What the government will do when prime mortgages go foul
Posted on November 20, 2009 at 11:10 am
Analyst David Hendler of CreditSights sees more of what got us to today’s government-supported, not-really-healthy-at-all housing and banking sectors.
“[T]he prime residential mortgage crisis is probably going to require another massive government assistance program in that range of half a trillion [dollars] or more,” Hendler said. “And if this program is extended, it will lead to more bank regulatory restrictions with more capital and higher prudential liquidity levels. This would reduce the banks’ appetite and ability to take lending risks and put pressure on profitability.”
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Let’s compare our mortgage malaises, shall we?
Posted on at 9:19 amFrom the BERC’s latest Housing Brief:
Oh, by the way: The national numbers have gotten quite a bit worse in a rather short time.
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We’ll be rid of her soon
Posted on November 18, 2009 at 7:29 amMTSU officials say they began taking formal action on Pam Holder’s employment status “immediately” after the nursing professor was sentenced for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.
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Ex-MTSU professor sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 7:24 am
Pam Holder, a former Tennessee Board of Regents official and professor of nursing at MTSU, has been sentenenced to 366 days in jail for her part in a mortgage fraud scheme that used straw buyers.
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At the FHA, it’s a case of ‘On the one hand…’
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 7:18 amThe bad news: The reserves at the Federal Housing Administration, which insures lenders against mortgage losses, are running below their mandated levels.
The encouraging news: More recent mortgages under the FHA umbrella are showing dramatically lower delinquency rates.
FHA’s recent books-of-business continue to experience elevated levels of stress due to house price declines, income loss and climbing unemployment, according to HUD’s report. For example, the ‘08 year of single-family insurance — representing 15.7% of total insurance — saw a 12.13% seriously delinquent rate as of the latest actuarial study. But the ‘07 year of insurance — representing only 5.7% of total insurance — saw an 18.53% serious delinquency rate.
The ‘09 year of insurance performed relatively well as of the most recent data, experiencing only 1.6% serious delinquencies although the loans insured in fiscal year 2009 account for more than 31% of all loans insured by FHA.
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Dispatches from the changing mortgage market
Posted on November 11, 2009 at 7:59 am
Here are two tidbits that crystallize the state of today’s mortgage world, a segment of the financial spectrum that has arguably seen more gut-wrenching, roller-coasting change than any other in the past few years. First, there’s the national headline that JPMorgan Chase plans to hire 1,200 loan officers in the next 13 months. The megabank has been among those profiting mightily from the flight to quality and capital.
On a more local scale, three-year-old Farmington Financial Group recently announced it has completed its metamorphosis from broker to funder. For founder and President Hart Weatherford, pictured above, the move is in part about “returning to time-honored lending traditions when bankers knew and respected their customers as individuals and worked diligently to earn their financial trust.”
SEE ALSO: Building anew and JPMorgan’s mortgage warning
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Mortgage market rises closer to the surface
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 10:19 amMarket watcher Zillow says slightly fewer mortgages were underwater last quarter and that home values in the 150-plus cities it tracks stabilized. The tax credit will help get housing through the winter, Zillow’s economist says, but the question is whether the thaw will show us a market that finally is ready again to stand on its own.
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Rising, but it could be worse
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 11:25 am
First American CoreLogic has the latest set of regional delinquency and foreclosure numbers, which are still worsening — but at a slower pace than the state and national data sets. Click at left to see foreclosures by local ZIP codes and then check here to compare the September chart’s color to March’s.
SEE ALSO: Plenty more info from the CoreLogic crowd.
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No distressed assets in this Habitat
Posted on at 7:42 amThe Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity says all of its borrowers — who make less than $30,000 per year – were current on their mortgages in September. The organization says a big part of the credit should go to its education programs.
HomeWORKS trainers prepare partner families for homeownership through a series of courses designed to teach new skills and encourage new habits. Delinquency committee members monitor mortgage payments monthly and develop the management processes.
Suggestion: We should spend a little of the remaining stimulus dough to expand HomeWORKS to the first-time homebuyers rushing into the market because of the $8,000 tax credit.
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The housing crisis will peak in 2011
Posted on October 28, 2009 at 11:59 am
Now that the subprime mortgage default wave has played itself out, it’s time to prepare for the damage that will be inflicted by souring option ARMs. The rates on many of those loans will start resetting next spring.
Local mortgage exec to lead FHA-focused task force
Posted on October 27, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Dan Crockett, CEO of Franklin American Mortgage Co., has been named chairman of a Mortgage Bankers Association panel that will advocate for the health of the Federal Housing Administration.
“During the recent run up in business, the folks at FHA have done an incredible job given the limited resources at their disposal,” said Council Chairman Dan Crockett. “Our members want to help ensure that FHA can effectively manage the risks that come with the increased business the agency is seeing. As a strong advocate of FHA and its mission, MBA wants to take proactive steps to ensure the safety and soundness of the agency today and in the future.”
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The impact of the mortgage bust
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 8:08 am
The hangover pain from the biggest housing boom in history hasn’t been shared equally. The nation’s biggest lenders have been grabbing chunks of market share as massive numbers of small lenders have shut their doors.
In Tennessee, the number of licensed mortgage originators has fallen by more than half since the summer of 2006. For more on the changed mortgage market, check out this story from our print edition. You can also click on the chart at left for the full numbers.
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Young Franklin bank ekes out a profit
Posted on October 20, 2009 at 2:07 pmThe cooling mortgage refinance market took the wind out of Franklin Synergy Bank’s asset growth and earnings in the summer. The two-year-old bank has been in the black for all of 2009, but only just made a profit in the third quarter. Assets during the period grew just $2 million to $237 million.
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JP Morgan’s mortgage warning
Posted on October 15, 2009 at 7:54 amDespite posting a third-quarter profit of $3.6 billion — more than six times the year-ago number — JP Morgan Chase says its loan losses are still rising and affecting even mortgages that were thought to be of high quality. Keep in mind that just about everyone in the know agrees that JPM is the cream of the crop.
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The extent of last year’s mortgage meltdown
Posted on October 5, 2009 at 7:21 amThe government has tallied the numbers documenting the drop in mortgage activity in 2008. Demand for loans fell by almost a third while the credit crunch claimed a good number of independent lenders.
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