Company News
By Carrie Bay | 02/06/2012
PropertyAccess, a provider of national property management services for institutional investors, is taking the guesswork out of the REO-to-rental market by offering investors a solution that addresses the full lifecycle of property management, including assessment, evaluation, renovation, management, maintenance, and future disposition. The industry's support to release the excess of government-owned REO properties to investors is growing, and PropertyAccess says it can support investors with a single-source solution.
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By Kelli Snowgren | 01/31/2012
IndiSoft announced Tuesday that the company has enhanced its RxOffice Premium Counselor Edition. The updated module has been approved by HUD to meet the reporting requirements of agencies participating in its Housing Counseling Program. It was created to address the surge in the number of homeowners needing counseling to make informed housing decisions, and gives counseling agencies a scalable and flexible web-based case management tool to manage their internal business operations.
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By Krista Franks | 01/30/2012
Wells Fargo announced the launch of a new program, Neighborhood LIFT, which aims to bring reluctant buyers off the sidelines to help absorb excess inventory in two major cities. The bank established a goal of lending $10.5 billion to Los Angeles homebuyers and $1.3 billion to Atlanta buyers. In addition, Wells designated $15 million to assisting homeowners with down payments in Los Angeles and $8 million in Atlanta. The company chose to launch Neighborhood LIFT in Los Angeles and Atlanta because the two have high inventories of bank-owned homes.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/27/2012
The default servicing industry is in a state of transition, according to Larry B. Litton Jr., CEO of Selene Finance, and it's the smaller, more nimble servicing operations that will have the advantage in reacting quickly to the new rules and the changes that are in store. Litton says many of the bigger servicing shops are still set up to do what he considers commoditized types of processes and aren't able to adapt quickly to the regulatory changes coming down the line, while smaller special servicers are already built for single point of contact and to be highly responsive to consumers.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/25/2012
ISGN Corporation has obtained a $20 million secured line of credit from JPMorgan Chase, the company announced Wednesday. The line of credit from JPMorgan is available through November 21, 2012, subject to certain conditions. ISGN says the terms allow the company to utilize the entire $20 million immediately to take advantage of market opportunities in the first half of 2012.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/24/2012
One of the keys to the housing market's recovery is managing and ultimately clearing out the inventory of distressed properties, according to DataQuick, a real estate data provider headquartered in San Diego, California. The company released its new RiskFinder Distress at the American Securitization Forum on Monday.
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By Krista Franks | 01/19/2012
After a net loss of $2.2 billion in 2010, Bank of America reported net income of $1.4 billion, $0.01 per diluted share, for the year in 2011, according to the company's earnings report released Thursday. On a fully taxable-equivalent basis, net interest expense declined 15 percent for the year arriving at $94.4 billion.
BofA's mortgage servicing portfolio is on the decline. The $1.8 trillion portfolio reported at the end of the year is down from $1.9 trillion in the previous quarter and $2.1 trillion a year ago.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/18/2012
Government officials are in the process of reviewing 4,000-plus recommendations for turning repossessed homes into rental properties in order to trim the REO inventory held by federal housing agencies. The administration says it is pursuing potential ideas for REO-to-rental pilot programs "with a sense of urgency," but two California firms don't plan to wait on the government's involvement. Carrington Holding Company and Oaktree Capital have partnered to buy up $450 million in REOs and convert them into rentals.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/18/2012
Clayton Holdings LLC announced Wednesday it has completed its acquisition of Green River Capital. No financial details were disclosed. Green River has a staff of approximately 200 and a nationwide network of more than 5,000 real estate brokers, providing REO, short sale, and BPO services to investor, financial institution, and GSE clients. Green River will continue to operate as a standalone business, under its current brand and led by its current management team.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/17/2012
Citigroup's fourth-quarter results fell far short of analysts' expectations, despite a 40 percent drop in credit losses from the previous year. The company reported net income of $1.2 billion, or 38 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2011. Analysts were looking for 50 cents per share. Company officials told investors that legacy mortgage issues are the single largest source of risk facing the U.S. banking industry. Citi saw loan buybacks go up 80 percent in 2011 as it stockpiled reserves for mortgage litigation costs.
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