International real estate investment and services company Kennedy Wilson has announced the planned formation of a new partnership with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited to pursue acquisitions of commercial real estate assets, including purchases of loans and real property. The companies say they will focus their efforts on assets in California.
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The Treasury's most recent Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) report shows "extremely low conversion rates," with success just a 50/50 gamble, according to Moody's Investors Service.
As of the end of April, servicers had converted almost 300,000 permanent modifications. However, they had also canceled 277,640 trial mods. Moody's says this represents approximately a 50 percent success rate. The report also shows 3,744 permanent modifications have been canceled.
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Barclays said Friday that it has agreed to sell HomEq Servicing, its U.S. mortgage servicing business, to Ocwen. Ocwen will pay $1.3 billion "in cash on completion," Barclays said. The transaction aligns the two companies with the highest modification conversion rates under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The Treasury's latest HAMP progress report puts both Ocwen and HomEq at the top of the servicer list, having converted 83 percent of their HAMP trials to permanent status.
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NeighborWorks America reports that 58 percent of homeowners who've received assistance through its foreclosure counseling program say the primary reason they are facing foreclosure is reduced or lost income.
The nonprofit says it's time for mortgage servicers and investors to make meaningful accommodations for borrowers facing foreclosure -- or prepare for even more empty homes and devastated neighborhoods.
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The percentage of past due loans held by the nation's largest mortgage financier has fallen.
In its monthly summary report just released, Fannie Mae said the serious delinquency rate on single-family mortgages in its portfolio dropped to 5.47 percent in March, down 12 basis points from 5.59 percent in February. It's the first time the GSE's serious delinquency rate has declined since March 2007, when it was a mere 0.62 percent.
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Scottsdale, Arizona-based Loan Resolution Corporation, a pre-foreclosure asset management firm, announced this week that Michelle Carothers has been named VP of foreclosure alternatives. Carothers will be responsible for driving Loan Resolution Corporation's performance related to the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.
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The foreclosure crisis in California has taken a toll on not only homeowners, but a large number of tenants in the state.
According to a new study from a statewide organization, at least 37 percent of residential units in foreclosure in the Golden State last year were rentals, directly affecting over 200,000 tenants - most of whom were displaced.
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sold 1.5 billion of the 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup common stock it holds. The government earned $6.2 billion from this first trade, and says it plans to continue selling off its stake in the bank "in an orderly fashion." A second trading plan for 1.5 billion more shares has already been pre-arranged and is expected to be completed by June 30.
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Blommer Peterman, S.C., a default servicing firm headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, has announced the addition of a well-known industry attorney to its team as the firm expands its geographic coverage to include the states of Illinois and Indiana. Effective immediately, Matthew Abad has joined the firm and will head Blommer Peterman's Indiana/Illinois office.
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Twenty months after the massive, multi-billion dollar federal bailouts designed to shore up the nation's largest banks, Weiss Ratings finds that Bank of America, Citibank, and thousands more are still vulnerable to financial difficulties or even possible failure.
Weiss Ratings says major U.S. banks continue to be plagued by toxic assets and an inability to raise capital. As a result, the company has given 2,259 banks, controlling $5.8 trillion or 43.8 percent of the industry's total assets, a rating of D+ or lower, which translates to "weak."
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New figures released by the U.S. Treasury indicate that the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) will wind up costing taxpayers $105.4 billion when all is said and done. That projection is $11.4 billion lower than previously estimated.
The total expense of TARP can be directly attributed to the government's foreclosure prevention programs, as well as assistance provided to the auto industry and AIG. Programs that were designed to assist banking institutions will result in a net gain to the taxpayer.
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Mortgage interest rates have fallen to their lowest level of the year. Economists say homebuyers have the financial turmoil in Europe to thank for that, as overseas investors have put their dollars instead towards what they see as safer U.S. Treasury securities, which are closely tied to rates for home loans. Freddie Mac puts the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage this week at 4.78 percent. Bankrate says 30-year fixed-rate home loans are averaging 4.92 percent at the nation's 10 largest banks.
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Point2 Technologies Inc., an inventory management and marketing software developer for the real estate industry, recently announced that board member Walter T. Baczkowski Jr. will join Point2's executive management team as chief sales officer and VP of industry relations for the company's real estate business, effective June 1, 2010.
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Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential Mortgage Capital Company, the commercial mortgage lending business of Prudential Financial, Inc., recently appointed John DeWitt and Marty Fayer as managing directors and joint leaders of the company's Freddie Mac Program Plus platform. Together, DeWitt and Fayer will be responsible for managing all aspects of the platform, including originating new loans. Additionally, they will arrange multifamily loans on behalf of Prudential's other capital sources.
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A report released this week by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the U.S. Federal Reserve more than doubled the size of its asset portfolio to over $2 trillion through its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and other crisis-mode acquisitions, and assumed far more risk than is considered "normal" for the central bank.
But the risk-taking Fed is proving to be a savoir-faire investor. According to CBO estimates, the central bank will turn a record $70 billion profit this year.
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April marked yet another month of increased sales activity in Florida's residential real estate market. According to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors, existing home sales surged 27 percent in April from the same month last year, and during the same period, existing condo sales soared 55 percent. Homebuying conditions in the Sunshine State remain favorable, with a variety of housing options available in local markets at attractive prices.
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It's hard to pinpoint just what brought the nation's thriving residential real estate market to its knees. Everyone's got an opinion, but trying to nail down the exact trigger in order to prevent a sequel is a difficult task. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is attempting to do just that.
According to a study released Wednesday by the trade group, it was poor risk management habits, coupled with a short-term focus and unrealistic optimism among senior business managers that brought down the U.S. housing and mortgage markets.
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The commercial real estate market continues to be plagued with rising vacancy rates. But according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors, vacancies should level out in most markets by the end of this year or early 2011.
The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), in its SIOR Commercial Real Estate Index, an attitudinal survey of nearly 700 local market experts, confirmed that significant fallout from the recession remains, but to a lesser extent.
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Prism Title & Closing Services recently announced the promotions of Angi Schuerman to business development and relationship manager and Karen McDonald to director of operations.
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Mortgage insurer Genworth Financial reported Wednesday that it saved nearly $3.4 billion in mortgages from foreclosure in the 12 months ending March 31, 2010. Mortgage dollars saved were up more than 81 percent from the same period last year. Over the last year, Genworth's U.S. mortgage insurance division worked with its lender partners and servicers to complete more than 23,000 mortgage workouts nationwide through its Homeowner Assistance Program.
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