Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Attorneys Title Agency (ATA), a full-service title company providing services throughout the state of Michigan, announced Wednesday that it has acquired the assets of Portage, Michigan-based Pinnacle Title Agency. The transaction closed on December 1. Pinnacle Title Agency will operate as an ATA office, and its employees will join the ATA team.

Home price indexes from CoreLogic and Lender Processing Services (LPS) both recorded continuing declines through October. CoreLogic's study shows national home prices dropped 1.3 percent month-over-month, marking the third straight decline. LPS' report indicates the same downward trajectory, with preliminary data pointing to a 1.1 percent decline for October, on the heels of a 1.2 percent drop in September. Looking forward, CoreLogic's forecasts indicate flat growth through 2013 for residential home prices.

The current year will close with a 7 percent yearly decline in mortgage delinquencies, matching last year's decline, according to predictions released Wednesday by TransUnion. The percent of borrowers 60 days or more delinquent will fall to 5.95 percent by the end of the year, and will fall to 5 percent by the end of 2012, the credit bureau says. However, despite yearly declines, TransUnion's forecasters expect a slight rise in delinquencies through the first quarter of 2012.

Stewart Information Services Corp. announced Wednesday the members of its new executive team. Recently appointed CEO Matt Morris created the executive team to align the organization for growth in the real estate services industry. Seven members make up Stewart's new executive team: Glenn Clements, George Houghton, Jason Nadeau, Mike Skalka, Allen Berryman, Murshid Khan, and John Arcidiacono.

The delinquency rate for loans held in U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) fell 26 basis points to 9.51 percent in November, according to Trepp, LLC. That's the second biggest decline recorded by the firm this year, surpassed only by August's 36 point drop. The rate has now fallen in four of the 11 months of 2011. Recent declines, however, likely aren't the makings of a trend, Trepp says. The company is expecting increases in coming months as 2007 vintage loans start to reach their five-year balloon maturity dates.

Attorneys General Kamala Harris of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have entered into a joint investigation alliance targeting mortgage servicers and perpetrators of mortgage fraud. The alliance will link their offices' civil and criminal enforcement teams in order to speed up investigations and prosecutions. The partnership forged between Harris and Masto illustrates the deep rifts that have developed within the attorney general camp over robo-signing settlement negotiations.

Potestivo & Associates, P.C. recently announced the hiring of their 21st attorney, Kim Batcha. Based in the Illinois office, Batcha will serve as an associate attorney in the firm's litigation department, where her focus will be on federal debt collections, commercial litigation, and real estate litigation.

Home price predictions have traditionally been fairly straightforward, relying heavily on employment and income levels, according to Michael Sklarz of Collateral Analytics. However, the last cycle has posed challenges for analysts, Sklarz noted during a panel at the Five Star MPact Conference held in Dallas this week. Industry experts participating in the discussion stressed that national predictors - even if accurate - may not be relevant on a local basis.

We are five years through a 10-year adjustment process, Fannie Mae's chief economist Doug Duncan told attendees at the Five Star MPact Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo Tuesday morning. Dodd-Frank has 300 rules that must be implemented in the market. Regulators are only halfway through that list so far; the second half will be enacted over the next couple of years. While the market will recover, Duncan stressed that it will take time to adjust to new regulations.

Foreclosures are going to go up before they go down, according to Craig Nickerson, president of the National Community Stabilization Trust. Nickerson says estimates put foreclosure tallies at 850,000 this year, as high as 1.5 million in 2013, and then back to the levels we're at today by 2015. With all these distressed properties potentially making their way to an already stressed marketplace, Nickerson, along with a panel of industry professionals at the inaugural MPact Conference advocated for bulk short sales to investors and nonprofits.