CATEGORY ARCHIVE: Industry Stuff
May 9, 2008
JustQuotes: The HBANC Comes To San Francisco For An Urban Assault
“The [Home Builders Association of Northern California] has opened an office at 660 Mission St., an "urban division" that will push legislation and policies that help foster the sort of dense, urban, infill housing that is being built in San Francisco and downtown Oakland, according to HBANC President and CEO Joseph Perkins.”
“The office will be staffed with members of HBANC's government affairs group, which battles "growth controls, frivolous and abusive lawsuits, excessive environmental regulations and runaway fees," according to the group. Those forces "are significantly impairing housing production in the Bay Area and making homes less affordable."”
“Perkins said his group would offer support to local groups like the Urban Land Institute and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, both of which push density along transit corridors. HBANC doesn't advocate for individual developments.”
∙ Builders will seek urban home deals [San Francisco Business Times]
Posted by socketadmin at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | (email story)
May 6, 2008
Fannie Mae To Market: It’s Not Getting Better, But Rather Worse
Fannie Mae lost $2.19 billion in the first-quarter, about four times that of average analyst expectations. And the largest U.S. mortgage company will now raise $6 billion in order to continue to fund operations.
The "severe weakness" in the housing market was worse than expected in the quarter and will continue this year, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd said in a statement….Fannie Mae said home price declines this year are exceeding its estimates and attributed the larger share of its credit losses to certain types of loans in California, Florida, Michigan and Ohio. The government-chartered company, which sold $7 billion of preferred stock in December, may need as much as $15 billion to cope with the delinquencies and foreclosures, analysts said.
And while Fannie Mae’s portfolio (and collateral) continues to deteriorate, the OFHEO has said “it will lower requirements for surplus capital to 15 percent from 20 percent once the money is raised, enabling Fannie Mae to buy more mortgages. The limit may be reduced to 10 percent by September if Fannie Mae continues to retain excess capital….”
∙ Fannie Mae to Raise $6 Billion in Capital After Loss [Bloomberg]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | (email story)
April 18, 2008
We’ve Heard Local Contractors Are Getting More Responsive Too
"Nibbi Brothers' Larry Nibbi said he has seen a flood of résumés from construction workers who were previously employed by home-builders like KB Homes and Centex. The sudden jump in the availability of workers -- and subcontractors looking for jobs -- has knocked down construction costs about 5 percent to 7 percent in some areas, Nibbi said."
"An abundance of available workers has knocked down prices for mechanical, electrical, heating, plumbing and dry wall work. Painting has remained about the same and roofing and asphalt have gone up because of the increased cost of oil."
∙ Nibbi says housing bubble loosens labor pool [San Francisco Business Times]
Posted by socketadmin at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | (email story)
March 19, 2008
JQ: Capital Requirements Follow The Asset Caps For Fannie/Freddie
"Regulators for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cut the companies' surplus capital requirement in an effort to expand their combined $1.5 trillion in mortgage investments and revive the U.S. home-loan market.
The requirement was lowered to 20 percent from 30 percent, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said in a news release today. The government-chartered companies, the largest sources of money for home loans, also agreed to raise a 'significant' amount of new capital, Ofheo said."
∙ Fannie, Freddie Surplus Capital Requirement Is Eased [Bloomberg]
∙ JustQuotes: What The OFHEO Are They Thinking? (Asset Caps) [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
March 17, 2008
Now Accepting Jumbo-Conforming Loans Submissions At Countrywide
From a broker update passed along by a plugged-in tipster:
Countrywide, America's Wholesale Lender will begin accepting loan submissions under the temporary "jumbo conforming" loan limit increases of the Economic Stimulus Package on Monday, March 17, 2008.
Yes, that’s today.
UPDATE: From Julian Hebron at RPM Mortgage: "Major lenders like Chase, Wells, WAMU, and Countrywide have announced pricing on super conforming 30yr fixed loans above $417k this morning, and so far rates are very close to jumbo loans. The higher pricing is probably to keep pipelines from getting jammed up in case FNMA runs into trouble purchasing these loans. FNMA guidelines for super conforming are tight, similar or tighter in some cases than existing jumbo guidelines, and far tighter than FNMA guidelines for conforming loans up to $417k."
