Countrywide California Foreclosures Looking to find out how many foreclosure Countrywide has in CA

http://www.streamfx.com/CW/4-3-2008/REO-California.html

The Countrywide California REO foreclosure list list some great properties for sale (all marked down, with prices dropping every day). I know that this blog predicted that Countywide would survive the real estate crash but clearly I was WAY wrong. Countrywide's exposure in the highly frothy markets (California & Florida) meant they were left holding the chair when the music stopped.

Labels: countrywide, frothy, real estate.

  ¶ Countrywide California Foreclosures 0 Comments

Countrywide Continues the Slow Bleed. Countrywide takes a writeoff of $125-$150 Million in their re-structuring where they are laying off 20% of their workforce. Meanwhile Southern California home sales have dropped to their lowest since Dataquick began tracking home sale records in 1998.

A total of 12,455 new and resale houses and condos were sold in September in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

It was the slowest month since the firm began keeping records in 1988, DataQuick said.

Labels: countrywide, southerncalifornia, SouthernCaliforniaHomes

  ¶ Countrywide Continues the Slow Bleed. 0 Comments

Countrywide to lay off 25% of workforce. Here's a game I like to play. When the CEO says that

[Mozilo] assured his audience that Countrywide's "proprietary technology" would help it meet its goal "to avoid any foreclosure." Countrywide invariably kept to "prudent underwriting guidelines," he said, to ensure that its adjustable-rate borrowers could handle the highest interest rates that might kick in during the life of their mortgage.

(Hat Tip LA Times)

It's time to short the stock. Their technology wasn't good enough to stave off the collapse off the credit market So they laid off 25% of their workforce. Oh yea they expect loan originations to be off by 25% this year. I am sure they are giving great RIF packages to those employees. Those that might remember I said the subprime market specifically in California would do EXACTLY THIS!

Labels: countrywide, countrywidelayoff, Countrywiderevenue, countrywiderif

  ¶ Countrywide to lay off 25% of workforce. 0 Comments

Countrywide Takes advantage of the Subprime Market Consolidation According to this Washington Post article, Countrywide will be adding 2,000 new positions. In addition they will be adding 50 year mortgages and reverse mortgages to their product mix. The consolidation in the industry continues as many of the sub prime lenders in the marketplace continue to let people go. They expect consolidation so much so that they have launched Country Wide Careers. The recent layoffs in the marketplace mean that Countrywide can cherry pick some of the best professionals in the industry. On that note Accredited Home Lenders Holding Coa San Diego subprime lender, on Friday said it cut 1,300 jobs, or 31 percent of its staff, in the first quarter.

Labels: consolidationinthesubprimemarket, countrywide, mortgagesalesjobs

  ¶ Countrywide Takes advantage of the Subprime Market Consolidation 0 Comments

Countrywide hit harder than I expected It's apparent that Countrywide was hit harder by the subprime marketi than we originally anticipated. I had originally thought based on their perfomance last quarter. The subprime part of Countrywide's portfolio drove down profit by 37% over the previous quarter. I had expected Countrywide's internal knowledge of the California market (and how cyclic it can be) to mitigate some exposure to the fall out in the subprime market. It's apparent that even Pasadena based Indymac isn't immune. "IndyMac, whose Alt-A loans aren't supposed to be as risky as subprime mortgages, reported its lowest profit in almost three years. Earnings fell to $52.4 million, or 70 cents a share, from $79.9 million, or $1.18 million a year earlier."

Media Reports:
Bloomberg on Countrywide's 1st Quarter 2007
CNN Money on Countrywide

Labels: countrywide, countrywide1stquarter2007, indymac, Pasadena

  ¶ Countrywide hit harder than I expected 0 Comments

Industrywide foreclosure rate was 0.54 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest in its 37 years of surveys. Amidst the reporting that Countrywide was reporting an increase in foreclosures was the news that Countrywide was also increasing the number of loans that they were servicing. Additionally it was reported that foreclosures are now the highest ever recorded in 4th quarter 2006. For Countrywide having more loans in the pipeline is a clear sign that the long predicted consolidation in the marketplace is continuing. Countrywide as the largest US mortgage lender isn't immune to the effects of the subprime market but it's far more likely to weather the storm. Furthermore customers are more likely to chose vendors who are larger (and thus seen as more trustworthy). It's going to be interesting to see what Wells Fargo reports on April 17th.

Labels: Calabasas, countrywide, countrywidesubprime, forclosures, foreclosures37yearhigh

  ¶ Industrywide foreclosure rate was 0.54 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest in its 37 years of surveys. 0 Comments

The Subprime Directive For all the talk of the minimal effect the sub prime defaults are going to have, it's pretty apparent that the "minimal effects" are going to be larger than anyone has expected. Let's just look at the current closings and layoffs

• Loancity closed on 3/22/07
  
• Countrywide's subprime mortage defaults for 2006 may exceed the company's highest on record.
  
• New Century lays off 54% of their workers (this company is headed for the dustbin)and files for Chapter 11
  
• Aegis Lending plans to shutter its Sacramento office
  
• People's Choice (another sub prime lender) files for chapter 11
  

The shake out in California continues. You can bet that you will hear about it hear first (or nearly first). New Century was one of the ones that we reported on very early on (when I got a few emails about the situation there).

Labels: aegislending, CAMortgageNews, countrywide, countrywidesubprime, NewCenturyFinancialCorp, Subprime, subprimemortgagecalifornia

  ¶ The Subprime Directive 0 Comments

Countrywide misses revenue target A number of news organizations are posting this morning that Calabasas, California based mortgage provider Countrywide missed it's quarterly revenue targets. Most attribbute it to the fact that Countrywide didn't sell off as many loans in it's portfolio. Normally Countrywide would sell these mortgages on the secondary market. The sale of loans generates quick profits. Why didn't Countrywide sell as many loans?

"Sales of loans generate current-period gains on sale, while the retention of loans is designed to provide a more stable stream of net interest income,'' the company said. "In making the determination of whether to sell or retain loans, management considers .... earnings growth, current market and economic conditions."

In other word Countrywide is banking that the mortgage market is going to cool down and having a steady stream of income is worth morth than selling the loans on the secondary market.

Labels: countrywide, Countrywiderevenue

  ¶ Countrywide misses revenue target 0 Comments