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Author Archives: Brittany Dunn

HUD Awards 55 Contracts Under M&M Program, Divides Responsibilities

In an effort to improve the system of maintaining and selling its inventory of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) foreclosed homes, HUD has awarded 55 new contracts - 23 to companies who will serve as asset managers and 32 companies who will serve as field service managers - under the third generation of its management and marketing program, known as M&M III. Currently, HUD's foreclosure inventory amounts to approximately 44,000 homes. The agency says the M&M III program is expected to create 1,200 new jobs nationwide.

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Broader Housing Recovery Dependent on Job Growth: Harvard Report

As the housing market continues to face significant challenges, the strength of job growth has become a key to a broader and sustained recovery, according to the State of the Nation's Housing 2010 report released Monday by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. ""If history is a guide, what happens with jobs will matter the most to the strength of the housing rebound,"" said Eric S. Belsky, executive director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

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Credit Suisse Veterans Join Guggenheim Securities’ CRE Finance Group

Guggenheim Securities, a subsidiary of New York-based Guggenheim Partners, LLC, announced Thursday that two Credit Suisse veterans - Robert Brennan and Anand Gajjar - have recently joined the company's commercial real estate finance group as senior managing directors. Brennan comes to his new position at Guggenheim Securities after more than 18 with Credit Suisse, and Gajjar joins the company following 15 years at Credit Suisse.

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Embrace Home Loans Expands Footprint With Orlando, Florida Branch

Embrace Home Loans, a mortgage lender based in Newport, Rhode Island, has officially opened a retail branch in the Orlando, Florida area. This new office is managed by VP, Greg Peele, who is also president of the Central Florida Mortgage Bankers Association. In addition, the branch's team boasts more than 175 years of combined experience, and many of its employees have worked together for at least 10 years.

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Web-Based HMDA Compliance Solution Introduced by Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced Thursday that its HMDA Wiz software is now available in a software as a service (SaaS) format. As a result, institutions can begin using this solution to collect, report on, analyze, and submit Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data to their regulator almost immediately, the company said.

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Neighborhood Housing Services of America is Closing Shop

Due to the recent housing downturn and a lack of funding, the board of director of Neighborhood Housing Services of America (NHSA), a nonprofit secondary market for home loans to low- and moderate-income homebuyers, has authorized the orderly wind down of its affordable housing programs. ""It is unfortunate that circumstances require the ending of this exemplary contribution to the nation's housing needs,"" said Bruce Gottschall, chairman of the board of directors of NHSA.

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Two Connecticut Real Estate Agents Defraud Banks in Short Sale Scam

With short sales on the rise, mortgage fraud scams involving these transactions may be following the same trend. In fact, two former Connecticut real estate agents, Sergio Natera and Anna McElaney, recently pled guilty to bank fraud stemming from their involvement in a short sale mortgage fraud scheme. According to court documents, Natera and McElaney worked together to defraud various banks, including Regions Bank, Wells Fargo, and other financial institutions by means of ""materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.""

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Listing Agents Contacted by Census Workers for Property Owner Info

With census forms still missing from roughly 48 million households across the country, the U.S. Census Bureau is expanding its outreach efforts. As evidence of this, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that brokers and agents have been contacted by Census workers requesting information about the occupants of properties for which they may be providing real estate services. The question now: Are real estate professionals obligated to provide such information?

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Commercial Real Estate Loan Prices Pick Up in April: DebtX

The aggregate value of DebtX-priced commercial real estate loans that collateralize commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) jumped to 76.4 percent as of April 30, 2010, up from 75.9 percent the month prior. Kingsley Greenland, CEO of DebtX, said the increase in U.S. CMBS collateral prices was the result of tightening credit spreads and a flattening of the Treasury yield curve.

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Pulte Mortgage Executive Nominated as MBA’s Vice Chair-Elect

Debra W. Still, president and CEO of Pulte Mortgage LLC, has been nominated to serve as vice chair-elect of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). She will be elected by MBA members at the association's 97th annual convention, which will be held in Atlanta in October. Still has been an active MBA member for more than a decade, and she has more than 30 years' experience in the mortgage industry.

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