CMG Financial is a multi-billion dollar lender that has
experienced phenomenal growth and is focused on continuing to
expand its national footprint. It is currently recruiting
nationally, with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay
Area, Phoenix, Dallas, Jacksonville, and San Diego locales. CMG
has various mortgage banking positions open, including
closers, loan processors, underwriters, QC, registration,
origination, management, etc. The company's lending
channels include wholesale, retail, correspondent, and
Strategic Field Engagement. Established in 1993, CMG Financial
is a privately held nationwide mortgage bank headquartered in
northern California, CA and lends in 43 states. "Developers of
the only patented mortgage product on the market, creativity
and innovation are hallmark characteristics of the culture and
environment, our competitive advantages include FNMA/FHLMC
Direct Lender, HARP 2.0 Unlimited LTV Authority, top tier
pricing and product mix, operational superiority, compliance
and regulatory support as well as forward-thinking
leadership." All interested individuals should send an e-mail
to our Corporate Recruiter-Amy Gallow Agallow@cmgfi.com.
Learn more about the company at www.cmgfi.com.
We welcome candidates who would flourish in an environment
that pushes the standards of excellence.
Stonegate Mortgage Corporation, one of the nation’s largest
and fastest growing independently-owned mortgage lenders and
servicers, is currently looking to hire underwriters in
several locations. Stonegate Mortgage fulfillment
centers are located in Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo.
and St. Petersburg, Fla. There will also be remote hires for
Charlotte, N.C.; Denver, Colo.; Phoenix, Ariz. and Dallas,
Texas. (Stonegate Mortgage was recently featured in a six-page
spread in Mortgage Banking Magazine, being highlighted for its
expansion across the United States as well as its rapid growth
of hiring over the last few years. To read the article about
Stonegate Mortgage click on the link below and go to pages 42
to 49. http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mba/8403jbp201212/index.php?stdataemail:jcutillo@stonegatemtg.com)
Interested candidates should send their resume to resumes@stonegatemtg.com.
Many lenders and loan officers are reaping the rewards of
the government-sponsored low rates and the
government-sponsored refinance programs – although things
are starting to fade a little with rates and the programs.
The FHFA recently released Home Affordable Refinance Program
(HARP) data for October. The data show that HARP volume
decreased 10.1% month over month in October while non-HARP GSE
refi's increased 5.5%. This followed an 8.2% sequential
decline in HARP volume in September. HARP volume as a
percentage of total refinance activity declined to 18.5% from
21% in September, probably due to rates. Also, high LTV loans
(to borrowers with LTVs above 125) declined 19.4% month over
month. Analysts think that the low rate environment will keep
rate driven refinances high, which will likely prevent the
HARP percentage from rising in the near term, but for 2013
look for HARP to continue to be a significant part of the refi
mix, and to help contribute to strong industry gain-on-sale
margins into 2013.
And
blame it on the time of year, or the theory that if rates stay
here we will see a natural decline in refinance volume, but
this morning we learned from the MBA that applications for
home mortgages fell last week for the third consecutive week
as refinancings fell to the lowest level since last April. The
numbers confirmed what lock desks everywhere are seeing, but
apps dropped nationwide over 10% in the week ended December
28. Both purchases and refi’s were down over 10%, and refi’s
stayed at 82% of all applications.
The
Financial Times reports that Bank of America is ramping up
mortgage and corporate lending after two years of
focusing on capital levels and cost-cutting under chief
executive Brian Moynihan. Mr. Moynihan said the company
should overtake JPMorgan Chase in direct-to-consumer
mortgage lending in the next six months and he had
directed bankers to be “more aggressive” in lending to
companies. “BofA ended 2012 as the best performer in the Dow
Jones Industrial Average, with a 109 per cent increase in the
stock, which rose an additional 3 per cent on Wednesday after
the fiscal deal in Washington. Much of investors’ renewed
faith stems from the bank’s improved capital position after
years of concern stemming from multibillion-dollar
compensation claims against soured mortgages, many
underwritten by Countrywide. BofA has $134.6 billion of tier
one common equity, or 8.97 per cent of risk-weighted assets,
under the new Basel III regulatory standards, the bank said
last quarter.”
While
we’re on Countrywide, regarding yesterday's mention of the
Rolling Stone article on Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide,
Bill Lawton wrote, "There's a rising tide of ex-employees that
are sick and tired of the bashing Angelo gets every time the
bad mortgage economy comes up. Matt Taibi and the rest of the
so-called elite journalists that do so (and know nothing of
what they write) should take a step back and understand that
Angelo and David Loeb built a company that flourished for 40
years. They may also want to take into consideration that
Countrywide provided employment, internationally, to thousands
of people. It provided benefits to its employees that were far
better than competitors. They gave people the opportunity to
grow and excel. And, as far as ‘FOA’ loans, yes they
existed. So what? Has anyone ever heard of ‘Good 'Ol Boy
Loans’ at small banks? There isn't a lender out there that
hasn't done a deal for one if its customers. That doesn't mean
it was underhanded or illegal, the lender just made less money
on it. Whether it's a tangible commodity or a mortgage, at
some point in time you are called on to discount your product.
Actually, in the position I had at Countrywide, I could, and
did, offer better pricing to customers from time to time. And
typically better pricing that what Angelo would do. Angelo is
smart, savvy and the best mortgage banker I ever worked for.
Time to recognize those attributes gained over his 55 years in
the business and stop judging him for the last 28 months of
Countrywide's existence."
