REO

REO Allegiance, a national property preservation and eviction services firm headquartered, now offers custom smartphone applications for property preservation contractors. Field services contractors can view work orders, check company communications, submit updates and bids, take and upload photos, and complete and submit documents directly to REO Allegiance while in the field. Contractors can also navigate and plan routes.

Williston Financial Group, LLC (WFG), an Oregon-based holding company and parent of multiple real estate and mortgage services firms, recently expanded to Washington with the acquisition of Northpoint Escrow & Title. Northpoint serves Puget Sound, Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties in Washington, including the Seattle and Tacoma metropolitan areas. WFG says it will continue to expand nationwide.

Sales of government-owned REOs have been delayed in New England, but HUD says it's working to expedite a fix. Closings in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont are expected to begin later this month. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, REO closings have already resumed. HUD says buyer demand has been so great, it has already exhausted the money that was allocated to cover third-party disposition fees. Contracts will be extended at no cost to the buyer until additional funding is put into place.

For the first time since the credit crisis began in 2008, the delinquency rate on loans held in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) has fallen for two consecutive months. After a modest reduction in May, the research firm Trepp LLC says the delinquency rate fell 23 basis points in June to 9.37 percent. Unfortunately, the company says, the rate reduction was driven primarily by a sharp spike in loans being resolved with losses, rather than delinquent loans actually curing.

eMortgage Logic (EML), a Texas-based property valuations provider, recently introduced beta testing of its new mobile application. The application is offered to its nationwide broker network on a limited basis for the first 30 days, and full implementation is expected in August 2011. The EML app allows agents to accept orders, review open and pending orders, and map subject properties in the field via smart phones and tablets.

Green River Capital, an REO asset management and loss mitigation provider headquartered in West Valley, Utah, announced recently that Lorenz Schwarz has joined the company as chief operating officer. Schwarz will also supervise the operations of the company's sister firms Green River Financial, a short sale company, and Infinity Valuation Services, a BPO provider.

Conditions across multiple financial sectors suggest economic stabilization and growth. It's the housing market that's holding back economic recovery, according to the credit bureau Equifax. The company's latest analysis of national credit trends points to shadow inventory and REOs as major mortgage market depressors. Growth in these areas has led to bigger write-offs. Equifax says write-off dollars for home finance in 2010 more than doubled that of 2006 and 2007 combined.

San Antonio, Texas-based Hollerbach & Associates, an independent real estate services and title research firm, will continue on in its status as endorsed partner of TBA Services Company, Inc. (TBASCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Texas Bankers Association. This will be the firm's seventh consecutive year with the designation. Hollerbach & Associates is the only abstracting and title research firm in Texas to be considered an endorsed partner of TBASCO.

Prospect Mortgage, a California-based lender authorized to provide HomePath financing for Fannie Mae, now offers the HomePath Renovation Mortgage. HomePath is Fannie Mae's vehicle for the marketing and disposition of REO properties the GSE has acquired through foreclosure. The HomePath Renovation financing tool allows homebuyers to purchase a Fannie Mae HomePath property and include up to $35,000 for non-structural repairs and restoration as part of the loan.

Denver-headquartered Phoenix Asset Management recently announced several promotions within its leadership team. Jim Steffen, former company VP, was promoted to president. David Francis was promoted from AVP to VP. Jaysen Greenleaf was promoted to director of client relations and business development.