MBA Promotes Woodwell to VP of Commercial/Multifamily Research
MBA (6/30/2008 ) Vasquez, Jason
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced promotion of Jamie Woodwell to vice president of commercial/multifamily research.
In this role, Woodwell will continue to lead the research on commercial finance and multifamily finance issues and will be responsible for providing economic and policy analysis of legislative and regulatory proposals. He will also serve as the industry’s lead source of information and interpretation on macroeconomic and capital market trends to meet MBA’s commercial/multifamily members’ needs and the needs of the association.
Prior to joining MBA in 2004, Woodwell was manager of data initiatives for the multifamily group at Fannie Mae, where he was responsible for developing multifamily data standards and for projects consolidating data from various business lines. He also served as the senior director of business development at CapitalThinking in New York, director of market research at the WMF Group in Vienna, Va., and research manager at the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C.
“Jamie’s in depth understanding and analysis of commercial and multifamily finance issues has proven invaluable to MBA’s membership and the overall industry,” said Jonathan Kempner, president and CEO of MBA. “I am proud to have Jamie serve as vice president of commercial/multifamily research and look forward to many significant advances under his leadership.”
Woodwell will continue to oversee MBA’s surveys on commercial/multifamily production and servicing, and will produce regular and topical reports. He will also continue to serve as the staff representative for MBA’s Commercial/Multifamily Research Committee.
Residential Briefs
MBA (6/30/2008 ) Palaparty, Vijay
EllieMae Releases Encompass Version 3.5
Ellie Mae, Pleasanton, Calif., a provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, released version 3.5 of its standard and professional editions of the Encompass Mortgage Management System.
The system’s upgrades aim to simplify data entry, increase system performance and create efficiencies for both brokers and bankers when originating FHA loans.
Virgin Money Acquires Lendia
Virgin Money USA, Cambridge, Mass., acquired the assets of Lendia LLC, Marlborough, Mass., a provider of outsourced products and services for originators of residential mortgages. Lendia’s business model is built around Comprehensive Outsource Solutions, a back-office scaleable service.
COS seeks to help customers—including mortgage brokers and originators, banks, credit unions and other real estate professionals—reduce costs, increase profitability and expand capacity. COS is driven by a loan management system, providing real-time, online access to loan status and documents as well as a built-in messaging feature designed to enhance communications.
Radian Expands MI Online Claim Functionality
Radian Guaranty, Philadelphia, the primary mortgage insurance subsidiary of Radian Group Inc., enhanced functionality of its MI Online web-based system for mortgage insurance ordering, servicing and claims submissions.
Designed to streamline the claims process and create an improved online experience, the enhancements now allow clients to view their claims 24/7, review outstanding documentation requirements, access a more detailed explanation of benefits and access real-time information on payment status.
SearchMyLoan Upgrades Loan Pricing, Search Engine
SearchMyLoan.com, Port Washington, N.Y., a provider of loan search and pricing services for the mortgage industry, upgraded its loan pricing and search engine to provide easier navigation and improved accuracy during loan searches.
New features include a welcome screen informing users of enhancements, changes, lender status and general messaging; divided search screens into basic and advanced searching capabilities; and messaging features to assist users in obtaining better results.
iEmergent Releases Demographic Segment Lending
iEmergent, a Des Moines, Iowa-based market research, forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, introduced demographic mortgage forecast reports that assess lending opportunities and show loan distribution patterns among various homebuyer and loan type segments including ethnicity, race and gender.
iEmergent’s demographics, analytics and segment comparison tools give financial institutions an opportunity to focus their marketing to help communities of homebuyers that are traditionally underserved by the lending community. The reports identify, quantify and compare the size and dynamics of high-potential and profitable demographic segments anywhere in the U.S.
Fiserv Unveils Foreclosure Prevention Technologies
Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., a provider of information technology services to the financial and insurance industries, released Predictive Risk Index Score Modeling and Home Retention Solutions—technology that enables financial institutions to proactively identify and contact troubled borrowers with customized repayment options.
Fiserv PRISM and Home Retention Solutions focus on helping financial institutions forecast delinquencies, before defaults occur, and provide expanded customer care to proactively offer refinancing and negotiate workable resolutions.
Bank of New England Selects MRG For Document Preparation Services
MRG Document Technologies, Dallas, a provider of compliance and documentation services for the financial industry, announced that Bank of New England, Salem, N.H., selected MRG for its document preparation services.
MRG offers a browser-based system for the preparation and delivery of compliant document packages for mortgage lenders nationwide. It offers customized document packages and delivery options for document packages using e-mail and web site delivery.
LendingTree Selects LoanXEngine for CRM, Loan Pricing Technology
LXE Software Inc., Denver, a software company specializing in lead management, customer relationship management, pricing and point of sale technology for the residential mortgage industry, announced that LendingTree LLC, Charlotte, N.C., an online lending exchange, has selected its LoanXEngine as preferred technology for CRM and automated loan pricing for lenders participating in the LendingTree network.
LoanXEngine manages consumer lead requests and automatically locates fully qualified loans from multiple lender programs. The web-based software also performs lead management and CRM tasks and allows borrowers to watch rates and be notified when a specific interest rate becomes available.
Credit Unions Adopt StreamLend Velocity
IA Systems, Albany, N.Y., an Open Solutions business unit and a provider of lending software and services to financial institutions, announced that Unitus Community Credit Union, Portland, Ore., Gesa Credit Union, Richland, Wash., and Kitsap Credit Union, Bremerton, Wash., have selected its StreamLend Velocity loan origination system.
Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial services providers. StreamLend Velocity is a paperless, web-based loan origination system that provides credit and loan decisioning, integrates sales channels and manages risk for financial institutions.
Senior Lending Network Introduces Reverse Loan Products to New York
Senior Lending Network, Melville, N.Y., made its Equity Plus Advantage and Simple60 proprietary products available in New York. Equity Plus Advantage is Senior Lending Network’s jumbo reverse mortgage product, while Simple60 enables seniors age 60 to 62 to obtain a reverse mortgage. Senior Lending Network is also accepting applications for its Equity Plus Advantage product for senior citizens age 60 and older in New York markets.
Equity Plus Advantage enables seniors with higher home values to access larger amounts of their home equity than with traditional reverse mortgage loans. Senior Lending Network’s Simple60 is a reverse mortgage for seniors who are younger than the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage age requirement. Simple60 also allows seniors over the age of 62 to borrow a smaller amount of money with lower closing costs and reduced fees.
MBA Commends Murin’s Confirmation to Ginnie Mae
MBA (6/30/2008 ) Kemp, Carolyn
The Mortgage Bankers Association commended Senate confirmation of Joseph Murin to serve as president of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).
“MBA is thrilled with the action the Senate has taken in confirming Mr. Murin for this critical position,” said MBA Chairman Kieran Quinn, CMB. “Ginnie Mae is an extremely vital organization and requires a strong, knowledgeable leader. With more than 35 years of mortgage and banking industry experience, Mr. Murin possesses the leadership skills and extensive mortgage market knowledge needed to effectively guide Ginnie Mae through the current market environment. It is his thorough understanding of this dynamic mortgage market that makes him an excellent choice for President of Ginnie Mae.”
The Senate confirmed Murin’s nomination late last week.
High-Impact Firms Fuel Employment, Economic Growth
MBA (6/30/2008 ) Palaparty, Vijay
High-impact firms, those exhibiting strong sales and employment growth, account for nearly all employment and revenue growth in the economy, based on a report form the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The report, High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited, defines high-impact firms as those whose sales at least doubled over a four-year period and which have an employment growth quantifier of two or more—an absolute change in employment multiplied by the percent change.
“While high-impact firms make up about 5 percent of firms with employees, their effects are huge,” said Brian Headd, economist at the Office of Advocacy. “Surprisingly, the study shows that these firms are on average around 25 years old, they are not predominantly high-tech and they exist in every region of the country.”
Between 2002 and 2006, the report revealed that there were 376,605 high-impact firms in the U.S. The number increased from a level of 299,973 between 1998 and 2002 and 352,114 between 1994 and 1998.
The report said that the average high-impact firm is not a new startup and is around 25 years old. “These firms exist for a long time before they make a significant impact on the economy,” it said.
High-impact firms also create jobs in small firms, accounting for 58 percent of jobs in a 12-year period, the report said. Small firms, with fewer than 500 employees, created about half the jobs and large firms with more than 500 employees created the other half between 1994 and 2002, but not between 2002 and 2006.
“Low-impact firms do not grow on average,” said Zoltan Acs, professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., and co-author of the report. Furthermore, it said that nearly all the job losses in the economy over any of the period studies can be attributed to low-impact firms with more than 500 employees.
The report also found that high-impact firms are in all geographic regions. It found the share of high-impact firms in most jurisdictions varying between 2 percent and 3 percent of all firms.
In terms of early characteristics of high-impact firms, fewer than 3 percent of the small high-impact firms came into being in the previous four-year period, the report said. As the firm size increases, that rate doubles to more than 6 percent. As far as later-stage characteristics, 3 percent of firms went out of business.
“The data suggest that local economic development officials would benefit from recognizing the value of cultivating high-growth firms versus trying to increase entrepreneurship overall or trying to attract relocating companies when utilizing their resources,” Acs said.
Tax Rebates Boost Consumer Spending
MBA (6/30/2008 ) Velz, Orawin
Last week provided one piece of evidence that the fiscal stimulus payments did what they were designed to do—stimulate the economy.
After adjusted for inflation, real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose 0.4 percent in May—the biggest gain since December 2006. This was good news for economic growth in the second quarter because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Last week’s durable goods orders report also bodes well for economic growth. While durable goods orders were unchanged in May, shipments for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—a component used in the calculation of GDP in the current quarter—rose 0.6 percent. The figure for April was also revised upward.
It appeared that the economy continued to grow in the second quarter, following 1.0 percent growth in the first quarter, according to the final report of GDP released last week.
While the tax rebates have helped spur spending, measures of consumer confidence for June were at levels typically seen in a recession. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index has reached its lowest reading since February 1992 and its fourth lowest since the record began in 1967. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index slipped to the lowest reading since May 1980.
One factor weighing down consumers is the ongoing housing downturn and the resulting declines in home prices, which are more severe in some areas than others, according to two measures of home prices released last week, one from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and the other from Standard and Poor’s.
Separate reports on May home sales were mixed. New home sales declined 2.5 percent, while existing home sales were up 2.0 percent.
During the current housing downturn, existing home sales have performed considerably better than new home sales. Sales of total existing homes during the first five months of this year were down about 19 percent from the same period last year, compared with a year-to-date decline of about 38 percent for new home sales. One explanation is foreclosure or distressed sales, estimated to account for nearly one-third of the market currently, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Treasury yields steadily declined through the week. Stock sell-offs triggered by record oil prices, which breached $142 a barrel on Friday morning, and credit market writedowns led to Treasury market rallies in a flight to quality.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note stayed around 3.97 percent by mid-Friday afternoon—19 basis points lower than the rate on the previous Friday and the lowest rate in three weeks.