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05/25/08
First Horizon Mortgage Unit to Either Be Sold or Closed
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:41 pm

Executives of First Horizon National Corp. told investors they were committed to either selling or shutting down the mortgage unit this year.


Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. said it hosted a “well-attended” investor meeting with First Horizon management in Memphis, where the company is headquartered. Executives of the lender provided updates on credit, focusing on the ongoing performance of the troubled home-builder finance and home-equity portfolios.


Analysts at Morgan Keegan said First Horizon has been among the most-aggressive banks in charging off and writing down non-performing loans. Around $90 million in one-time close holding have been charged off, and deterioration has been concentrated in California and Florida.


The portfolio of one-time close loans is around 5,000 loans for $1.8 billion, and it expected to be reduced to around $0.6 billion by the end of this year,


The $5.5 billion HEL portfolio as of March 31 is project to fall by $0.7 billion by Dec. 31, 2008.
Morgan Keegan analyst Bob Patten noted the company is expected to either announce a sale of the mortgage unit at any time or accelerate a shutdown over the next four to six months.


A source inside First Horizon has indicated that Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has recently performed due diligence at First Horizon Home Loans  headquarters in Irving, Texas.


In the event of a shutdown, the origination platform would be quickly disbanded while the dismantling of the servicing platform would take place over a longer period, Patten wrote. Severance packages are estimated at between $80 million to $100 million.


“Management is 100 percent committed to this objective and we do not think the market has factored in what a sale of the mortgage company could mean in terms of accretion to earnings, liquidity and capital.,” the report stated.


The report indicated a sale would include 230 “footprint offices,” the origination platform and some of the company’s mortgage servicing rights. First Horizon would likely maintain 21 “in footprint Tennessee offices,”


Around 2,200 employees out of a total mortgage work force of 3,650 would reportedly by impacted by a move.


“We believe that exiting the mortgage company makes [First Horizon National] a much simpler company to analyze and value,” Patten wrote in the report. “We reiterate our outperform recommendation.”

By MortgageDaily.com  staff

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Washington Mutual Inc. reduces home equity credit for homeowners
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:33 pm

Washington Mutual Inc. has slashed or suspended $6 billion in home equity credit available to its customers in an effort to reduce its risk in a flailing housing market.   more…

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Wells Fargo, Bank of America to combine payment processing
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:31 pm

Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have formed a joint venture to handle automated clearinghouse payment processing for both banks, becoming the largest such processor in the U.S.   more…

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W. Valley strip mall to be sold for $17M in foreclosure
Filed under: General
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:28 pm

A $17 million strip mall in the West Valley is scheduled to be sold May 28, marking one of the largest commercial foreclosure sales in Maricopa County this year.   more…

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Valley mortgages, delinquencies hit 3-year high
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:26 pm

Arizona home loan delinquency rates are at a three-year high, according to new statistics on the state’s battered residential real estate sector.   more…

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Russ Lyon Realty Co., Equitable Sotheby’s International Realty merge
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:16 pm

Russ Lyon Realty Co., a pioneer in the Valley’s luxury home market, has merged with Scottsdale-based Equitable Sotheby’s International Realty to become one of the largest Sotheby’s real estate franchises in the world.  more…

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Houses stripped of appliances, wiring and more as they await sale or foreclosure
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:14 pm

Increased cases of squatting, vandalism and theft of large appliances and copper wiring are befalling houses vacated during the housing bust.  more…

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Community banks report hefty losses
Filed under: General, Business, Real Estate, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:11 pm

Unpaid loans, development projects in limbo, and increased loan-loss reserves are slicing into Arizona community bank profits, leaving some local executives seeing red.  more…

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Federal land exchange scrutinized
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:09 pm

Two multimillion-dollar properties on the Phoenix-Scottsdale line were part of a federal land swap under renewed scrutiny because of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.  more…

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Firms stumble, but CEOs cash in
Filed under: General, Business, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:07 pm

Twenty big financial firms that got caught on the wrong side of the credit crunch suffered nearly $500 billion in cumulative stock-market losses last year and have brought the economy to the brink of recession.  more…

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Facing ban, payday lenders look to voters
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 3:02 pm

Despite setbacks in other states, the multibillion-dollar payday-loan industry is confident it will gather enough petition signatures by July 3 to let voters decide this fall whether lenders can keep their doors open in Arizonamore…

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State Senate stalls bill to license loan officers
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:59 pm

Legislation to license Arizona’s many loan officers or mortgage originators is still in limbo.  more…

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Trust-land sales down sharply
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:56 pm

After a two-year run of sales totaling nearly $1 billion, Arizona’s trust-land market has slowed to a crawl.  more…

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Businesses to open in downtown ASU dorm
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:52 pm

Downtown Phoenix ASU students won’t have to go far for a morning cup of joe. Starbucks plans to open a 1,800-square-foot coffee shop on the first floor of the 13-story Taylor Place student housing complex.  more…

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Retail center is site for planned project
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:50 pm

South Scottsdale is poised for a 26-acre makeover, with the proposed Scottsdale Centrovida project bringing new retail, restaurants, housing and a parklike environment.  more…

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How gas prices got to be near $4 a gallon
Filed under: General
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:46 pm

You think you feel helpless at the gas pump? Even the people who sell the gasoline have little control over what it costs. So, how exactly are prices set? What determines the hair-pulling figure you see displayed in large electronic or plastic numbers? It all starts with oil.  more…

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When the economy revives, how will the public know?
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:37 pm

WASHINGTON - With any luck, the second half of this year will be better than the rocky first half. The Federal Reserve chief hopes that is the case. So does President Bush.  more…

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Home-price index posts biggest drop in 17-year history
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:32 pm

WASHINGTON - A home-price index considered to be the most comprehensive reading of the U.S. market posted the sharpest decline in its 17-year history, and analysts say housing has yet to bottom out.  more…

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Bill to prevent foreclosures advances
Filed under: General, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:28 pm

WASHINGTON - A plan to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure cleared a major political hurdle Tuesday, improving the chances of an election-year effort to address the nation’s housing crisis.  more…

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Trust land in Phoenix up for bids
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 2:26 pm

A large infill-development site in Phoenix once considered for a Cardinals football stadium goes on the auction block next month.  more…

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