Article Archive for June 2010
By Carrie Bay | 06/30/2010
Veros Real Estate Solutions released an update to its U.S. real estate market forecast Wednesday. The company says it has good news for California, Texas, and Louisiana markets. It's a different story, though, for hard-hit Florida, which claimed three spots in Vero's list of the five weakest markets. Adding a note of optimism, Veros pointed out that its 24-month projections show many markets are indicating stronger recoveries two years from now.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/30/2010
Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to foreclosure prevention counseling and preserving homeownership in the United States, has named Barrett Burns, president and CEO of VantageScore Solutions, to its board of directors. Burns joined VantageScore Solutions in 2005 and has more than 30 years' professional experience in risk and credit management.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/30/2010
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) instituted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in May of last year has been a topic of heated debate and driven a wedge between industry players since it took form.
The controversial HVCC is scheduled to sunset in November. But the sweeping financial reform legislation currently awaiting a final vote in Congress could terminate the GSEs' appraisal edict two months early and establish new industry-wide standards for property valuations.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/30/2010
The words "real estate auction" and "investor" usually go hand in hand, but Bank of America and the auction company REDC recently announced plans for a foreclosure auction exclusively for owner-occupant homebuyers. The July 24 auction will include more than 100 homes located in the Inland Empire of Ontario, California. These Bank of America-owned homes have been removed from the market and are inspected, repaired, and ready for sale.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/30/2010
The BP oil spill may intensify problems for homeowners in Florida who were already struggling to keep up on their mortgage payments, Fitch Ratings recently reported. According to the ratings agency, these at-risk mortgage borrowers will have limited ability to face any additional economic challenges brought on by the spill. A study completed by Fitch found that half of all securitized non-agency mortgage loans in the Sunshine State are already 60 days or more past due.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/30/2010
Morgan Stanley will pay $102 million to Massachusetts homeowners and taxpayers, following an investigation by state Attorney General Martha Coakley into the firm's securitization and financing of subprime loans.
Coakley says the settlement provides "substantial relief" to help hundreds of Massachusetts homeowners keep their homes. It also requires Morgan Stanley to change its business practices in the state and to hand over additional materials for the attorney general's ongoing investigation of subprime securitizations.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/30/2010
Despite a continued drop in purchase applications, total mortgage loan application volume jumped 8.8 percent for the week ending June 25, 2010, due to a surge in refinance applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the purchase index fell an additional 3.3 percent, but the refinance index soared 12.6 percent.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/30/2010
Valuation Partners, a national appraisal management company with access to 10,000 independent fee appraisers in all 50 states, recently announced that it has expanded its executive management team. The firm has hired John Golletti as VP, national account executive, and Dan Kennard as VP, operations.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/30/2010
Fannie Mae says delinquencies on home loans it guarantees declined again in April, marking the second consecutive month that past dues have fallen. The GSE's 90-plus-day delinquency rate fell 17 basis points to 5.30 percent. That follows a drop of 12 basis points in March, which was the first decline in three years.
Fannie also reported that its mortgage holdings grew for the third straight month, as it continued to buy back loans from investors that were 120 days or more past due.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/29/2010
RealtyTrac released a new industry report Tuesday, which shows that homes already foreclosed or somewhere in the process accounted for 31 percent of all residential sales in the first quarter of 2010.
A total of 232,959 U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure - default, scheduled for auction, or REO - sold to third parties in Q1.
The company also found that the average sales price of properties in foreclosure was nearly 27 percent below the average sales price of non-distressed properties.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/29/2010
Founding partner Caren Castle and managing attorney Deanne Westfall of Denver-based Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski, LLC, have both earned a place on the 2010 Colorado Super Lawyers Top 100 list. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Castle has been recognized as a Super Lawyer.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/29/2010
The Illinois housing market continued down the road to recovery in May, as both home sales and prices jumped on year-over-year basis, the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) recently reported. According to IAR, statewide homes sales - including single-family homes and condos - totaled 11,638 transactions in May 2010, soaring 27.1 percent from the same month last year. In addition, the association said the median home price last month, coming in at $157,000, nudged up 0.6 percent from May 2009.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/29/2010
The House passed a bill Tuesday that would give homebuyers who are eligible for a federal tax credit three extra months to close on their loans.
As it stands now, qualifying homebuyers have until Wednesday to complete the transaction in order to qualify for the federal tax break. The House bill would extend that deadline to September 30. It now goes to the Senate, where a similar measure was defeated last week.
Industry estimates warn that 180,000 qualified buyers could lose out on the tax credit if Congress does not extend the closing deadline.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/29/2010
U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Florida) and Adam Putnam (R-Florida) have introduced legislation to provide mortgage forbearance to homeowners in the areas affected by the BP oil spill. This bill will allow for HUD to provide forbearance for those sustaining economic losses due to the oil spill. In addition, it will give HUD the opportunity to evaluate the resources and programs available within the agency that could provide further assistance to communities along the Gulf Coast.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/29/2010
Independent mortgage bankers and their subsidiaries made an average profit of $1,135 on each loan they originated in 2009, compared to $305 per loan in 2008, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday.
MBA attributed the steep increase to higher origination volumes last year, particularly in refinancing, which reduced per-loan production expenses. The average origination volume among independent mortgage bankers and subsidiaries was $933 million in 2009.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/29/2010
The StoneHill Group recently announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with Capital Markets Cooperative (CMC). Through this alliance, members of CMC will be able to take advantage of post close quality control outsourcing services, in addition to branch, collateral, and servicing audits offered by the StoneHill Group.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/29/2010
Default Servicing Technologies, LLC (DST) recently introduced a new Web-based REO workflow platform for residential and small commercial properties. The new system is modeled after the company's flagship asset management software, DispoSolutions, but has been specifically designed to serve small to medium-sized banks, credit unions, outsourcers, and hedge funds.
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By Carrie Bay | 06/29/2010
U.S. home prices edged up in April, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday. It was the first monthly increase recorded by the agency in seven months. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city price index rose 0.8 percent between March and April. The 10-city reading was up 0.7 percent.
April marked the final month for homebuyers to commit to a contract in order to take advantage of the federal tax credit, which boosted purchase activity and precluded sellers from discounting property. Now that the housing tax stimulus has expired, analysts are looking for both home sales and prices to retreat.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/28/2010
In what seems to be a never-ending trend, Florida's existing-home and condo sales increased once again in May, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. A total of 16,745 single-family existing homes were sold in the Sunshine State last month, jumping 18 percent from the number of homes sold in May 2009. And existing-condo sales made an even more notable increase. Statewide, 6,779 units were sold in May, soaring 40 percent from the previous year's sales figure.
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By Brittany Dunn | 06/28/2010
The PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. recently promoted Chris Hovey to SVP of servicing operations and loss management. In his new role, Hovey is responsible for three groups, including claims and loss management, homeownership preservation initiatives and loss mitigation, and policy servicing and business intelligence.
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