Love
'em or hate 'em, investors in mortgages wind the clocks. Put
another way, there is always a supply of people wanting to
borrow money - but at what rate that equates with the risk
borne by the investor? In a Bloomberg story by Heather
Perlberg and Pierre Paulden, “The world’s biggest bond
managers are betting housing debt, that rallied as much as 41
percent last year, will again beat other fixed-income
investments in 2013 as the U.S. real estate recovery
strengthens. TCW Group Inc., Pacific Investment Management Co.
and DoubleLine Capital LP are forecasting gains for mortgage
bonds without government backing, including those tied to
subprime loans, even after hedge funds and other investors
piled into the market last year, reducing potential returns.”
Here is the complete story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-02/tcw-to-pimco-bet-on-housing-bond-rally-after-41-gain.html.
Remember
Basel III? It hasn't gone away, and I received this e-mail
(and spoke to this student, in spite of my Cal MBA): "For a
research project at Stanford Law School, I am researching
what is likely to happen as a result of Basel III, a set
of regulatory reforms that are designed to increase banks'
capital requirements and, presumably, create a more stable
global banking system. Among experts, a common theme is that
regulators cannot keep up with financial innovations. Or
maybe financial innovators and financial regulators have
reached a cozy coexistence in which universal banks are
allowed to keep taxpayer backstops for risky bets while
regulators gain greater power over these institutions in the
event of a crisis. The Fed has already delayed the start of
Basel III implementation in 2013, but one place where
Basel III might be taking shape is in mortgage servicing
rights (MSRs). Universal banks have unloaded some MSRs
to increase their equity buffer and comply with the
possibility of Basel III, but the top servicers have been slow
to shed MSR assets. My hypothesis is that Basel III is likely
not to be implemented as planned, and the hesitance of big
banks to unload their MSRs is a real-time example of
skepticism about Basel III. Am I thinking about MSRs and Basel
III correctly, or am I wrong in my hypothesis? Does the MSR
industry today support the hypothesis that Basel III will not
pan out? Insights and critiques are welcome at bwolfe3@stanford.edu.
Thanks very much, Brandon Wolfe."
The
real
estate and lending industries are chewing on the pros and
cons from the recent passage of the fiscal cliff legislation.
Extension of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was included,
providing protection for homeowners seeking a short sale -
without the passage of the extension many homeowners who were
granted a short sale or reduction in principal would be
subject to additional taxes. Legislators also left in place
exemptions for profits on home sales, and kept the
mortgage-interest deductions. The stock prices of homebuilders
rose nearly 3% after climbing 84 percent in 2012. And how
about those MI company stocks? Borrowers with mortgage
insurance, from private guarantors or the U.S. government,
will be able to deduct their premiums. That perquisite had
expired at the end of 2011. The change will apply
retroactively to 2012 for homeowners making less than $110,000
a year and will remain in force this year. MGIC Investment
Corp. jumped 12 percent to the highest since July and Radian
Group Inc. rose 3.3 percent.
Consumer
advocates still want a provision that excludes loans in which
borrowers tapped their home equity while refinancing to be
dropped (because it creates a large paperwork burden for
everyone who claims an exemption). This week’s bill will also
limit some mortgage-related deductions by reviving so-called
Pease limitations for itemized filers including individuals
earning more than $250,000 and couples with more than $300,000
in income. Taxpayers will gradually lose the value of
deductions up to a total of a 20 percent reduction, according
to the NAR summary mentioned yesterday in this commentary.
Congress otherwise left unchanged interest breaks and
exclusions for capital gains on sales of owner-occupied homes
of as much as $250,000 for individuals or $500,000 for
couples.
(Now
that Congress and the president have agreed to a deal that
addresses part of the fiscal cliff, the attention will shift
to the next major milestone: the need to raise the debt
ceiling. Yahoo! Something else for us to worry about.)
Yesterday
was not a great day for rates – but don’t forget we have the
Fed buying about $4 billion a day – about twice the average
daily mortgage production. So rates aren’t going anywhere
fast: unless something drastic changes, demand will outstrip
net organic issuance primarily due to the Fed's expected
buying of $500 billion this year. Prices on 30-year FNMA 3.0s
and 3.5s declined/worsened .250-.125, respectively, while
10-year T-notes were marked down about .750 in price and
closed at 1.84%.
We
had a preview of tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls print via the ADP
Employment Report (Dec) with jobs creation projected at +133k
from +118k in November. The
U.S. added 215,000 private-sector jobs in December, per ADP’s
estimate today, led by a gain of 187,000 services jobs.
(Currently, analysts expect the government to report that
nonfarm employment rose 153,000 in December, compared with a
gain of 146,000 in November.) The fun continues with the 1PM
EST Treasury announcement of the details of next week's
auctions of 3- and 10-year notes and 30-year bonds (expected
unchanged at $66 billion) and the 2PM EST release of the
minutes from its December meeting. The news so far - Jobless
Claims coming in at 372k, higher than the 360k that was
expected, has not helped us much: the 10-yr is at 1.85%
and MBS prices are roughly unchanged.
(Parental discretion advised.)
An elderly couple was sitting on the sofa watching TV. The
husband was using the remote to click back and forth, back and
forth, between the Fishing Channel and the Porn Channel.
After
a while, exasperated, the wife said, “Oh for goodness sake,
Harold, just keep it on the Porn Channel...you already know
how to fish!"
If
you're interested, visit my twice-a-month blog at the STRATMOR
Group web site located at www.stratmorgroup.com.
The current blog discusses the role of the IRS and REMIC’s in
the current credit crisis. If you have both the time and
inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on
other comments so that folks can learn what's going on out
there from the other readers.
