Mortgage Marketing Blogs

...He cites as examples appraisers, "fee hungry" mortgage brokers, and real estate agents who participated in putting home buyers into subprime mortgages they could not afford.

There may also be, as Lenckus puts it, an unknown number of "widget manufacturers" which bought various mortgage- backed financial instruments as investments that must now be devalued. This will impact the company's bottom line and provide an impetus for shareholder suits.

Even companies that did not invest in subprime instruments may be vulnerable...

Speaking to journalists en route to Berlin, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that his speech on July 2 will focus on the Federal Reserve's role as a macro stability regulator.

Paulson said that speech will focus on the Federal Reserve's process for intervening in financial affairs and that any intervention by the Fed must be paired with market discipline.

Texas business activity declined further in June according to the Dallas Fed's manufacturing report on Monday, whose business activity index fell to -24.1 from May's -10.3.

"Several indicators for current conditions declined from May levels and turned negative," read the report. "Despite June's slowdown, more than a third of manufacturers responding to the survey expect increases in production and volume of new orders six months from now."

In the minutes released from a meeting of Fed Governors to approve Bear Stearns' acquisition by JPMorgan and the establishment of a lending facility to primary lenders on March 14 and 16, the Fed reaffirmed that the moves were "based on recent, rapidly changing developments."

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) core deflator, advanced by 0.1% (0.113%) in May, below expectations and contributing to a year-over- year change of 2.1% (2.139%), according to a report released from the Commerce Department on Friday morning.

U.S. core PCE, personal income and spending, and final data from the Michigan consumer sentiment survey will finish off the U.S. economic data week as Canadians receive industrial product and raw material prices along with average payroll earnings. Overseas, markets will be looking at the preliminary figures for German CPI and comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

The sale of Countrywide Mortgage to Bank of America absorbed another blow this week as three states took legal action against the lender.

The attorneys general of California and Illinois and the Washington State department that regulates financial institutions all filed lawsuits against Countrywide on Tuesday alleging variations on the theme of mortgage fraud.

In addition to the three new lawsuits, other legal problems for Countrywide continue to surface...

The New York Fed created two new entities on Thursday in an effort to improve the bank's risk management and communications among regional and community banks.

The Communications Group "was created in recognition of the increasing roles and responsibilities of the communications and regional and community affairs area in the Bank...

Condominium sales were the main driver of the 2.0% rise in existing home sales in May, which came in higher than the 1.2% gain expected by economists.

Condo sales rose 5.5% in May, more than reversing the 5.2% monthly drop in April, while single family home sales rose 1.6% in the month to 4.99 million units against the 4.95 million sales expected.

"Even with such a massive boost from condos, it did not even make a dent in the month's supply of condos which remains at 14.2 months," noted Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist from TD Securities.

Soaring world oil prices will drive the cost of gasoline in the U.S. into the stratosphere over the next two years, forcing many Americans off the road and drastically altering the driving habits of millions more, according to a report released Thursday by CIBC World Markets.

American driving habits will have to undergo a massive change, they say, "mimicking the driving habits long adopted by Europeans who have faced much higher gas prices."/p>

The most fundamental, and unprecedented, change will be in the number of vehicles on the road, they contend...