Hathaway Duke

Robert L. Dodsworth, 60, Erie, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 76 months in jail, a $50,000 fine, over $57,000 in restitution and three years supervised release on his conviction of conspiracy and money laundering. As previously …

Juanita Goode, a Las Vegas Metro Police Officer, has been charged with felony falsification of mortgage loan papers, according to media reports.  The defendants charged include Goode, loan officer Jesus Vega, realtor Shelly Rego, and Melissa Welch.

Christopher Stallings was sentenced for his role in an advance fee loan scam. Stallings received a 7 year prison sentence on each count, to be served concurrently and 3 years supervised release on each count, to run concurrently, as well as restitution…

Jay Berger, 54, mortgage broker, settlement agent and title agent, was not sentenced March 19, 2008.  Berger, through his attorney, motioned the court for a second continuance of that hearing until May 16, 2008.  The motion was based on the f…

How about some good news about rates for a change? Wall street journal this AM has up an excellent piece outlining recent moves by Federal regulators that may portend lower rates in the coming weeks and months. …government-sponsored mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enjoy loosened capital requirements, allowing them to pile more mortgage securities onto their balance sheets. Fannie and Freddie could purchase an additional $200 billion of mortgage securities… Meanwhile, a proposal on which regulators are scheduled to vote would allow the 12 regional Federal Home Loan banks to buy as much as an additional $160 billion in mortgage-backed securities… Both of these moves are important, and may very well lead to lower mortgage rates. That’s because in addition to the persistent bugaboo of inflation, rates have been held aloft by one simple fact: There have been too many sellers, and not enough buyers, of mortgage backed securities. Here’s why: Extreme risk aversion has created dearth of buyers for securities backed by home loans. Financial institutions under pressure to raise cash were dumping such securities on the market. So it follows that the expansion of Fannie, Freddie, and the Federal Home Loan Bank’s capacity to buy mortgage-backed securities should have the dual effect of correcting this imbalance, and assuage the fears of risk-averse market paricipants who’ve been reluctant to buy (or have been dumping) these securities. In fact, this has already started to happen, as you can see from the graphic at the top right of this post, which illustrates nicely the fact that the spread between mortgage backed securities and 5 year treasury notes - a key indicator of the markets perceived risk - has been narrowing. Though this is a good sign, the credit crunch and inflation still loom. Anything can happen.

Vanity · Yours Truly Delivers a Couple of Quotes on the Fed Cuts [Strib] Local · The Condo Market is Killing the Arts! [TC Daily Planet] · Vacant Home Notices Attracting Thieves [PiPress] · Despite Housing Slump, No PropTax Breaks in Dakota Cty. [Strib] · Some Positive Spin on Recent Real Estate Data [Strib] · 1/3 of North Minneapolis Foreclosures Should be Scraped [Strib] · Minnesota Still Top Ten for Mortgage Fraud [TCBJ] · Foreclosed Mill Trace Condos Taken Over by Lender [DT Journal] · Choosing Credit Cards, Cars Over Homes [Strib - Kara McGuire] · How the Media Could Have Covered Housing Better [Strib] · Why Anoka County Does Not Suck. Really!! [Strib] · Empty Homes, Exploding Pipes, Other Chaos Ensues [Strib] · Bonnie Erickson Sees Signs of Life in RE Market [RE Snippets] Elsewhere and Otherwise · Why Plummeting Housing Starts, Permits, are Good [Ritholtz] · Top 30 Under 30 Realtor is a Major Fraudster [Blown Mortgage]

Cade Emerson Lee, was issued a cease and desist order by the Colorado Department of Real Estate. This is the first formal action against mortgage brokers accused of violating Colorado’s new lending laws. The Division of Real Estate is also seeking a …

Willie Collins, 76, Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to 2 years and 1 day imprisonment in United States District Court, Louisville, Kentucky, for aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; all in connection with the fraudul…

Moments ago, The FOMC (Federal Open Market Commitee, or “The Fed”) released it’s policy statement accouncing a .75% cut to both the Federal Funds Rate, and The Discount Rate, which now stand at 2.25%, and 2.50%, respectively. This comes on the heels of a .25% cut to the discount rate on Sunday, and caps off a series of Fed moves that can only be described as extraordinary. Here is a link to the Full Fed Statement (be patient, the servers are flooded): Worth noting was this particular passage: Recent information indicates that the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Growth in consumer spending has slowed and labor markets have softened. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and the tightening of credit conditions and the deepening of the housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters. Inflation has been elevated, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization. Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook has increased. It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully. The bold section (emphasis mine) regarding inflation will be good news for rates if they are correct, but it isn’t time to crack open the champagne and celebrate lower rates just yet. As we’ve seen with the last five cuts, mortgage rates often worsen within a few days as the markets discount the impact of the cuts. For instance, the table below shows the activity surrounding the last 5 rate cuts by the Fed: Date of Cut Size of Cut Rate Change 09/18/2007 .50% +.375% in 2 days. 10/31/2007 .25% +.25% in 5 days 12/11/2007 .25% +.25% in 3 days 01/22/2008 .75% +.375% in 2 days 01/30/2008 .50% +.625% in 13 days So far, and it is VERY early, mortgage bonds are selling off a bit (though they have improved markedly over the past several days) but only time will tell how this plays out over the next several days. The key to understanding this is inflation - the primary threat to lower rates. As the Fed drops rates, they risk exacerbating inflation, and surely as rain makes the grass grow, inflation causes interest rates to rise. And of course, even if interest rates fall after this Fed cut, mortgage credit availability continues to be curtailed, resulting in increased down payment/equity requirements and interest rates for many types of borrowers and mortgage products. The good news, as always, is that these Fed cuts do lower the Prime Rate, which will make home equity loans and other types of borrowing cheaper.

Anna Essex Thorne, 37, Newark, New Jersey pled guilty to a one-count information charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Thorne is facing up to 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following any pri…