∙ If The Plugged-In Readers Are Right, Jumbo-Conformings Are Here [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | (email story)
March 13, 2008
JustQuotes: Mortgage Bankers Report On Mortgage Fraud (It’s Up)
“Rising real estate values over the past few years threatened to price new homebuyers out of the market and led some to attempt purchases before they were creditworthy. The higher valuations also led some individual real estate investors to speculate and stretch the truth on applications for multiple properties, especially in active markets, such as Florida and Nevada.
They were aided in this tactic by industry professionals who hoped that any future loan problems would be covered by a profitable sale of the collateral. Credit standards were loosened. More importantly for fraud, documentation requirements were also reduced.
There has been a long history of fraud and sour consequences associated with low/reduced/no documentation loans. As an example, loan servicing staffs are discovering a substantial percentage of prime and non-conforming delinquencies are for loans where the applicants stated their intent to occupy, but were in fact, rental properties at the outset.”
∙ Tenth Periodic Mortgage Fraud Case Report to the MBA (pdf) [mari-inc.com]
Posted by socketadmin at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | (email story)
March 5, 2008
JustQuotes: Talk About Terrible Timing (And Why He's A Former)
"Merrill Lynch & Co. will eliminate 650 jobs and record a $60 million charge as it stops making new home loans through First Franklin Financial, the subprime lender that former Chief Executive Officer Stan O'Neal bought in 2006.
Most of the job cuts at San Jose, California-based First Franklin will take place this month, Merrill spokesman Bill Halldin said. About 80 employees will remain at the unit to handle activities related to First Franklin's past loans, he said. Merrill announced the cuts and the charge in a statement today."
∙ Merrill Exits Subprime Lending, Cuts 650 Jobs at First Franklin [Bloomberg]
Posted by socketadmin at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
March 3, 2008
Premier Lender Thornburg Mortgage Headed Towards Bankruptcy?
Thornburg Mortgage, one of the premier jumbo ARM and Alt-A mortgage lenders, has at least one analyst raising the specter of bankruptcy as the lender failed to meet its latest round of margin calls (to the tune of $270 million).
Thornburg said in a regulatory filing it is facing margin calls because the value of the alt-A mortgage-backed securities has plummeted between 10% and 15% since the end of January. The margin calls come amid "a sudden adverse change in mortgage market conditions in general" that began on Feb. 14, Thornburg said in the filing.
Thornburg doesn’t do subprime and is well known throughout the Bay Area for its single-minded focus on wealthy creditworthy borrowers.
∙ Thornburg Hasn't Met $270 Million in New Margin Calls [Bloomberg]
∙ JustQuotes: Signs Of Some (Prime) Liquidity In The Mortgage Market [SocketSite]
∙ Mortgage woes force Thornburg to pay $300M [CNNMoney]
Posted by socketadmin at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (16) | (email story)
February 19, 2008
Savings From Increased Conforming Loan Limits Get Shaved
Remember that little comment we made a few weeks ago regarding increased prepayment risk associated with increasing conforming loan limits? From the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) on Friday:
Higher balance loans which are now temporarily eligible for Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and GSE guarantee programs under H.R. 5140, the Stimulus Package, will not be eligible for inclusion in TBA-eligible pools. They are instead expected to be securitized under unique pool codes for trading on a “specified pool” basis or inclusion in Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) transactions.
Thank increased prepayment risk for the unique pooling. And why does the pooling matter?
Jumbo mortgages now eligible for purchase by the nation's largest home loan finance companies [under the Stimulus Package] will be locked out of the market where trading helps lower rates to consumers...
Including jumbo loans in TBA pools would have had the unintended effect of raising rates on traditional conforming loans since investors assume they will receive the larger loans when they take delivery of the bonds, according to Freddie Mac. In TBA, the loans must be deemed fungible, so investors buy without knowing attributes.
In other words, hello "super conforming tier" and goodbye "conforming" mortgage rates for loans between $417,000 and $729,750 in San Francisco.
