News

Despite seeing a decline in average gross ROI and average gross profit on flipped homes, California still ranked fourth among the 50 states and District of Columbia in flipped homes as a percentage of total sales in Q2, according to RealtyTrac.

Freddie Mac followed the lead of its sister government-sponsored enterprise, Fannie Mae, and reported a serious delinquency rate of less than 2 percent for August in its recently-released August 2014 Monthly Summary.

Residential real estate valuations provider Pro Teck Services has announced the addition of Arny Epstein to its Strategic Advisory Board.

JPMorgan Chase reports it has completed nearly a quarter of its consumer relief obligations required under a landmark mortgage-backed securities (MBS) settlement last year.

Fannie Mae's chief economist, Doug Duncan, weighed in on today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying the GSE maintains its "forecast of solid economic growth" in response to the data released.

A federal judge earlier this week dismissed a bid by Wells Fargo Bank and Citigroup's mortgage unit to have a lawsuit against them thrown out accusing the lenders of violating federal law by inaccurately reporting information about short sales to credit agencies, subsequently hurting consumers' chances of obtaining loans.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sued two law firms and their principal attorney, in a New York County Supreme Court accusing them of participating in a fraudulent mortgage rescue scam, Schneiderman's office announced earlier in the week.

A Mexican national living in Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced for fraudulently obtaining a mortgage modification loan through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is funded by the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP) Christy Romero announced recently.

According to the latest monthly figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation added 248,000 jobs in September, bringing employment growth back above 200,000 after an unexpected drop in August.

Delinquency and foreclosure rates also were much improved. According to Trulia and Black Knight, the national delinquency and foreclosure rate was 74 percent back to normal in August—the same as one quarter ago and up from 56 percent one year ago. Trulia's chief economist, Jed Kolko, said that with the share of mortgage borrowers with negative or near-negative equity dropping, the default rate should continue to drop.