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Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Commercial Property Prices Sink to 2002 Levels: Report It's undoubtedly a buyers' market in the commercial real estate sector. Values of commercial properties in the United States have fallen to levels not seen in seven years, according to Moody's Investors Service. The latest release of the Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Index shows a decline of 3.9 percent from August to September, with real estate values now 43 percent below the index's peak in October 2007. Freddie Mac Expects to See "Significant" Losses from Taylor Bean Collapse The fall of Taylor Bean & Whitaker has sent ripples through the mortgage lending industry. Even the nation's second largest mortgage company, Freddie Mac, is feeling the effects. The government-controlled mortgage financier says it has more than $1 billion in assets tied to the now defunct Taylor Bean and warns that losses related to the company's bankruptcy "could be significant." FDIC Fund Slides into the Red as Banks Pull Back Lending The overwhelming number of bank failures since the onset of the nation's financial crisis have pushed the FDIC's insurance fund into negative territory. The agency has announced that its reserve used to protect consumers' deposits when a financial institution goes under is $8.2 billion in the hole. But the hits didn't stop there. The FDIC also said in its quarterly assessment of the nation's banking landscape that banks' cut lending in Q3 by the largest amount since the government began tracking loan activity in 1984. Fannie Mae Introduces 'First Look' Initiative In an effort to support neighborhood stabilization and provide owner occupants and public entities an advantage in purchasing Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties, the company has announced the launch of its First Look Initiative. Through Fannie Mae's First Look, only offers from owner occupants and buyers using public funds will be considered during the first 15 days a property is on the market. You are receving this email because you opted in at our website dsnews.com or attended a Five Star Conference. Unsubscribe roballey.434-974-5586@blogger.com from this list. Corporate Office: DS News 1909 Woodall Rodgers Suite 300 Dallas, TX 75201 Add us to your address book Washington Bureau: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright (C) 2009 DS News All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile QUICK LINKS DSNews.com DS News' Red Book DS News' Black Book 2009 Five Star Conference DARE

Your Daily Dose from DSNews.com

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. One in Four Homes Worth Less than the Outstanding Mortgage Nearly a quarter of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater or upside down, meaning they owe more on their home than it is now worth, according to new research published this week by First American CoreLogic. The real estate data provider says nearly 10.7 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter, with the distribution of these homes heavily concentrated in five states. Rating Agencies Face Lawsuit for Allegedly Misleading MBS Investors Many have been quick to lay blame for the nation's housing and financial meltdown on the credit rating agency oligopoly, but Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is one of the first to officially make the allegations in a court of law. Cordray is suing Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch for allegedly providing inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in exchange for lucrative fees from the securities issuers. Bank of America Helps 100,000 Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure In an effort to help borrowers with Countrywide subprime and option-ARM mortgages avoid foreclosure, Bank of America created its National Homeownership Retention Program (NHRP), providing mortgage relief to 100,000 eligible homeowners in just 10 months. In the third quarter alone, more than 31,000 customers received assistant through the NHRP, according to the bank's quarterly progress report. CBIA Announces Decreased Affordability of California Housing Incremental price increases due to a rising demand for homes caused housing affordability in California to fall in the third quarter of 2009, according to the California Building Industry Association (CBIA). Results of the quarterly National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) showed that of the state's 28 metro areas included in the report, homes were less affordable in 23 areas. You are receving this email because you opted in at our website dsnews.com or attended a Five Star Conference. Unsubscribe roballey.434-974-5586@blogger.com from this list. Corporate Office: DS News 1909 Woodall Rodgers Suite 300 Dallas, TX 75201 Add us to your address book Washington Bureau: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright (C) 2009 DS News All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile QUICK LINKS DSNews.com DS News' Red Book DS News' Black Book 2009 Five Star Conference DARE

