Tag Archives: Lenders & Servicers

Lender reaction at the recent 47th annual Chicago Federal Reserve Conference was largely negative on the current proposal to alter the selection process for members of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee. The new system would allow Congress to choose members of the committee instead of continuing to use regional Fed officials selected by the private sector to determine committee membership. The bill introduced last week, is viewed as an attempt to move power away from the regional Fed system and the private sector.

As the Dodd-Frank Act moves slowly to implementation, banking officials speaking at the recent Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's annual conference pointed to the need for continued monitoring of financial services markets to mitigate the risk of future economic crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called for regulators to focus on two key types of risk: gaps in regulatory coverage and risks that vary with the economy, such as the buildup of lending leverage.

Home values plummeted more in the first quarter of this year than they have in any quarter since 2008, according to Zillow's first quarter Real Estate Market Report. The Zillow Home Value Index fell 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 and declined 8.2 percent year-over-year to $169,600. Home values have fallen 29.5 percent since they peaked in June 2006.

Icon Residential Lenders recently bolstered the company's West Coast sales team with two notable promotions from within the organization and a new hire joining Icon from 360 Mortgage Group. Rhett Hubbard was promoted to area sales manager for Orange and San Diego counties, and Justin Smith will also take on an upgraded role as area sales manager for Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties. New to Icon, Debbie Hood has been appointed as the area sales manager for the Pacific Northwest.

Short-term mortgages are getting a boost in the form of collaboration between myCUmortgage.com and CU Structured Finance LLC. The companies have teamed up to develop a line of credit funded by credit unions.

The National Credit Union Administration which is now controlled by Federal regulators, is threatening to sue several investment banks unless they refund more than $50 billion in securities that were purchased by the five wholesale credit unions that make up the organization.

Texas Representative, Jeb Hensarling, reconfirmed his commitment to eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within five years saying, "We have waited for years to do something. It is time to start doing something." Referring to the two-time rejection of his legislation by a Democrat-controlled chamber, he added, Hopefully, the third time is a charm. The fourth-ranking House Republican said he would reintroduce his legislation to end the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie within two years of passage.

Mortgage rates hit a two-month low, declining to 4.67 percent for 30-year fixed loans. That's down from 4.88 percent one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average 15-year loan was down to 3.97 percent.

The weekly data report tracking mortgage applications nationally showed a 0.7 percent drop in volume from last week's numbers, based on a seasonally adjusted composite index. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 0.5 percent, compared to the prior week ending March 11. The refinance index had increased by 0.9 percent since last week, making it the highest refinance survey since December 2010.

Gladstone Commercial finishes 2010 with a fourth-quarter FFO of 3.0 million, a 10.1 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2009. The downward movement is attributed to $386,000 in due diligence fees incurred in acquiring a $12.3 million property in Orange City, Iowa, which the Company was required to expense under new accounting guidance rather than capitalize as it had in years past.