Archive for August, 2011
Wells Fargo (WFC: 29.3541 +1.05%) ranks first among master and primary servicers for its handling of $442.9 billion in commercial/multifamily loans tied to commercial mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and other asset-backed securities, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
Wells Fargo serves as both primary and master servicer. While a primary servicer collects loan payments and performs property inspections, master servicers collect cash and data from the primary servicers and transfer it to investors through trustees.
Wells Fargo ranked as the top U.S. master and primary servicer in the MBA's mid-year ranking of commercial and multifamily services, followed by PNC Real Estate/Midland Loan Services, which has a $346.5 billion block of business. Those firms are followed by Berkadia Commercial Mortgage ($184.2 billion in business) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch ($123.7 billion).
PNC/Midland is the top master and primary servicer of commercial bank and savings institution loans, as well as Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae loans, while Wells Fargo is the top servicer for loans held in warehouse facilities.
GEMSA tops the list of servicers for credit companies, while Berkadia is the top servicer on other investor loan types.
The leading special servicers – or firms that are ready to step in on troubled loans – include LNR Partners Inc., CWCapital LLC, CWCapital Asset Management and C-III Asset Management LLC.
Click here to read the full report.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: Bank of America, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, C-III Asset Management, CWCapital, Federal Housing Administration, FHA, GEMSA, Ginnie Mae, LNR Partners, MBA, Mortgage Bankers Association, PNC Real Estate, Wells Fargo
Posted in Servicing/Default, Top Stories | No Comments »
July home sales in the greater Miami area fell 10.5% from June as fewer high-end buyers acquired properties and the sale of new homes plummeted to record lows, DataQuick said Thursday.
The survey, which includes the counties of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward, recorded 8,820 closings on new and resale homes in Miami last month, down 1.1% from last year but a steep drop from June.
The number of closings on newly built homes fell 12.7% from June and 29.2% from the year-ago period, with only 459 newly built homes reaching closing, making it the lowest new home sales total on record for July.
DataQuick attributed the larger than usual June-to-July drop to anxieties caused by negative economic reports and political wrangling in Washington D.C. over the U.S. debt ceiling.
In the high-end range – which includes homes valued at $500,000 or more – sales dropped 16.3% month-to-month in the Miami area. Furthermore, the sale of multimillion-dollar homes declined with 78 houses and condos selling for $2 million or more last month, down 24.3% from June and up 30% from July 2010.
About 4,251 condos sold in the Miami area in July, down 13.4% from June and a 2.4% increase from July 2010.
Still, condo sales made up 48.2% of the area's total July sales, compared to 46.5% in June and 35% over the past decade.
The median price paid on all new and resales houses and condos sold in Miami hit $136,000 in the most recent report, up 0.7% from June, but down 2.9% from a year earlier.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: DataQuick, home prices, home sales, home values, median price, Miami
Posted in Origination/Lending, Top Stories | No Comments »
The Freddie Mac delinquency rate increased 1 basis point in July to 3.51%, the first increase since November.
The rate is a percentage of the mortgages backing securities Freddie Mac guarantees. Freddie cut its guarantee book every month since February 2010. It dropped below $1.7 trillion in July, a $9 billion reduction from the previous month and the lowest point since October 2007, according to the Freddie monthly summary.
"The falling denominator is a principal reason the serious delinquency percentage ticked up during the month," said Jim Vogel of FTN Financial.
A spokesperson for Freddie said there was also a slight uptick in seriously delinquent loans, but it was nearly offset by a dip in delinquent mortgages transitioning to REO.
New Freddie Mac purchases and issuance dropped to $20.7 billion in July, the lowest monthly amount since October 2008.
Freddie also continued to cut its retained mortgage investment portfolio as required under its conservatorship agreement. The Treasury Department capped this portfolio at $900 billion at the end of 2009 and scheduled it to be wound down by 10% each year, reaching $250 billion by 2018.
Freddie remains on schedule, reducing the portfolio to $683 billion as of July, down roughly $2 billion from the previous month and more than $40 billion from one year ago.
Write to Jon Prior.
Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior
Tags: delinquent, foreclosure, freddie mac, issuance, July, monthly summary, mortgage, REO, Treasury Department
Posted in Secondary Market/Investors, Slider, Top Stories | 1 Comment »
Dimont & Associates, a provider of hazard claim insurance services, expanded its platform with the launch of a new mortgage insurance claims processing service.
Dimont's latest business line will handle mortgage insurance claims on various product types, including private loans and mortgages tied to the Federal Housing Administration.
Dimont also will handle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reimbursement claims.
The San Diego, Calif.-based firm appointed Heidi Schranz to lead the expansion into the new line. Schranz will oversee all private and government mortgage insurance claims.
