Article Archive for February 2013
By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
Freddie Mac pulled in a net profit of $11 billion for 2012, significant increase from the annual net loss of $5.3 billion in 2011. In addition, Freddie Mac's fourth quarter net income climbed to $4.5 billion, up from $2.9 billion in the third quarter of last year. According to the company's earnings release, the increase reflects a decrease in delinquent single-family loans, improved national home prices, and a higher income tax benefit. "It's clear from our earnings that the housing market has turned a corner and that our work to minimize legacy losses and build a strong new book of business is paying off," said Freddie Mac CEO Donald H. Layton in a release.
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By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
WFG National Title Insurance Company (WFG National Title) appointed industry veteran Teresa Chiotti to serve as title officer and as a North Florida agency representative. She will be based in Jacksonville.
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By Tory Barringer | 02/28/2013
HUD unveiled on Thursday an app for iPhone and iPad devices designed to provide the public and the housing industry with a quick and easy way to learn about the Fair Housing Act and to file discrimination complaints. The app, developed by HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and Hewlett Packard (HP), is already being promoted by fair housing groups and other civil rights advocacy organizations as a tool to help consumers pursue their housing rights.
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By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
Potestivo & Associates, P.C. announced the promotion of Lori M. Gainey to director of finance. In her new role, Gainey oversees accounting practices for the Michigan and Illinois offices.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 02/28/2013
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs continued a series of hearings on the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Thursday morning. Representatives heard from various members of the housing industry, who expressed their opinions of FHA's recent performance and ongoing role in the market. The six panelists discussed the appropriateness of FHA's countercyclical role in the housing market in recent years, with special attention to loan limits and FHA's market share.
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By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) offered an early look at mortgage performance in January 2013 and reported a downward trend for mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. At the end of January, the mortgage delinquency rate, which includes loans 30 days or more past due, stood at 7.03 percent, representing a 2.03 percent decline from December 2012 and an 8.35 percent decrease from January 2012. Meanwhile, the national foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate averaged 3.41 percent, falling 0.82 percent month-over-month while making a steep 19.39 percent drop year-over-year.
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By Tory Barringer | 02/28/2013
Following a vote in the Senate, Jack Lew is officially the Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate voted Wednesday 71-26 to confirm Lew, who was previously President Obama's chief of staff. Lew replaces Tim Geithner, who stepped down at the end of January; deputy secretary Neal Wolin had been filling in in the meantime.
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By Ashley R. Harris | 02/28/2013
The job for more than 5,000 Indiana realtors is now easier after a recent collaboration announced by Lender Processing Services. The Florida-based company has now consolidated the property listing data of 13 Realtor associations across 42 counties into a single MLS system for real estate professionals and their customers.
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By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board announced the release of amendments to their enforcement actions against 13 mortgage servicers over mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. The amendments memorialize foreclosure agreements made between the regulators and 13 servicers. According to the release, 4.2 million borrowers are covered by the amendment and should expect to receive compensation ranging from hundreds of dollars up to $125,000. Rust Consulting, Inc., the paying agent, will contact borrowers by the end of March of this year with payment details.
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By Esther Cho | 02/28/2013
While still at an elevated level, foreclosure inventory is fading and has fallen for 15 straight months as of January 2013, CoreLogic reported Thursday. According to the data provider's foreclosure inventory report, the number of homes in some stage of the foreclosure process is now down to 1.2 million as of January. Year-over-year, foreclosure inventory has fallen 21 percent from 1.5 million. The number of homes lost to the foreclosure process also declined from a year ago, but increased on a monthly basis.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 02/28/2013
Foreclosure-related are on the decline but distressed sales continue to claim a disproportionately high portion of total home sales across the country, according to RealtyTrac's most recent foreclosure and short sales report. The firm also found increases in prices for distressed properties in 2012. Distressed property sales made up 43 percent of all home sales nationwide in 2012, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure-related sales made up 21 percent of all sales, while non-foreclosure short sales made up 22 percent of sales.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 02/28/2013
Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. The nation's economy increased at a 0.1 percent seasonally adjusted annualized rate. Last month, in the advance GDP release, BEA had reported the nation's economy contracted by 0.1 percent, the first "negative growth" since the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009. Economists had expected the turnaround, but to a stronger 0.5 percent growth rate.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 02/28/2013
First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 22,000 to 344,000 for the week ended February 23, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 360,000 initial unemployment claims. The drop in filings--the third in the last four weeks--resumed a downward trend in layoffs.
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By Esther Cho | 02/27/2013
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a three-count complaint against MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. (MERS) that alleged wrongful foreclosure and violations of the state's Deed of Trust Act (DTA) and Consumer Protection Act (CPA). In the case Zalac v. CTX Mortgage Corp., the plaintiff was never foreclosed on, and so the wrongful foreclosure claim was dismissed since an element of the claim was missing: a foreclosure sale.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 02/27/2013
As Moody's rates residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in post-crisis years, the firm continues to harbor some concerns about the strength of some loan pools. "The decline of the US housing market that led to investor losses exposed limitations and flaws in many aspects of the RMBS framework," Moody's Investors Service stated in a report authored by VPs Kathy Kelbaugh and Yehudah Forster.
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By Esther Cho | 02/27/2013
The American Dream of homeownership has been resurrected among strategic defaulters, a foreclosure agency stated in a recent report.
After surveying previous clients, YouWalkAway.com found nearly 80 percent expressed a desire to purchase a new home again within the next 12 months. YouWalkAway.com explained it's common for previous customers to desire homeownership since interest rates are low and home buying lessons have been learned.
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By Tory Barringer | 02/27/2013
Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC), a post-closing services provider based in Palm Harbor, Florida, has added another entry to its list of achievements: earning Inc. Magazine's Hire Power Award for its contribution to creating more American jobs.
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By Tory Barringer | 02/27/2013
Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose more than 10 percent year-over-year in January, according to new data from The Warren Group. Single-family sales reached 2,680--the highest January sales level since 2007, when there were 2,953 transactions. January 2012 single-family home sales were 2,436.
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By Esther Cho | 02/27/2013
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court dismissal of a case against MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. (MERS) and 15 of its members. County clerks representing Christian and Washington County in Kentucky filed suit against MERS, alleging the defendants established MERS to allow members to avoid recording mortgage assignments and to evade paying recording fees to county clerks.
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By Krista Franks Brock | 02/27/2013
Institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recorded their second-highest annual earnings ever in 2012, according to the FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile for the fourth quarter of 2012. High noninterest income and declining loan loss provisions contributed to the increase, according to the FDIC. Delinquencies at FDIC-insured institutions are also declining. The number of loans 90 or more days past due fell 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter. At the end of the year, 3.6 percent of loans held by the institutions were noncurrent, down from 2.86 percent a year earlier.
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