A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk … with more coverage to come on bigger issues: Fannie Mae acquired 85,340 REO properties in the third quarter, up 23.9% from the amount acquired in the previous quarter, according to its quarterly financial statement released Friday. Fannie reported $3.5 billion in losses in the same quarter, including a $2.1 billion dividend payment to the Treasury. Its entire REO inventory, which represents the amount of homes it has foreclosed on and still holds as it prepares them for resale, reached 166,787 properties in the third quarter, a growth of 28.9% from the previous quarter. The carrying value of those properties is $16.4 billion, compared to $13 billion a quarter ago. By comparison, the other mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported $13.5 billion worth of REO in its inventory. Together both companies hold more than $28 billion in REO, a major contribution to the shadow inventory of foreclosures that should take the market three years to clear, according to Fitch Ratings. Also in the third quarter, three large private mortgage insurers, MGIC (MTG), PMI Group (PMI), and Radian Group (RDN) combined to write $8.6 billion in new primary insurance, down 6.5% from the $9.2 billion a year ago. Only PMI showed an increase of 66% to $2 billion in new insurance. MGIC had a 26% decline to $3.4 billion, and Radian had a 5.8% dip to $3.2 billion. With the Federal Housing Administration taking nearly 40% of market share in 2009, according to a survey from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, private insurers are fighting to take back more. Each reported a drop in delinquent loan numbers. Radian CEO S.A. Ibrahim said there are signs of stabilization for his business, which included a third-straight quarter of delinquency declines. “We are also pleased that Radian maintained its 21 percent market share of high-quality business as the private mortgage insurance industry continued to slowly recapture market share from the FHA,” Ibrahim said. According to a Saturday story in the New York Times, distressed Florida homeowners are taking out a second mortgage with the law firm they hired to help them fight their original foreclosure cases. The Ticktin Law Group, which represents some 3,000 clients in the wake of recent foreclosure filing issues offers a loan for his clients as a way to pay him for his services. Each mortgage will be a contractual obligation with the law firm that is structured and labeled as a mortgage. The client pays an amount every month using the house as collateral. While other lawyers said the idea seemed “creepy,” other foreclosure defense attorneys in the state have already followed suit and offered similar payment plans. Realtors attending the National Association of Realtors conference in New Orleans over the weekend said they were still optimistic on the future of the real estate and housing market but remain cautious. Margaret Kelly, CEO of ReMax and one of the panelists there, said the label of “new normal” isn’t so accurate because of the old market’s abnormalities. “The spike up and down in the housing market wasn’t normal so we shouldn’t be measuring ourselves against it,” Kelly said. Another panelist, Ron Peltier, chairman and CEO of HomeServices of America, said today’s real estate market closely resembles the one in 2000. “The rise in sales and prices during the boom was unrealistic and unsustainable, and all of that nonsense has been pushed out of the market – today buyers need to have jobs and be creditworthy,” Peltier said. Regulators have closed more banks in 2010 than in 2009. Over the weekend, regulators closed four more for a total of 143, compared to 140 last year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimated the closings last week would cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $313.2 million total. The Maryland Office of Financial Regulation closed K Bank. The Manufacturers and Traders Trust Bank in Buffalo, New York assumed the $500.1 million in deposits and agreed to purchase roughly $410.8 million of the $538.3 million in assets. The FDIC will retain the rest and estimated the closing cost to the DIF to be $198.4 million. The California Department of Financial Institutions closed Western Commercial Bank. The First California Bank in Westlake Village, Calif. agreed to assume all $101.1 million in total deposits and to purchase essentially all of the $98.6 million in total assets. The estimated cost to the DIF is $83.9 million. The regulator also closed the First Vietnamese American Bank in Westminster, Calif. Grandpoint Bank in Los Angeles agreed to assume all $47 million in deposits and purchase all $48 million in assets. The FDIC estimates the closing to cost the DIF $9.6 million. The Washington Department of Financial Institutions closed Pierce Commercial Bank in Tacoma. Heritage Bank in Olympia assumed all $193.5 million in deposits and agreed to purchase all $221.1 million in assets. The FDIC estimated cost to the DIF is $21.3 million. Write to Jon Prior.

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