"Our clients trust that we will recover the highest possible settlements for them while maintaining a strict focus on compliance," said Bernie Dimont, CEO of Dimont & Associates. "The expansion of our services to include mortgage insurance claims processing addresses the full spectrum of client needs and allows us a broader venue to maximize insurance recoveries for our clients."
Dimont is working with GWN Consulting, a third-party quality assurance provider, to help servicing clients ensure they are in full compliance with all relevant guidelines. GWN also will offer Dimont a team specialized in servicing, loss mitigation and processing claims.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: Dimont, Dimont & Associates, Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Administration, FHA, freddie mac, GWN Consulting, hazard claim insurance, loss mitigation, mortgage insurance
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Single-family homes, for-rent condos and duplexes are gaining traction in the Denver area, with the vacancy rate on rentals in these categories falling to 2.6% in the second quarter, compared to 3.8% last year, the Colorado Division of Housing said.
The trend is in line with predictions that rentals will pave the way to a housing recovery.
With the vacancy rate on these properties a full percentage point lower year-over-year, researchers in Colorado are recognizing a quantifiable trend: one in which standing, detached real estate — apart from apartments — is in high demand across Denver.
Rental houses and duplexes experienced the highest demand with vacancy rates of 2.3% and 1.2%, respectively.
Condominiums had a vacancy rate of 3.7% in the Denver area, while triplexes maintained a vacancy rate well over 4%.
“There is very solid demand for these types of properties right now,” said Robert Alldredge, principal at Jericho Properties Realty. “Although we continue to see new properties entering the market as rentals, I’d expect to see vacancies remain at low levels for at least the next 12 to 18 months.”
Rentals in these nonapartment categories are spending fewer days on the market, with their average stay falling from 47 days in the second quarter of last year to 15.7 days in the most recent quarter.
As demand picked up, the average rent on single-families grew. In the most recent quarter, those properties rented for $1,063, up 3.5% from $1,027 a year earlier.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: Colorado Division of Housing, duplexes, for-rent Colorado, Jericho Properties Realty
Posted in Origination/Lending, Top Stories | No Comments »
Mortgage rates moved higher this past week as Treasury bond yields grew and a national home price index reported some gains in home prices.
But data from two separate agencies showed mortgage rates still hovering at the low-end of the spectrum as pessimistic economic data dominated the marketplace.
The 5-year, adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 3.07% from 3.08%, hitting a new record low, Freddie Mac said in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.22%, up from 4.15% last week and down from 4.36% a year earlier. The 15-year, FRM hit 3.44%, up from 3.36% last week and 3.86% a year earlier. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM hit 2.93%, up from 2.86% last week and 3.52% last year.
Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, says a few positive reports on housing helped buoy the rates.
"The Federal Housing Finance Agency national house price index rose for the third straight month in June bolstered by a 3.3% gain in the East North Central Census Division. In addition, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the serious delinquency rate (90 days or more plus foreclosures) on mortgages outstanding fell for the sixth consecutive quarter at the end of June to 7.85%," Nothaft said.
Bankrate, which also releases a weekly report on mortgage rates, said fixed-rate mortgages fell even further this past week, with the 30-year FRM hitting a record low of 4.41%.
Bankrate blames uncertain economic conditions for mortgage rates anemic growth.
According to Bankrate's data, the 30-year FRM currently sits at 4.41%, down from 4.45% last week, while the 15-year FRM rose to 3.63%, up from 3.58% last week.
In addition, the 5/1 ARM fell from 3.15% to 3.12% in the most recent survey.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: adjustable-rate mortgages, ARM Freddie Mac, Bankrate, Federal Housing Finance Agency, FHFA, foreclosure, Frank Nothaft, freddie mac, home prices, MBA, mortgage, Mortgage Bankers Association, Treasury
Posted in Origination/Lending, Top Stories | No Comments »
Berkshire Hathaway will invest $5 billion in troubled Bank of America (BAC: 7.22 -1.10%).
The Omaha-based firm, run by investment legend Warren Buffett, will purchase 50,000 shares in preferred stock at $100,000 per share. Berkshire will also receive warrants to purchase 700 million shares of BofA common stock at an exercise price of $7.14 per share.
BofA said Berkshire can elect to purchase all of the shares at once or in part at any time over the next 10 years. The preferred stock and warrants will total $5 billion in capital to the bank.
How badly BofA needed the capital remains a question. Speculators sheared the stock value in half since the start of the year, dropping it below $7 per share on claims the bank is more exposed to mortgage, litigation and Europe problems than it was reporting. The bank rejected those claims aggressively.
In early morning trading Thursday, BofA stock jumped more than 20%.
"We are building the best franchise in financial services and we have laid out a clear plan to deliver long-term shareholder value," Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said. "I remain confident that we have the capital and liquidity we need to run our business. At the same time, I also recognize that a large investment by Warren Buffett is a strong endorsement in our vision and our strategy."
