Castle Point Mortgage Achieves Implementation of Cadence Lending Platform

Eight-Month Implementation Accomplished at Hands of Mortgage Company's IT Experts Utilizing Implementation Methodology of Implementation Contractor.

DENVER -- Mortgage Cadence, a leading provider of enterprise lending solutions (ELS) for the mortgage industry, and Castle Point Mortgage, Inc. are pleased to announce the implementation of the Mortgage Cadence Orchestrator[TM] ELS application. Headquartered in Elkridge, Md., Castle Point is a retail lender, operating in multiple states and handling a variety of product types.

Following an extensive due diligence process, Castle Point chose the Mortgage Cadence Orchestrator application as their lending platform. We are pleased to have chosen a software system that is easily customizable to our needs, commented Gerald Infantino, president of Castle Point Mortgage. There was no other system that we found during our selection process that provided the breadth of functionality while offering us the ability to cost effectively implement ourselves. The Mortgage Cadence system will help bring Castle Point Mortgage to the next level and assist us in achieving our long term strategic goals.

Castle Point has seen a substantial amount of growth over the past three years. As of October 2006, Castle Point has increased its loan origination by over 300% compared to its 2003 year-end loan volume. Due to this substantial growth, the Castle Point executives began their search for a new software system in early 2006. The Castle Point team was looking for an application that would handle all of the company's product lines, increase process times and efficiency, as well as a lending platform that would is scalable to meet their future needs. Their decision on the application also needed to be supported by the software company's proven staying power in the market.

Home-loan demand soars

U.S. mortgage applications skyrocketed during the first week of 2007 as interest rates fell for the first time in five weeks, lending support to the view that the housing market is stabilizing, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and purchasing loans, jumped 16.6 percent to 671.1 for the week ended Jan. 5.

However, the monthly average shows a decline in the volume of applications for home loans, with the four-week moving average down 2 percent.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.13 percent, down 0.09 percentage point from the previous week. Interest rates were above year-ago levels of 6.08 percent.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index, widely considered a timely gauge of U.S. home sales, soared 16.2 percent to 472.8, its highest since the week ended Jan. 20, 2006 when it reached 473.7. The index was also above its year-ago level of 457.4.

The group's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications surged 17.3 percent to 1,923.8. A year earlier the index stood at 1,497.5.

The refinance share of applications increased to 48.4 percent from 48.1 the previous week.

Fixed 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.85 percent, down from 5.93 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) decreased to 5.79 percent from 5.84 percent.

The ARM share of activity decreased to 20.1 percent from 20.4 percent the previous week, its lowest since July 2003.

The MBA's survey covers about 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential loans. Respondents include mortgage banks, commercial banks and thrifts.

Information About Investment Property

Any property that is purchased with the intent of gaining a return is considered investment property. Investment property can be an apartment building, a duplex, a single-family dwelling, vacant land, commercial property -- basically any type of real estate. The term investment property usually describes property that the owner does not occupy, but in some cases, the owner may occupy a portion of it.

Purchasing investment property can be a lucrative venture, whether one simply hopes to purchase a home or plans to make a business out of such investments. One strategy for beginners is to purchase an investment property such as a duplex, or other multiple family dwelling, and live in one unit while renting out the other(s). This way, monies collected from the renter or renters covers the note, leaving the owner without a mortgage payment. Eventually the property is paid off, and the purchaser continues collecting the rent for a profit.

The owner may also purchase another investment property, using the equity in the first property to finance the purchase. Equity simply means the fair market value of the property minus the amount still owed, including any liens. It is common to borrow against the equity in a property. Rates for such loans are fairly competitive because the property acts as collateral to secure the loan. The less risk there is in lending, the better the rates are.

Valuable Information About Liquidation

Liquidation is the process of taking a business real assets and turning them into cash, either to pay off debt or to reap a personal profit. Liquidation may be done either voluntarily by a company or individual, or in response to a declaration of bankruptcy as a way of repaying a portion of debtors.

Compulsory liquidation is ordered by a court, and the laws vary in different countries. Usually a court-appointed receiver takes over to analyze the company s assets and determine the best way to handle them. Originally, recovered cash from a compulsory liquidation was distributed evenly amongst debtors. Now certain debtors may take precedence over others, depending on the terms of the loans.

Voluntary liquidation may be done for a number of reasons. Some companies elect to undergo liquidation while their assets still outweigh their liabilities, if they believe their business will continue to degrade. By selling off assets early, these corporations may pay off debtors and still give a final dividend to shareholders.

A corporation with liabilities outweighing assets may also undergo voluntary liquidation, expecting a compulsory liquidation should they fail to pay off a significant portion of their debt. This type of voluntary liquidation is considered an appropriate response to an insolvent situation.

Inspector Lists Computers With Atomic Secrets as Missing

WASHINGTON, March 30 — The office in charge of protecting American technical secrets about nuclear weapons from foreign spies is missing 20 desktop computers, at least 14 of which have been used for classified information, the Energy Department inspector general reported on Friday.