∙ Conforming Loan Limits: A Placeholder For Discussion And Analysis [SocketSite]
∙ SIFMA to Update MBS TBA Good Delivery Guidelines [SIFMA]
∙ Jumbo loans to be isolated from mortgage TBA: SIFMA [Reuters]
∙ If Lowering Rates Isn’t Working, Perhaps Increasing Limits Will [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (24) | (email story)
January 11, 2008
QuickLinks: SocketSite’s Countdown To Countrywide’s Sale Today
∙ JustQuotes: Is The Subprime Sickness Spreading? [SocketSite 7/07]
∙ Quicklinks: Countrywide “Materially Tightens" Underwriting Standards [SocketSite 8/07]
∙ From Rumor To Reality: Up To 12,000 Layoffs At Countrywide [SocketSite 9/07]
∙ Countrywide Secures Another $12 Billion As Application Volume Falls [SocketSite 9/07]
∙ What A Difference A Year Makes For Countrywide Financial Corp [SocketSite 10/07]
∙ Bank of America to Acquire Countrywide for $4 Billion [Bloomberg Today]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (17) | (email story)
January 3, 2008
First American Title Co. Closing Castro Branch (565 Castro Street)
According to a plugged-in tipster, First American Title Co. is closing their branch at 565 Castro Street. The unofficial reason: “market conditions.”
Posted by socketadmin at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | (email story)
December 21, 2007
Pacific Union Closes Their South Beach/SoMa Office (38 Bryant)
As a number of reader’s have either asked or emailed, Pacific Union has in fact closed down their South Beach/SoMa office.
Posted by socketadmin at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | (email story)
December 14, 2007
JustQuotes: Washington Mutual Cuts On Continuing Credit Crunch
"This week Washington Mutual, the Bay Area's fourth-largest bank, said it will slash 2,600 jobs nationwide and close mortgage offices as it goes to Wall Street, hat in hand, seeking a $2.9 billion capital infusion. Even some of WaMu's top performing mortgage lenders were shown the door as the company anticipates the volume of mortgage originations will plunge 40 percent next year.” (Credit crunch forces layoffs at Bay Area banks)
Posted by socketadmin at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | (email story)
December 12, 2007
Tag Line Irony From Alliance Title: “Closing The California Dream”
A reader notes that Alliance Title seems to have suddenly closed its doors in San Francisco and wonders what’s going on. And while we can’t confirm a why, we can confirm a what: it appears as though Alliance Title is shuttering their Escrow Services in San Francisco and San Mateo but continuing to operate their Default Services (in both cities).
Perhaps it's simply a coincidence (considering the state of the market). Or perhaps it's a canary (considering the state of the market). Regardless, we do have to note the irony (considering the “Closing the California Dream” tag line).
Posted by socketadmin at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (75) | (email story)
November 13, 2007
What A Difference A Year Makes For Countrywide Financial Corp
October 2007 versus October 2006 results for Countrywide Financial Corporation:
∙ Purchase loan fundings: down 47%
∙ ARM fundings: down 81%
∙ Subprime fundings: down 99%
∙ Daily loan application activity: down 34%
∙ Delinquencies: Up to 5.94% of unpaid principal balance (versus 3.97%)
∙ Pending foreclosures: Up to 1.28% (versus 0.58%)
And no, we don't have a breakdown for California, the Bay Area, or San Francisco. Tipsters?
∙ Countrywide Reports October 2007 Operational Results [countrywide.com]
Posted by socketadmin at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
October 25, 2007
Don’t Panic (Unless Perhaps You’re A Mortgage Broker)
Yes, Bank of America is exiting the wholesale mortgage business. No, that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop lending.
The nation's second-largest bank will stop offering home mortgages through brokers at the end of the year to focus on direct-to-consumer lending through its banking centers and loan officers. The move also eliminates the jobs in the bank's consumer real estate unit.
Think tighter lending standards and a renewed focus on underwriting, as well as cost savings and an ability to leverage their existing retail channel.
∙ BofA to Exit Mortgage Wholesale Business [AP]
Posted by socketadmin at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
September 26, 2007
RandomRumors And Readers Report: Countrywide Cuts Commence
From a plugged-in tipster: "I talked to my friend who was just let go [at Countrywide]. Seems they're going to go into the direction right now of letting those people go who started after June 11th, 2007. He said company wide so we shall see how it unfolds. Weird to begin letting people go on a Weds as well." And yes, unconfirmed (for now).
