RebuildUS Sells the Foreclosed Homes Banks Can't
Economists believe the nation's subprime mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis will continue to worsen unless innovative thinking reinvents the system. RebuildUS LLC says it's operating under precisely this premise by bypassing the banks and auctions to move Americans back into affordable homeownership through its newly-launched online foreclosure marketplace. |
Mortgage Contracting Services Names Paton SVP of Operations
Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS), a nationwide property preservation and inspection services provider, has added Steve Paton to its team as SVP, responsible for overseeing the company's Tampa, Florida operations and vendor management. With more than 27 years in the industry, Paton's experience spans default servicing, loss mitigation, REO, call center, and collections. |
Trott & Trott Attorney Recognized with Leaders in Law Award
Marcy Ford, EVP and managing partner for the bankruptcy and foreclosure first legal department of Farmington Hills-based Trott & Trott, P.C., has been recognized by Michigan Lawyers Weekly with the "Leaders in the Law" award. The award honors 25 members of the state's legal community for their work and dedication. |
More Than 200 Foreclosed Homes Hit Auction Block in Michigan
Foreclosures continue to drive down home prices in hard-hit states like Michigan, but according to the auction company Hudson & Marshall of Texas, this is good news for buyers and investors looking for bargains on homes. |
Advantage Title Introduces GFE Rate Calculator
In response to the new regulations under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Advantage Title, Inc. has launched GFEz--a RESPA-compliant Good Faith Estimate (GFE) rate calculator that delivers easy online calculation of title- and escrow-related fees. |
Legislated Risk Retention Is No Substitute for Good Underwriting: Report
Both the House bill for financial regulatory reform and the draft Senate bill currently being debated include across-the-board risk retention provisions for home mortgages. The idea is to ensure lenders have more "skin in the game," to prevent the risky practices that ignited the housing crisis.
But according to a new study by the Community Mortgage Banking Project, such mandated risk retention is "no substitute" for good underwriting and could significantly raise the cost of home mortgages. |
DartAppraisal.com Joins Forces With FirstClose
In an announcement Tuesday, Dartappraisal.com, a Troy, Michigan-based provider of nationwide residential real estate valuations, said it has integrated with FirstClose, a service of First Lenders Data Inc. (FLDI), an Austin, Texas-based technology solutions provider to mortgage lenders nationwide. |
National Price Reductions Fall Below 20%: Trulia
With the buy-now attitude fading, national home price reduction levels continued to decrease this month, according to a recent report by San Francisco-based Trulia, Inc., a real estate search engine. As of March 1, 19 percent of listings on the market had experienced at least one price cut, falling 10 percent from the previous month to the lowest level since Trulia began tracking price reductions in April 2009. |
National Quick Sale and Hollander Financial Partner on Short Sales
National Quick Sale announced Tuesday that it has entered into a business partnership agreement with real estate and mortgage services provider Hollander Financial Holding Inc. Through this venture, National Quick Sale plans to promote the use of its short sale platform's capabilities through Hollander's nationwide network of real estate professionals. |
Florida Home Sellers Slash Prices by More Than 10%: ZipRealty
In an effort to attract buyers, home sellers in major cities throughout Florida are reducing prices by more than 10 percent, according to a monthly survey of home listings conducted by ZipRealty, an online real estate brokerage based in Emeryville, California. |
Commercial Mortgages Performing Better than Other Loans: MBA
The magnitude of the commercial real estate (CRE) downturn is a topic of intense debate. One school of thought argues that bad CRE loans could send the nation into another tailspin recession, while others say the industry has the advantage of lessons learned from the housing crisis to successfully weather the storm.
New data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Tuesday seems to support the latter. MBA has concluded that commercial and multifamily mortgages continue to have the lowest charge-off rates of any loan type. |
Appraisal Organizations Oppose Use of BPOs in HAFA Program
Several appraisal organizations, representing more than 35,000 real estate appraisers, are voicing their opposition to the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, set to take effect April 5, 2010. The program allows broker price opinions (BPOs) to be used to determine the value of properties to establish a minimum offer for a short sale. The trade groups argue that the use of BPOs will not protect all parties interests and is likely to open the door for fraud. |
