Blown Mortgage - Latest Comments in General

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

mikew — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:29:25 -0000

I wish all of the good hard working employees who have been negatively affected by these unfortunate closings the very best. I hope that GMAC is offering all of you a nice severance package.

While I am happy to see a very large competitor of mine become nothing more than a dispised online originator ,I do feel deeply for all of the good employees during these challenging time.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

louise — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:06:16 -0000

I was laid off from GMAC/Rescap on 8-6, originally hired with Ditech.com, asked to switch over to retail in January this year. The switch was sold to me and approximately 12 others processors from Ditech that the retail side would be the side to survive if there were layoffs. All 12 of those processors who went like little lambs, with 10 gone and 2 remaining. So jobless in NJ, sorry to hear about you getting laid off, but after a month of looking and sending resumes out to anyone that would accept my resume, not even one phone call, hopefully you will have better luck. I agree RUN NOW for those who are left. I am sure that the reason they did not completely close down Ditech here in Phoenix is due to the lease they have on the building and probably cannot get out of the lease.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

jobless in NJ — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:36:15 -0000

I was part of the layoff today..... from our bottom of operations view, it could be seen a mile away. I have now been an employee of two of the biggest home lending operations out there. It was good while it lasted. I made it thru the refi boom and cashed in with ditech. If anyone is still out there... still standing.....RUN NOW! Yes, I will agree that this industry is cyclical, but its just not worth the roller coaster ride anymore. So now I look for a new job along with all the other sad souls that no longer have loans to process and fund. Thanks for listening, just figured i would vent a little

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

Joe Dahleen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:41:24 -0000

wow - this is big news. GMAC even runs banner adds at the top of this page.
Looks like this will not only effect the employees of GMAC/homecoming but a large number of ad firms all over the country.

“Lenders need to do more than just cut back on their expenses,” said Andrew J. Schell, managing partner at Mortgage Banking Solutions. “To survive in this lower margin world, lenders must find ways to optimize their operations and adapt to achieve sustainable profitability by fundamentally changing the way they do business.”

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

Fernando Herboso — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:07:49 -0000

As a real estate agent making a living selling homes. . .my options seems to be getting smaller and smaller. . who is going to fund new mortgages at the end? The goverment can do so much.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

James — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:18:31 -0000

GMAC will continue to originate loans through ResCap channels: GMAC Bank correspondents, GMAC Mortgage direct; Ditech call centers; and the GMAC Mortgage Charlotte, N.C., call center. the Charlotte Center is expanding operations from 70 loan officers to 120.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

morganb — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:06:49 -0000

Fielding - you're right. As a former correspondent lender who got
stuck with loans when new century tanked I can guarantee you that they
are going to see the core side of the business collapse with a lack of
confidence.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

Fielding Mellish — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:34:13 -0000

Retail gone. Wholesale gone. Looking for a buyer for their servicing operations. And we're supposed to belive that they'll continue to operate the correspondent division? Don't think so. Expect that shoe to drop soon, hastened by a reluctance of smart correspondents to lock loans with a company whose continued existence is so precarious. Remember American Home Mortgage?

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

morganb — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:05:16 -0000

actually they are shuttering wholesale on the homecomings side of the
game and only sticking with retail and correspondent lending.

Re: GMAC/ResCap to lay off 5,000 - Close GMAC Retail, Homecoming Wholesale

Russ — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:07:35 -0000

Interesting that they are shutting down retail and not wholesale. I know you believe wholesale is on a death watch, but I believe getting rid of retail and having more effective wholesale is the way for these companies to go. There is no way retail can originate as effectively and efficiently as the broker channel with the appropriate safeguards in place (like actually underwriting the loans or vetting potential brokerages). Maybe they figured this out?

Re: Institutions must be allowed to fail

Fielding Mellish — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:33:52 -0000

Fannie & Freddie should also be considered "not too big to fail" at least insofar as their stock value & prior mortgage bonds are considered. Paulson should not have effectively agreed to guarantee the agencies' existing mortgage debt (on account of the ol' "implicit" guarantee). He should only have guaranteed newly-issued mortgage-backed agency debt (from mid-2008 on). That would have preserved the future stability of US mortgage securitization, while forcing the old boldholders to take a "haircut". Admittedly, it would have been risky to let foreign creditors show such a loss.

Re: FDIC takes over bank #10 “Integrity”

mortgagelenders — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:49:58 -0000

after all this presidential race is over im sure the mortgage rates will only get better with mortgage lenders

Re: Thornburg on its last legs?

Fielding Mellish — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:32:22 -0000

Thornburg did, indeed, operate with sound underwriting. They only seemingly created a profitable niche. I'm not saying I could have done better or that I even understand how they obtained the money they lent out. It's clear in retrospect, though, that they didn't adequately move risk off of their books onto someone else's when their servicing portfolio could be virtually without defaults and they were still taken down by "mark-to-market".

Their ongoing operations have been a mere shell for many months. The rates they're offering are well into the double digits, so obviously they're not doing any new business whatsoever. Continuing the ruse of putting out daily ratesheets must be part of attempt to buffalo ignorant young stock & bond analysts into thinking that there might be a remote chance that Thornburg could survive. They can't. If their share price fell to 4 cents, I'd still sell.