Buffett said he reached out to Moynihan in recent weeks to provide his confidence the bank will put its problems behind it.
"Bank of America is a strong, well-led company, and I called Brian to tell him I wanted to invest in it," Buffett said. "I am impressed with the profit-generating abilities of this franchise, and that they are acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them. Bank of America is focused on their customers and on serving them well. That's what customers want, and that's the company's strategy."
Write to Jon Prior.
Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior
Tags: analysts, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, Europe, exposure, issues, mortgage, stock, Warren Buffett
Posted in Origination/Lending, Top Stories | 6 Comments »
Initial jobless claims rose last week, increasing by 5,000 filings for a total of 417,000 claims on a seasonally adjusted basis. That is up from the previous week's revised figure of 403,500 claims.
The Labor Department noted the numbers for the week ending Aug. 20 were impacted by 8,500 claims stemming from a labor dispute between the Communications Workers of America and Verizon Communications.
Meanwhile, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate hit 2.9% for the week ending Aug. 13, a slight decrease from the previous week's revised rate of 3%.
Despite recent volatility in the stock market, analysts with Econoday said Thursday the markets "are showing little reaction to the report, which outside of the Verizon strike, points to mildly improving conditions in the labor market."
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: jobless claims, labor department
Posted in Secondary Market/Investors, Top Stories | No Comments »
The California Association of Realtors Wednesday delivered a public reprimand to the nation’s top mortgage lenders and servicers over their handling of short sales.
In letters to JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 37.255 -0.63%), Citigroup (C: 30.43 +0.16%), Bank of America (BAC: 7.22 -1.10%) and Wells Fargo (WFC: 29.3541 +1.05%), the association charges the lenders with failing to respond to borrowers’ short-sale requests within a reasonable time frame, dragging their feet on processing files and miring incomplete files in excessive red tape, among other things.
"As public attention continues to be focused on the real estate industry in hopes of signs of a housing recovery, we trust you’ll agree that change in your short-sale process is critical," said CAR President Beth Peerce in the letter. The association said the communiqué is a response to increasing difficulty among real estate agents in closing short sales, which it says will be a part of the California real estate landscape for years to come.
The letter outlines a series of recommendations for actions lenders should undertake to allow short sales to run more smoothly and aid in the housing market recovery.
"We believe banks, investors, homeowners and real estate professionals all have a common interest in conducting these transactions expeditiously and efficiently," said Peerce in her communication to lenders. "The housing market recovery is in everyone’s best interests, and your urgent focus on these issues will help achieve that end."
JP Morgan spokesman countered that the bank is now processing 5,000 short sales a month. "That is a significant amount," the source tells HousingWire. "We know that short sales are important to the market and that is why we are doing so many."
Citigroup also pointed out that it has had a specialized short sales group for a number of years. "In 2009 senior management increased our focus on potential short sales, recognizing that they may be the best solution for some borrowers," said spokesman Mark Rodgers. "The unit employs short sales specialists who are able to expedite the short sales process."
Write to Liz Enochs.
Tags: Bank of America, California Association of Realtors, Citigroup, distressed housing, housing market, JP Morgan Chase, mortgage market, short sales, Wells Fargo
Posted in Servicing/Default, Top Stories | No Comments »
Second-quarter pre-foreclosure sales jumped 19% from the previous quarter, suggesting more banks and distressed borrowers are searching for efficient ways to offload properties near foreclosure, RealtyTrac said.
Third parties acquired 102,407 pre-foreclosures in the second quarter, while 162,680 bank-owned homes were sold in the same period.
Pre-foreclosure sales are generally short sales and properties sold within the foreclosure process.
“The jump in pre-foreclosure sales volume coupled with bigger discounts on pre-foreclosures and a shorter average time to sell pre-foreclosures all point to a housing market that is starting to focus on more efficiently clearing distressed inventory through more streamlined short sales — at least in some areas,” said James Sacchio, CEO of RealtyTrac.
As for who is nabbing up distressed and bank-owned properties, RealtyTrac said third parties acquired 265,087 homes classified as in foreclosure or bank-owned in the second quarter. That is up 6% from the revised first quarter figure and down 11% from the second quarter of last year.
The average sales price for foreclosures or bank-owned properties hit $164,217 in the second quarter, down less than 1% from the first quarter and 5% lower than a year earlier.
The sales price for distressed real estate was 32% below the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure.
States with the largest quarterly increase in pre-foreclosure home sales included Nevada, which experienced a 43% increase; Washington (39%), California (38%); and Texas (34%).
The states with the highest number of foreclosure sales included Nevada, Arizona and California.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.
Tags: home sales, pre-foreclosures, RealtyTrac, short sales
Posted in Servicing/Default, Slider, Top Stories | 1 Comment »
