Housing Wire

Manhattan Reports “Modest” Q3 Price Gains

DIANA GOLOBAY — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:12:14 +0000

The Manhattan residential market saw a recent decline in the surge of new development closings, according to data released by Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The New York-based residential broker released its Q3 2008 Manhattan residential market report Friday, which also showed price gains as “more modest and less subject to skew this quarter.” Prudential’s data showed [...]

Congress Begins Hearings, Will Look for Blame

KELLY CURRAN — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:03:52 +0000

Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced late last week that his committee will hold five hearings in October on the financial meltdown, signaling the start of a Congressional witch hunt to determine who is most to blame for the mortgage and financial ills that now threaten the [...]

Look Who’s Hiring: Treasury Seeks Asset Managers

DIANA GOLOBAY — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:30:10 +0000

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Monday that it plans to add new staff members to manage the troubled assets bought through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act signed into law Friday by President George W. Bush. The Treasury will hire managers for mortgage securities separately from managers who will handle whole mortgage loans, the government [...]

Fannie Mae Forgives Mortgage After Homeowner Shoots Self

KELLY CURRAN — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:37:29 +0000

Like a scene from a scary movie, gunshots from a little white house in Akron, Ohio, jolted Capitol Hill Friday. The culprit? Foreclosure. Ninety-year-old Addie Polk, in a stunt to prevent eviction after a bank foreclosed on her home, allegedly fired shots into her chest as Summit County sheriff’s deputies approached her home with eviction papers. “She [...]

SEC Acts Against L.A.-Based Mortgage Brokers

DIANA GOLOBAY — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:19:44 +0000

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged five Los Angeles-based mortgage brokers with fraud, according to a media statement Friday. We here at HW have seen few breaking news stories recently with any kind of precedent in the changing economy, but this one really left us scratching our heads: Since when does the SEC take action against [...]

Fannie, Freddie to Sell Bad Assets

DIANA GOLOBAY — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:15:58 +0000

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM: 1.05 -21.64%) and Freddie Mac (FRE: 1.22 -18.12%) might soon approach the Treasury Department to sell off some bad assets, according to a Reuters report Sunday. No final decision has been reached regarding the sale of Fannie and Freddie’s bad assets, said Federal Housing Finance Agency director James Lockhart in a [...]

Wachovia Battle Rages On; Wells, Citi Discuss Carve-Up

KELLY CURRAN — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:53:20 +0000

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC: 32.21 -6.80%), locked in a heated dispute with Citigroup Inc. (C: 16.48 -10.19%) over an acquisition of Wachovia Corp. (WB: 6.07 -2.25%), seemed to have the advantage Monday morning, following a court ruling in its favor and the issuance of press statements by Wachovia supporting its offer. Federal officials, however, [...]

BofA Rolls Out $8.4 Billion Loan Mod Program

PAUL JACKSON — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:00:18 +0000

The mortgage bailout for Main Street has officially begun, in the shadow of a $700+ billion bailout of Wall Street signed into law on Friday afternoon by President Bush. A slew of lawsuits against Countrywide Financial Corp. led Bank of America Corp. [[BAC] to announce late Sunday evening what will likely end up being the single [...]

Moody’s Adds Daily MBS Pricing to Fixed Income Platform

PAUL JACKSON — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:20:49 +0000

Moody’s Analytics said last week that it had partnered with Andrew Kalotay Associates and eMBS Inc. to add daily pricing of fixed-rate mortgage backed securities to CreditValues, its fixed-income pricing service. The agreement will allow Moody’s to enhance its CreditValues platform by offering end-of-day MBS pricing — including 4PM pricing to support mutual funds in [...]

Bush Signs Bailout into Law

KELLY CURRAN — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:00:14 +0000

President Bush wasted little time Friday, signing into law a sweeping bailout package that passed a “second-try” vote in the House of Representatives earlier in the day. “By coming together on this legislation, we have acted boldly to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country,” Bush said [...]