced between $500,000 and $900,000.

The GSEs remain a mainstay in debates over the role of the government in housing, but some now say the Federal Housing Administration may take a turn as the next agency in need of bailout funds. A new study by Joseph Gyourko, a University of Pennsylvania real estate and finance professor, highlights future peril for the agency, predicting that it may need as much as $50 billion in federal funds over the next several years just to stay solvent. Some analysts say the real threat is not from a bailout but from sapped liquidity and credit for homeowners.

The 2011 national tally for bank failures crested at 88 with the closure of a financial institution in Georgia Thursday. The Community Bank of Rockmart added to the state's litany of bank failures by shuttering with $62.4 million in total assets and $55.9 million in total deposits. State regulators closed the bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC swooped in to cover the $14.5 million-bill left behind by the bank failure. The failure in Rockmart boosts both the national and state tallies, with the latter climbing to 23, keeping Georgia the leader in 2011 closures.