Athas’ originations include stringent downpayment requirements: at the end of 2013, the weighted average loan-to-value ratio on loans held by RCP was 48 percent.

Bank of the West executive Paul Wible said the lender believes, "A well-underwritten, interest-only mortgage can be a good choice for our customers" and are safe for the depository to hold in portfolio.

Back in September SLS – a subsidiary of the publicly traded Stewart Information Services – bought key assets of Allon’s Allonhill LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Through the first nine months of 2013, commercial banks sold $1.077 trillion of home mortgages, according to call-report data compiled by Inside Mortgage Trends.

Investment banking and mortgage executives believe the departures at MRP could mean that the industry’s battle against the use of eminent domain is over and that the strategy is now kaput.

By December, FHA financing was used by first-time homebuyers in 39.6 percent of home purchases, based on the three-month moving average.

Most of what Fannie and Freddie earn in the fourth quarter will go directly into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury Department.

Credit Suisse recently filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that it now owns 5.4 percent of Chimera Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust whose forte is buying residential MBS. However, the investment comes at a time when a cloud is hanging over the REIT sector, especially MBS investing firms such as Chimera. Moreover, Chimera’s stock has been stuck at about $3 a share the past 16 months, mostly because it’s still wading through earnings restatements and has not been a timely filer of quarterly and annual reports with the SEC. As the company noted in one regulatory filing: “Our failure to be...

A Manhattan federal judge last week ruled that Bank of New York Mellon may proceed with repurchase claims against a General Electric unit in connection with a $900 million non-agency MBS. BNYM, in its capacity as trustee for a pool of loans known as GE-WMC Mortgage Securities Trust 2006-1, filed suit against GE Mortgage Holdings and WMC Mortgage LLC in New York state court in 2012, where the defendants promptly moved the legal action to federal court to dismiss it. Following the court’s denial of the defendant’s motions to dismiss, GE Mortgage filed...

Investors hoping to get in on the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac preferred stock speculation game may want to bring their wallets. The price of the “junior” preferred is now trading at roughly 40 percent of par compared to 20 percent a few months ago, according to investors in the market.