∙ From Rumor To Reality: Up To 12,000 Layoffs At Countrywide [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | (email story)
September 13, 2007
Countrywide Secures Another $12 Billion As Application Volume Falls
Countrywide has secured an additional $12 billion in “borrowing capacity through new or existing credit facilities” (good news for those waiting to fund), but also reports that year-over-year application volume was off 12% - and down 19% in terms of dollar value - at the end of August (not great news as a measure of potential "demand").
∙ From Rumor To Reality: Up To 12,000 Layoffs At Countrywide [SocketSite]
∙ Countrywide Shares Gain as $12 Billion Borrowing Limit Arranged [Bloomberg]
∙ What Happens When It’s Time To Fund? We’ll Have To Wait And See [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
September 7, 2007
From Rumor To Reality: Up To 12,000 Layoffs At Countrywide
It was two days ago that “ex SF-er” commented: “Rumor alert: Countrywide may be laying off 6,000 to 10,000 employees.”
And it was but less than two hours ago that Countrywide announced possible workforce cuts of between 10,000 and 12,000 people over the next three months. The culprit, a sharp drop in expected demand: “New mortgages probably will drop 25 percent in 2008 from this year's levels, the Calabasas, California-based company said in a statement today.”
And no, perhaps not entirely unexpected.
∙ What Happens When It’s Time To Fund? We’ll Have To Wait And See [SocketSite]
∙ Countrywide May Cut Staff by 12,000 as Demand Wanes [Bloomberg]
∙ U.S. Economy: Employment Unexpectedly Drops in August [Bloomberg]
Posted by socketadmin at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | (email story)
August 30, 2007
JustQuotes: Qualifying Is Great, Funding Is Even Better
“U.S. commercial paper outstanding fell for a third week, dropping 3.1 percent as more investors refuse to buy debt secured by mortgage assets.”
“Commercial paper outstanding has fallen by $244.1 billion in the past three weeks as more than 20 companies and funds including Cheyne Finance and Thornburg Mortgage Co. fail to find buyers for new paper after losses on some mortgage-related securities scared investors into safer investments. An $18 billion auction yesterday for two-year U.S. government debt drew the most demand since 1992.” (Commercial Paper Falls for Third Week as Mortgage Losses Mount)
"Thornburg Mortgage Inc., the jumbo- mortgage specialist that was forced to stop making new loans, sold $500 million of convertible preferred stock to help alleviate a shortage of cash." (Thornburg Mortgage Sells $500 Million of Preferred Stock)
Posted by socketadmin at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | (email story)
August 27, 2007
The Montgomery (74 New Montgomery) Gets A New Sales Team?
According to a trusted plugged-in tipster, The Montgomery (74 New Montgomery) has switched sales teams (out with Pacific Marketing Associates, in with The Mark Company) two months after their grand opening and first release of condos. If so, it’s likely some insight into the pace of sales (and perhaps the market). If not, well…we’ll just cross that bridge should we come to it.
∙ The Montgomery (74 New Montgomery): Almost Selling (For Real) [SocketSite]
∙ The Montgomery (74 New Montgomery): Pricing And Reservations [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 3:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | (email story)
August 22, 2007
JustQuotes: Is This A Blip, A Bump, Or More In The Mortgage Market?
“FBR Research said on Wednesday that $150 billion to $250 billion of permanent capital is needed to normalize pricing in the depressed market for mortgage-backed securities.
However, in a note to clients, the research arm of securities firm Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co Inc said the process would take up to a year and will be painful for mortgage investors and originators. FBR Research said the new capital is needed to compensate for the massive "deleveraging" underway among companies that hold mortgages.
More than $20 billion worth of mortgage bonds not backed by mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac [Editor’s Note: think Jumbo] have been offered for sale in the past few days.
Mortgage investors increasingly question the underlying value of mortgage-backed securities given that orginators' lax lending standards which led to a jump in defaults. Also, many economists expect weak home prices to drop further."
