The take on the state of the housing market, according to Capital Economics, is that the U.S. is currently in recovery mode. Although other reports may contend the bottom is yet to be reached, the research firm points to increasing home sales and the drop in excess supply, which leads to price gains, as reasons to believe the U.S. is beyond bottoming out.
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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced Tuesday that it has fined Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., $3.5 million for providing inaccurate mortgage perform information, among other violations. This inaccurate data may have led investors to make faulty decisions, FINRA said.
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RE/MAX announced Monday that its global site, Global.remax.com, has drawn in nearly 750,000 unique visitors who have generated 18 million page views in six months.
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George B. Flessas intended to retire in the Philippines after selling his REO firm back in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Instead of settling, living in a new country inspired him to start another venture due to a need he saw for a nationwide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the low cost to operate a business in the Philippines.
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The podcast, titled From the Bar: Inside Compliance with Roger Fendelman, will focus on the industry's toughest compliance issues. The program is meant to explain rulemaking by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to answer concerns that lenders have had.
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PHH Corporation announced Monday that David E. Tucker has been appointed president of PHH Mortgage Corporation, a service and mortgage origination subsidiary of PHH. Tucker is succeeding Smriti Laxman Popenoe, PHH Mortgage's interim president since March 2012.
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Stearns Lending, Inc., announced Tuesday that Gary B. Fabian has joined the company as its CFO.
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Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS) announced Tuesday the completion of its Type 2 SSAE No. 16 and SOC 3 examinations.
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Existing-home sales rose to 4.62 million (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) in April from an downwardly revised March rate of 4.47 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday. Economists had forecast the April sales pace would be 4.66 million. The median price of an existing home climbed 10.1 percent to $177,400 from $161,100 in April 2011, the strongest year-to-year gain since January 2006. The median price in April reached its highest level since July 2010 when it was $182,100.
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Through the $25 billion robo-signing settlement between federal and state officials and the five largest banks - Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Ally - $10 billion was set aside for principal reductions. According Fitch Ratings, the funds set aside for writing down principal will have little impact on private label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Fitch stated that the private label result of principal reduction through the settlement will likely reach only 10 percent of underwater borrowers. Overall, Fitch estimates there is about $203 billion in negative equity for private-label RMBS.
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