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National City CEO sees mortgage banking profitable
NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - National City Corp. (NCC.N: Quote, Profile, Research Chief Executive David Daberko on Monday said he expects mortgage banking at the eighth-largest U.S. bank to be "in the black" in coming quarters, excluding the impact of hedging, as problems afflicting the subprime mortgage begin to abate. Earlier Monday, the Cleveland-based bank said first-quarter profit fell 30 percent to $319.2 million, or 50 cents per share, less than analysts on average had forecast. It attributed some of the shortfall to charges from mortgages it kept after selling its First Franklin Financial Corp. subprime lending unit late last year to Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research. "We would expect to be in the black in future quarters" in mortgage banking, Daberko said in an interview.
US 30-year mortgage rates little changed in week
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Average interest rates on U.S. mortgages were little changed this week, with rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages inching down to 6.16 percent from 6.17 percent, according to a weekly survey released by finance company Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research on Thursday. Rates on 15-year mortgages also dropped, to 5.87 percent from 5.89 percent last week. And one-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 5.43 percent, down from last week's 5.45 percent. The costs of mortgages remained well below their year-ago levels, when 30-year mortgages averaged 6.58 percent, 15-years were 6.21 percent, and the one year ARM was 5.68 percent. "Recent economic data releases showing weaker existing home sales in March, coupled with lower consumer confidence in April, caused the market to pause and reevaluate the potential growth of the economy this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.
Have healthier US mortgage lenders hit bottom?
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. housing slowdown has battered mortgage lenders and put many out of business, yet some of the survivors say the worst may be over. "You have less competition, (and) rational competition," said Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, the largest mortgage lender, on a Thursday conference call. "Your margins are going to improve.... That appears at least to me at the moment to be a trend, and one that we can see for the next several years," he said. Countrywide, a Calabasas, California company with 18 percent of the U.S. mortgage market, and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NDE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, a Pasadena, California lender with 3.9 percent, said on Thursday quarterly profits fell a respective 37 percent and 34 percent.
Home foreclosures up 47 percent in March over year-ago rate
(AXcess News) New York - It's not looking good for home owners or lenders as home foreclosures rose 47 percent in March over year-ago rates, real estate data firm RealtyTrac says. The foreclosure rate in March climbed 7 percent over the prior month's to 149,150. In RealtyTrac's February report on the nation's home foreclosure rate the number of foreclosures had actually declined 4 percent from a revised January total but still up 12 percent from February 2006. RealtyTrac reported that in February, there were 130,786 foreclosure filings reported that month. The report also shows a national foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 884 U.S. households during the month. RealtyTrac's Vice President Rick Sharga credited the sharp increase in home foreclosures in March to subprime mortgages. "Subprime mortgages are performing atrociously," Sharga was quoted as saying.
100% financing for commercial real estate acquisitions now available
Boston, MA - Apr 26, 2007 -- /prbuzz/ -- 400Bankers.com, a commercial real estate broker/lender database, has announce that some of their commercial lenders are starting to offer up to 100% financing for commercial real estate acquisitions with debt and equity financing. Last month $17.4 Million in loans were funded up to 100% CLTV with debt financing and $38.7 Million were funded with debt and equity financing. The average interest rate was 7.289% on a 30 year mortgage. Due to high volume of loan applications and high closing ratio, borrowers have been quoted interest rate up to 0.75% below national average interest rate. Average closing costs have been decreased to $4,600 for commercial real estate loans of $1 Million or less. To learn more about 400Bankers.com go to http://www.400bankers.com About 400Bankers.Com 400Bankers.com (http://www.400bankers.com ) is a national and international commercial mortgage loan bankers network for real estate projects between $200,000 and $10,000,000,000.
No place like home: Expert advice for buyers, sellers
Santa Cruz resident Peter Ogilvie is president-elect of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, a professional group that last week issued a statement on subprime loans condemning real estate fraud. A certified mortgage consultant at First Residential Mortgage Corp. in Santa Cruz, he has 22 years of experience. He said people with subprime loans often have blemished credit because of disputes over medical bills that are sent to collection agencies. Q Should first-time buyers get qualified for a mortgage first or find a home they like first? A Getting prequalified for a mortgage or, even better, preapproved, is always a good idea, and it's best to do it before house-hunting even starts. Having a sense of certainty about the price range you should be considering, based on your assets, income and credit, makes you a much more effective shopper.
Buyers warned over fixed-rate mortgage fees
With rumours of a May interest rate rise borrowers have been rushing to take out fixed-rate mortgages, but they are increasingly being stung by large fees. Some 85 per cent applications for mortgages with online mortgage company Mform.co.uk have been for fixed-rate deals - and there has been a 30 per cent rise in applications compared with last month. But as Britons increasingly move to fixed-rate mortgages, lenders have started withdrawing cheap deals and fees have been rising. "Moves in the money markets mean lenders are withdrawing mortgage deals so borrowers need to be rate smart if they want to get the best possible deal," said Francis Ghiloni of Mform. "That ought to mean focusing on the true cost of your deal and that must mean keeping an eye on fees as they take a substantial bite out of any savings you might make." Mform analysis shows the ten cheapest two-year fixed-rates mortgages in terms of their interest rate come with fees ranging between £499 and £999.
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