∙ Mortgage mkt needs up to $250 bln of capital [Reuters]
Posted by socketadmin at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (23) | (email story)
August 20, 2007
JustQuotes: Upping The Underwriting Ante (And Industry Layoffs)
“Capital One Financial Corp., a credit card and banking company, slashed its earnings forecast on Monday and said it plans to eliminate 1,900 jobs, following its decision to stop arranging mortgages through brokers....The credit card and banking company said it expects to continue to make home loans in its bank branches, where it has more control of the underwriting process.”
"The Wall Street Journal, citing an internal e-mail sent Friday to employees of Countrywide's Full Spectrum Lending unit, said the company has laid off workers in that division, which handles home loans rated between prime and subprime [i.e., Alt-A]."
∙ Capital One closes GreenPoint mortgage unit [CNNMoney]
∙ Countrywide said to start layoffs [CNNMoney]
Posted by socketadmin at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | (email story)
August 8, 2007
From No Real Story To A Bit Of Understated Irony (4128 24th)
After almost a month on the market the list price on 4128 24th Street has been reduced $500,000 (14.3%). Yes, this was the former home of Droubi Real Estate. Yes, it’s a Droubi Team listing. And yes, we’re biting our tongues.
∙ Listing: 4128 24th Street (4/2) - $2,995,000 [droubiteam]
∙ The Droubi Noe Valley Victorian (4128 24th): Coming Soon [SocketSite]
∙ As Promised: From Coming Soon To On The Market (4128 24th Street) [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (36) | (email story)
July 13, 2007
As Promised: From Coming Soon To On The Market (4128 24th Street)
No real story other than the symbolic end of an era. (And no, not as in Victorian.)
∙ Listing: 4128 24th Street (4/2) - $3,495,000 [droubiteam]
∙ The Droubi Noe Valley Victorian (4128 24th): Coming Soon [SocketSite]
∙ Local Brokerage Consolidation: Droubi Acquired By Coldwell Banker [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | (email story)
July 6, 2007
The Droubi Noe Valley Victorian (4128 24th): Coming Soon
As a few plugged-in readers pointed out when we first noted the Coldwell Banker acquisition of Droubi Real Estate, the elegant Noe Valley Victorian (4128 24th Street) that served as home to the Droubi team (in one permutation or another) over the past 25 years is "coming soon." List Price: $3,495,000. And yes, it’s a Droubi Team listing.
∙ Listing: 4128 24th Street (4/2) - $3,495,000 [droubiteam]
∙ Local Brokerage Consolidation: Droubi Acquired By Coldwell Banker [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | (email story)
June 5, 2007
BJ Droubi Droubi Real Estate Droubi Team
As an industry tipster notes, after a few weeks of simply redirecting folks to the Coldwell Banker website, the Droubi brand (and website) is back (albeit with a few fewer agents): “Working together as the Droubi Team out of their private office on 24th Street, BJ and Lamisse Droubi, together with David Pennebaker, will continue the family tradition of serving our community's real estate needs with the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.”
∙ Local Brokerage Consolidation: Droubi Acquired By Coldwell Banker [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 2:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | (email story)
May 14, 2007
Local Brokerage Consolidation: Droubi Acquired By Coldwell Banker
Last month Alain Pinel Realtors acquired San Francisco Brokerage Ritchie Hallanan Real Estate. And according to a seriously "plugged-in" tipster, Droubi (formerly BJ Droubi) was just acquired by Coldwell Banker (although we haven't been able to confirm).
Posted by socketadmin at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (29) | (email story)
February 1, 2007
Industry Stuff
A reader notices that a senior agent has moved his whole team from Urban Bay to Vanguard.
“You don't cover much industry stuff...but I haven't seen a large group of agents leave one office for their direct competitor like this in a while. Unless Vanguard is merging with Urban Bay, but I haven't seen anything about that. Have you heard anything?”
We haven’t. And while this is a bit beyond our normal purview, we’re happy to ask the readers (some of whom just might have a vested interest).
UPDATE: No merger, just a move. And we’re closing the comments.
Posted by socketadmin at 12:10 AM | Permalink | (email story)