This is the 13th time in a little over four years that an audit has found that the department, whose national laboratories and factories do most of the work in designing and building nuclear warheads, has lost control over computers used in working on the bombs.

Aside from the computers it cannot find, the department is also using computers not listed in its inventory, and one computer listed as destroyed was in fact being used, the audit said.

“Problems with the control and accountability of desktop and laptop computers have plagued the department for a number of years,” the report said.

In January, Linton F. Brooks was fired as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Energy Department agency in charge of bombs, because of security problems. The agency was created in the 1990s because of security scandals.

When the most recent audit began, the Counterintelligence Directorate was unable to find 141 desktop computers. In some cases, documents were found indicating that the computers had been taken out of service.

Previous incidents of wayward computers have also involved nuclear weapons information. But the office involved in this breach has a special responsibility, tracking and countering efforts to steal bomb information. Its computers would have material on what the department knew about foreign operatives and efforts to steal sensitive information.

The report includes a response from the security agency that generally agrees with the findings. But the inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, noted in his report that “the comments did not include planned corrective actions with target completion dates.”

A spokesman for the department, Craig Stevens, said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman “recognizes that we need to manage this place better.”

The counterintelligence office was recently merged with the intelligence office to improve operations, Mr. Stevens said.

Which Online High-Yield Savings Account is Best?

I’ve heard a lot about online high-yield savings accounts, but I’ve never bothered to look into them. It occurred to me today that it’s ridiculous to keep my “web money” in a no-yield checking account at Wells Fargo. As my blog revenue grows, I’m throwing away money by not having my savings someplace that pays.

I did some research. I googled for “high yield savings account” and “ING direct” and “HSBC Direct“. I followed promising links (and ads) from the search results. As of March 19th, here are the offers that I was able to find with minimal digging. All of these accounts are FDIC insured.

People banned from SNL

Adrien Brody became the latest person bannedn from SNL on May 10, 2003. He came out to introduce reggae musician Sean Paul, while wearing Rastafarian attire including faux dreadlocks. Without any prior notice, Brody began rambling in a Jamaican accent for close to 45 seconds before finally introducing the act incorrectly, misannouncing "Sean Paul" as "Sean John."

The Torvalds Transcript: Why I 'Absolutely Love' GPL Version 2

On March 6, Linus Torvalds responded to e-mail questions on GPL version 3 sent by InformationWeek editor at large Charles Babcock.

InformationWeek: Can you comment on why you oppose moving the Linux kernel from GPL 2.0 to GPL 3.0?

Torvalds: First off, I don't even know what the GPLv3 will look like. I would be totally crazy to accept a license for my code sight unseen. I think people who just say "version 2 or any later version" on their code probably don't care about the license of their code enough. Before I say that "yes, you can use my code under license X," I'd better know *what* that license is.

So that's an issue totally independent of any particular GPLv3 details. The reason Linux has that "GPLv2 only" language is exactly that I simply don't want to be at the mercy of somebody else when it comes to something as important as the license I choose for my code.

So I can't even imagine why anybody would ever expect me to do anything but "v2 only." It's just stupid to do anything else.

Now, totally independently of that, I'm doubly happy that I long, long since made that decision because at least the drafts of the GPLv3 have been much worse than the GPLv2 is. They've had glaring technical problems (license proliferation with not just one single GPLv3, but "GPLv3 with various additional rights and various additional restrictions"), and while I certainly hope that the final GPLv3 won't have those obvious problems, I've been singularly unimpressed with the drafts.

Adobe says NO WAY!!!

Adobe says you'll have to upgrade to new versions of popular (and really expensive) software like Photoshop, InDesign and DreamWeaver if you want them to run well under Windows Vista.

Current versions of many Adobe products won't run flawlessly under Windows Vista, this announcement only confirms that they never will. So, if you're a creative professional (who hasn't already jumped ship to OS X) start getting out the check book. Adobe's CS3 creative suite will be out next week, and it ain't gonna be cheap.

We probably should have realized something was up when Adobe's own document on Vista compatibility (which we wrote about almost a month ago) dodged the question by stating that Adobe would release free patches for "some of Adobe's currently available products." To our credit, it would have been much easier to spot if they'd said, "some of Adobe's currently available products, but not the ones anyone actually uses or cares about."

Dreams Become Reality

When you work with Castle Point Mortgage, your dreams become a reality. We'll be there to guide you, to answer your questions, to make sure you understand each step. You'll see the difference at Castle Point Mortgage . Castle Point Mortgage is committed to making the process of buying or refinancing your home as simple and as affordable as possible. Castle Point Mortgage representative's understand the complex needs of today's borrowers, and are equipped to suit them with over 85 different loan programs. The personalized service of our experienced origination staff also allows our customers a pleasant experience throughout the entire lending process