The land title industry reported an operating loss of more than $332 million for the third quarter of 2008, a more than 30 percent decrease from its operating gain of $168.7 million during the same period of 2007, according to a report by the Washington, D.
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The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate (FRM) fell for the ninth consecutive week, setting a new record low since the McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac began compiling its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in 1971.
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Florida’s existing home sales in November rose four percent in year-to-year comparisons between 2007 and 2008, continuing the trend of increased volume for a third consecutive month, according to the latest report by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will institute a revised Home Valuation Code of Conduct, according to an announcement by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James Lockhart.
The code is based on an agreement between Fannie, Freddie, New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo and the FHFA, and will go into effect May 1, 2009.
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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a ruling by a superior court against the San Bernadino, California-based Fremont Investment & Loan, now called Fremont Reorganizing Corporation, that prohibits the lender, without court approval, from foreclosing on certain loans the courts considered unfair, in a unanimous decision reached earlier this month.
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While attending an auction can be an exciting and exhilarating experience, for the novice, it can also be an intimidating one. To help consumers better understand the auction process, the Overland Park, Kansas-based National Auctioneers Association (NAA) has added new information on its Web site to teach people the basics of the auctioning process.
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SafeHaus Asset Management LLC has announced its opening in Denver, Colorado. Samuel C. Smith will be responsible for operations, acting as the company’s COO. Claudia A. Smith will also be joining the company’s roster, serving as EVP of operations.
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A new Web site that allows debtors’ lawyers to submit loss mitigation and modification proposals directly to loan servicers will exit its pilot stage and become available nationwide starting January 1.
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J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management, and the hedge fund Paulson & Co. are set to buy the assets of the failed mortgage lender IndyMac, according to unnamed sources in multiple news reports.
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Broad-based declines in the prices of existing single family homes continued across the United States through the month of October, according to data released today by Standard & Poor’s. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices show that 14 of the 20 metro areas studied experienced record rates of annual decline, with 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10 percent compared to October 2007.
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Despite continued downturn in sales volume and prices, the Illinois Assocation of Realtors (IAR) it optimistic that new, lower interest rates will be an encouraging incentive to potential homebuyers, according to the association’s president, Pat Callan.
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New Jersey pre-foreclosure filings dropped from October to November of this year, thanks in part to a greater number of loan modifications, extended foreclosure terms, and some lender’s mandated moratoriums, as well as to the state-observed holidays when courts did not accept filings, according to the Bergenfield, New Jersey-based Njlispendens.
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The parent company of mortgage financier Residential Capital LLC (ResCap), GMAC Financial Services, received approval from the Federal Reserve last week to become a bank holding company, making the struggling organization eligible for government assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
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Sales of existing-homes in November weakened against a backdrop of an eroding economy, according to a report released last week by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops – fell 8.
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According to a report released last week by the New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com, an independent investigator of the U.S. Treasury Department has uncovered evidence that officials from the nation’s banking supervisory body, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), helped the failing IndyMac Bancorp paper over its financial difficulties.
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Michigan-based Potestivo & Associates, P.C., a legal services provider to the default servicing industry, recently announced the firm’s appointment as the Lender Processing Services’ (LPS) Attorney Roundtable representative for the American Legal & Financial Network (AFN) for 2009.
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The Hope Now alliance announced it will enhance and expand its services and expects to help facilitate more than 2 million loan modifications next year.
Included in its 2009 plans are at least 30 additional homeowner workshops, which alliance officials believe will increase the number of homeowners who attend workshops by more than 50 percent.
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a notice late last week, advising lenders of the termination of the Federal Housing Administration’s FHASecure program, under which FHA was able to insure refinance transactions for borrowers delinquent on their mortgages.
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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), in its role as conservator of Freddie Mac, has appointed 10 new directors to Freddie Mac’s board.
p{=margin-bottom: 0.2in}. Barbara Alexander, Linda Bammann, Carolyn Byrd, Robert Glauber, Laurence Hirsch, Christopher Lynch, Freddie Mac CEO David Moffett, Nicolas Retsinas, Eugene Shanks, Jr.
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November’s 16.7 percent drop in median home sales price in Massachusetts is the biggest decrease in more than 20 years, according to a recently released report by Boston’s The Warren Group, which also indicated an 18.
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