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

Adam — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:58:49 -0000

They must do what hey can to help the housing market not make more limitations. I simply don't understand all the undercutting of loan programs. Now kill the DAP's. They already killed ALt-A which was due anyway with ridiculous no doc loans. FHA simply nees more monitoring and verification. I remember those FHA inflated flip scams that happen every 5 or fewer years.

Re: Thornburg on its last legs?

jlewis44 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:52:42 -0000

This is one of the truly sad stories in all of this mess. These guys cultivated a profitable niche, operated with sound underwriting guidelines and are still going down. This one is throwing out the baby with the bath water because companies like Thornburg deserve a place in this industry.

Hopefully their major players can reorganize and make a comeback once the capital flows resurface in a few years.

Re: Banking profits down 87%

reddoorhomeloans.com — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:17:07 -0000

This is really scary. The banks create money out of nothing using the fractional banking system and the Federal Reserve. If they can create money out of nothing and are still having trouble, that is precarious indeed.

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

TonyaMemphis — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:59:16 -0000

I purchased a home using a DPA program back in 2002 with a 630 credit score and have never been late on a payment. I'm a single female college grad working at a Fortune 500 company. With single women making up much of the economy and the historical fact that women still earn less than their male counterparts, DPA is a valuable tool to move them into homeownership which forms the foundation of most people's financial security.

There is a large segment of the population that does not have a gazillion dollars of "extra" income each month, making it easy for them to quickly save the thousands of dollars needed for a DP. Yes, I could have waited 5 years to save the additional funds above my emergency fund balance, but I would have missed out on over $10k in income tax savings. I would have also missed my the opportunity to realize a modest capital gain as I am now looking to move into a larger home and use the equity to pay off all of my current debt.

Anything done without moderation can turn into a 'bad thing'. I don't think that DPA is the sole culprit. Even with DPA, if I cannot afford to pay the monthly mortgage I should not be given the loan. If my credit history shows a failure to pay anyone ontime - I should not be given the loan. If I can barely pay the loan today at $1000, why would anyone ever think I will be able to handle $1500 in 2 or 3 yrs?

Support HR 6694

Re: It’s Not Over!

Don — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:13:07 -0000

JM,

Morgan is brutely honest, that's why this blog is so successful. As a card carrying member of NAR and NAMB, I appreciate the honesty. Frankly, there just isn't that much good news. I'm still waiting for those lying SOB's on Wall Street to go to jail, and they still haven't learned that the investment banks need to open up their books for full transparency. I'm really tired of people like Larry Kudlow and Dennis Kneale who are total pod people.

With that being said, there were a lot reports that sales were way up last month, but there will still be a flood of REO's going on the market for the rest of the year. It should flatten next spring, but you can write the rest of the year off.

Re: It’s Not Over!

morganb — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:14:09 -0000

there's plenty of pumpers out there - any mainstream newspaper or the
NAR can take care of that for you.

Re: It’s Not Over!

Johnnymac — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:08:18 -0000

For the love of God, can't you find anything positive to write about? We all need something to build on instead of more reasons to stay on the ledge.

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

Dimitrios Gikas — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:06:59 -0000

Some of the logic here is insane.

I can't address them all.

The Lender DOES know about the DPA when it is used, it is IN the purchase contract....so if it is, how is this fraud? How does the seller carrying a 2nd the same even come up as a comparison in this case?
"Skin" in the game is nonsense by the way, the embarrasment of losing one's home is way more of a deterant than a few thousand down. The reason for most foreclosures is loss of job. Whether you put down 5% or 20% or 50%, if you lose your job and can't pay the payment and don't have the luxury of borrowing from mom and dad, what do you do?

Go read my blog on this topic....I am actually in favor of getting rid of DPA, with a huge caveat though....HUD could get rid of DPA and have it nver come back by doing one simple thing: 100% financing like VA.

http://blog.fhainfocenter.com/2008/07/fha-why-r...

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

Ravi — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:20:44 -0000

My basic question is the following: How is seller-funded downpayment assistance any different some other kickback from the seller that reduces the effective sales price to the buyer? If the only point is to make the sales price look larger than what it is, why should lenders play along with that?

Put it another way - if the seller was giving the buyer a second mortgage for the remainder of the sales price, a lender would want to know about that (and would factor that into their assessment of the loan). Why should seller-funded downpayment assistance be any different?

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

Peggy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:57:24 -0000

Visit http://www.dpagroundswell.org/ to express your support for HR 6694.

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

czar — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:55:47 -0000

IMHO borrowers need "more" guidance when working with down payment assistance loans (and programs.)

Re: RIP FHA Down Payment Assistance Programs, Not So Fast

Gook — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:08:48 -0000

It's difficult to get man to understand when his salary depends on not understanding it. That's about all of you whose compensation is directly impacted by elimination of SF DPA, you are all screaming and kicking at HUD taking punch bowl away.

Me, on other hand is a Joe Taxpayer who is going to be stuck with the bill, so please spare me YOUR ANECDOTAL evidence and go directly to HUD site pull up national cumulative default statistic and claim rates and see for yourself. Obviously since you don't like direct evidence you are going to claim that the statistic is bogus and your ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE and ANONYMOUS NON-SUBSTANTIATED HEARSAY is substantially better reflects reality. Reminds me about flat earth society. Some friend of mine doing astrophysics research at Cal Tech told me that all of those pictures and earth being a ball are bogus and because there would be huge upheaval they perpetuate lie. Sounds familiar about "your friend in FHA" ? I thought so.