| Servicer creates homeowner woes
Morgan Stanley said Tuesday it is cutting about 600 jobs and slimming its mortgage business, after a credit crisis upended the home loan industry this summer and forced other investment banks into similar moves. Two weeks after the Wall Street investment bank missed analysts' expectations for the fiscal third quarter and took a writedown of $940 million for corporate loans stuck on its books, Morgan Stanley said it will eliminate about 1 percent of its work force. "It is the direction everybody is going," said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Brad Hintz. "This is Wall Street voting with their feet about how rapidly the mortgage market is coming back. They are saying it is not coming back quickly." As part of a plan to fuse its three mortgage businesses into one subsidiary based in Irving, Texas, Morgan Stanley will close certain offices and cut 500 jobs in the U.S.
Gilbert considers money for 1st-time home buyers
The Gilbert Town Council will consider increasing the amount of money available to assist first-time home buyers. Town staff have recommended the council approve a change order that will mean increasing funding for the home ownership assistance program by $12,082, adding to the current $234,536. The council is set to vote on the matter at its regular meeting tonight. Gilberts program is administered through Maricopa County and provides financial and counseling assistance to low- and moderate-income people who want to buy their first house in the town. The program provides a secured, no-interest loan that is later repaid when the home is sold or refinanced. The fund is generally sustained as past recipients repay the loans. Last year, two past home buyers repaid their Gilbert loans. The program has already helped two Gilbert home buyers this fall and is expected to help another recipient within the next few weeks, according to a town staff report.
LandAmerica to Replace Documents at No Charge and Offer a Discount on ...
RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG) , Fortune magazine's number one Most Admired Company in the mortgage services industry, announces that it will replace recorded mortgage documents, property tax information, recorded deeds, and tax assessor maps at no charge for homeowners who lost their homes in the recent fires in Southern California. "Among LandAmerica's Guiding Principles are Teamwork and Responsible Corporate Citizenship. We are grateful for the brave team of volunteers and firefighters who fought these horrific blazes, and we offer our help to property owners who are recovering from the fires' destruction," said Margaret Foster, LandAmerica's Executive Vice President for the West Region. LandAmerica is also offering California fire victims loan policies at 50 percent of its basic insurance rate to repair or replace property damaged by the fires.
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