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Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Existing-Home Sales Record Another Big Gain as Inventories Shrink Driven largely by the federal government's first-time homebuyer tax credit, existing-home sales showed another big gain in October, while inventories continued to decline, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Monday. Sales of previously owned homes have trended steadily upward for seven months now. According to NAR's market data, resales of single-family residences, townhomes, condos, and co-op properties surged 10.1 percent to an annual rate of 6.10 million units in October, compared to a 5.54 million unit sales pace in September. NAR says sales activity is the highest it's been since February 2007. Bank of America Readies $460 Million CMBS for Sale Last week marked the first sale of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) in more than a year and already it seems to have sparked renewed interest in the previously stagnant secondary market for commercial real estate. Bank of America is pulling together the market's second new CMBS deal - a $460 million issuance backed by office and industrial properties in Florida. With this recent movement coming to what was previously a firmly gridlocked secondary market for commercial real estate bonds, analysts say liquidity could return to the commercial sector much sooner than anticipated. Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida Seized and Sold Only one bank was shut down by regulators Friday - Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, Florida. The single failure pushes the total number of institutional closures in 2009 to 124, but was a rare departure from the typical multiple bank collapses that have characterized most weekends since the start of the year. Former Owner of Real Estate Investment Company Pleads Guilty to Mortgage Fraud On Thursday in a United States District Court, Kevin M. O'Connell of Albany, New York, pled guilty to felony charges of laundering of monetary instruments in connection with his role in a mortgage fraud scheme which defrauded financial institutions and mortgage lenders of over $5.3 million in loans from July 2003 to December 2007. You are receving this email because you opted in at our website dsnews.com or attended a Five Star Conference. Unsubscribe roballey.434-974-5586@blogger.com from this list. Corporate Office: DS News 1909 Woodall Rodgers Suite 300 Dallas, TX 75201 Add us to your address book Washington Bureau: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright (C) 2009 DS News All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile QUICK LINKS DSNews.com DS News' Red Book DS News' Black Book 2009 Five Star Conference DARE

Market Comment

Mortgage Bonds are near unchanged, but much improved from the worst levels of the morning.
In the news, Existing Home Sales were reported far higher than expectations, and the inventory of unsold homes dropped to a 7-month supply, which is the lowest in 2 1/2 years. These are encouraging signs for the housing market.
I recommend floating for now, but be prepared to lock if the record Treasury Auction this afternoon impacts the Bond market. I will continue to monitor the situation and keep you posted.

Leonard Winslow, Dominion Trust Mortgage
434-760-2580 (direct)
leonard.winslow@dominiontrustmortgage.com
www.dominiontrustmortgage.com/leonard.winslow
Licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. License #: MC-5112.

Your Daily Dose from DSNews.com

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Congressman Calls for Bailout Money to Go to Unemployed Homeowners Rep. Barney Frank is once again pushing a mortgage relief program to assist the growing number of homeowners who find themselves without a job - now the primary driver behind mortgage defaults. Under his proposal, some of the $12 billion that the Treasury has gotten back from banks for TARP bailouts would be used to issue low-interest emergency loans to unemployed homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments. While most lawmakers are calling for TARP to expire at year-end, Frank says he would support an extension if it included provisions for jobless homeowners. Home Price Declines Slowing: First American CoreLogic Home prices have plummeted across the country since the onset of the housing crisis, but according to First American CoreLogic, the rate at which property values are dropping has slowed and returned to what could be called a normal seasonal pattern. The company says national home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 9.8 percent in September compared to a year ago. Looking forward, First American CoreLogic's forecast calls for housing prices to bottom for most markets by March 2010 and then turn positive. Treasury to Auction off TARP Warrants The U.S. Department of the Treasury is putting stock warrants it received for investments made in several large banks on the auction block. Treasury obtained warrants through the capital injections it provided to financial institutions nearly a year ago under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). While the Department has worked directly with other banks to negotiate buy-back prices for their warrants, it was unable to reach an agreement over the value of the warrants from J.P. Morgan, Capital One, and TCF Financial. The Treasury's warrant positions in these three institutions will be sold at public auctions over the next month. Center for Responsible Lending Puts 2009 Foreclosures at 2.9 Million According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), a record number of loans are delinquent, and 1 in 22 families in the United States is in the process of losing their home. Based on these figures, the Center for Responsible Lending says the industry is on track for 2.9 million foreclosure starts in this year alone. You are receving this email because you opted in at our website dsnews.com or attended a Five Star Conference. Unsubscribe roballey.434-974-5586@blogger.com from this list. Corporate Office: DS News 1909 Woodall Rodgers Suite 300 Dallas, TX 75201 Add us to your address book Washington Bureau: 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright (C) 2009 DS News All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile QUICK LINKS DSNews.com DS News' Red Book DS News' Black Book 2009 Five Star Conference DARE