Williams & Williams, a real estate auction company, partnered with distressed asset management company iServe Default Management Solutions to provide a complete end-to-end short sale solution.

The rate of new loans that rolled into serious delinquency fell below 1 percent for the first time since 2007, Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported Monday. The new problem loan rate--defined as seriously delinquent mortgages that were current six months ago--inched down toward pre-crisis levels to 0.84 percent in March. The new problem loan rate averaged 0.55 percent from 2000 to 2004. As expected, when categorizing borrowers by equity position, LPS found borrowers with higher levels of negative equity tended to have higher new problem loan rates.

MountainView Capital Holdings, a fixed income capital markets firm specializing in residential mortgage assets, appointed Art Yeend as managing director and head of sales and marketing.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced the fourth round of checks from the foreclosure review settlement was sent Friday, May 3. The most recent batch includes 233,404 checks totaling more than $224 million, which brings the overall total to 3.9 million checks valued at $3.4 billion. As of May 2, more than 1.8 million recipients have cashed or deposited nearly $1.7 billion in checks from the foreclosure agreement reached in January between federal regulators and 13 servicers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are offering a relief program to victims of Superstorm Sandy who were current on their mortgage before the storm, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced in a release Thursday. According to the release, the program is in response to letters the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) sent in April, which urged for a change in what Cuomo's administration called ""restrictive"" guidelines that could lead to a spike in mortgage payments for Sandy victims.

In a recent report, Radar Logic closely examined purchase trends and patterns from institutional investors in the Atlanta area. Among its findings, the research firm found investors have been targeting a different cross-section of homes compared to traditional buyers. According to the report, institutional investors are more likely to purchase homes that are cheaper, smaller, and located in lower-income areas compared to homes bought by non-investor buyers.

McCalla Raymer, LLC announced it has completed the acquisition for a substantial portion of assets from Prommis Holdings for an undisclosed amount.

In a notice Thursday, Freddie Mac encouraged servicers to prepare for new requirements for default-related legal services that will take effect in less than a month. Under the new requirement, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac servicers must select qualified law firms by June 1 to handle all new referrals of default-related legal services, such as foreclosures, loss mitigation, bankruptcy, and related litigation.

Stewart Lender Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, appointed Jim Davis as vice chairman and EVP of strategy and business development.

Amid reports of bidding wars are markets where the art of flipping can still be maintained. After analyzing some 600 metros in its database, RealtyTrac came up with a list of 25 markets where investors can yield the highest gross profit from flipping. The online foreclosure marketplace found flippers in Orlando, Florida averaged the highest gross profit at 63 percent. Las Vegas came in second, where flippers saw a gross profit of 53 percent last year. Phoenix, a metro known for its rapid price gains over the last year, pulled in a gross profit of 44 percent, putting it at third.