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| The secondary market for mortgages is unthawing — with agency activity increasing, buyers’ appetite for non-performing loans growing and marketplace technology improving.G8 Capital LLC reported last month that it closed on 13 portfolio acquisitions from financial institutions of varying size during the past 18 months. In addition, the Ladera Ranch, Calif.-based firm will now acquire real estate owned and non-performing loans throughout the West in addition to California. Once acquired, G8 has room to restructure the loans.
“Because we are all-cash principal buyers we have a great deal of flexibility, which other buyers may not have, as well as the ability to close on transactions very quickly,” G8 said. “Based on the success of the first portfolios acquired, G8 Capital has also raised an additional $80 million to be used for immediate acquisitions.” Credit unions participating in the alliance between the National Association of Credit Unions and Fannie Mae saw total delivery volume during January surge 169 percent above a year earlier, an announcement last month said. The Mortgage Bankers Association sent a letter to four federal regulators of financial institutions calling for a loosening of the risk weighting requirements for banks’ agency warehouse line-of-credit assets. Lines that are backed by loans eligible for Ginnie Mae guarantees or eligible for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac should carry a lower risk weighting. While mortgage originations declined 21 percent from 2007 to $1.8 trillion last year, warehouse lending capacity tumbled 85 percent — from $200 billion to around $20 billion — in 2008, MBA said. The trade group is holding its National Secondary Market Conference & Expo 2009 at the Hilton Chicago from April 19 to April 22. LoanMarket.NET has been launched as an online marketplace for buying and selling real estate-secured note investments, a statement Monday said. Data available for prospective note buyers include information about the secured property, critical loan documents and proof of property insurance. The transparent nature of the system contrasts an otherwise opaque secondary market. Among prospective note sellers at LoanMarket.NET are originators, banks and lending institutions. Mortgage pool investors, small private investors and seller carry-back note holders are also offering assets for sale. A new service from NIR Credit Partners LLC utilizes loan-level data combined with forecasted home price scenarios and in-depth analytics to provide portfolio valuations on residential mortgage-related assets. NIR hopes to attract money managers, hedge funds, private equity groups and banks as customers Irwin Financial Corp. completed the sale of platform assets and mortgage servicing rights on securitized home-equity loans to Green Tree Servicing LLC on March 31, a news release said. The sale enabled Irwin to remove $690 million in HEL assets and related debt from its balance sheet. Moody’s Investors Service quickly downgraded the servicer quality ratings of Irwin Home Equity to SQ4 from SQ2-. Another announcement from Moody’s indicated that servicing on Greenwich Capital Acceptance Inc. loans was transferred to Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC from Downey Savings. On the commercial side, Mission Capital Advisors LLC recently put a $21 million defaulted commercial mortgage up for bid. The recently renovated multifamily property backing the loan has 784 units and is located in Fort Worth, Texas. A $48 million portfolio of non-performing loans and real estate owned is also being offered by Mission. A variety of commercial properties backing the loans are located throughout the Southeast. |
