According to the bank’s quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank has agreed to pay $335 million to settle a federal lawsuit that claims the bank misled shareholders as to the quality of certain mortgage-backed securities sold to investors immediately following the crisis.
Read More »Foreclosure Inventory Still More Than Double ‘Normal’ Level
Despite substantial declines over the last three to four years, especially in the last year, the rate of foreclosure inventory—that is, the percentage of residential properties that were in some state of foreclosure—remains about two and a half times its “normal” or pre-recession level, according to Black Knight Financial Services’ September 2015 Mortgage Monitor released Monday.
Read More »LRES Hires New Regional VP of Sales and Names New VP of Homeowner Association Services
LRES, a company that specializes in national REO and appraisal management while offering property valuations, asset management, HOA and technology solutions for the mortgage industry, recently made two new hires.
Read More »HouseCanary Hires New President of Enterprise Sales
In his new role, Ciulla will be responsible for developing strategic client relationships, alliances, and partnerships across a wide array of industries including mortgage, appraisal, financial services, and real estate brokerages.
Read More »Senators Call Federal Regulators to Action on Zombie Foreclosures
A recent report found that nationwide, there are approximately 20,000 so-called zombie foreclosures, which are residential properties that have been vacated by the owner but the foreclosure process has not yet been completed. With the owners gone, these abandoned properties are typically not maintained by banks, which potentially breeds blight, attracts violent crime, and brings down values of surrounding properties.
Read More »Weak Q3 GDP Growth Not Expected to Weigh Down Housing
However, the decline in GDP growth coincides with a drop in a couple of key housing indicators for September. Thursday’s announcement of 1.5 GDP growth came the same day as the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for September, which was reported to be at its lowest level in eight months.
Read More »Rising Prices, Low Inventory Make the Market Ideal for Fix-and-Flip Investors
Largely due to a combination of increasing home prices and a lack of suitable inventory, flipping edged out renting as the preferred strategy in Q3 2015 for the fourth consecutive quarter, since Auction.com began tracking investor intent data. Overall in Q3, 53.7 percent of investors said they preferred flipping, while 45.1 percent said they intended to rent the properties they purchased.
Read More »Clayton Holdings Welcomes New Head of Consulting Services
Clayton Holdings LLC, a provider of loan due diligence, surveillance, REO management, and consulting services to the mortgage industry, recently welcomed Andrew Pollock as senior managing director of Clayton Consulting Services.
Read More »Ocwen Experiences Tough Q3 Punctuated by Layoffs and $66 Million Net Loss
The good news for Ocwen is that the company ended Q3 with more than $731 million in available liquidity, including $459 million of cash on hand, and brought the amount of reduced corporate debt by 47 percent, or $812 million, year-to-date in 2015 by the end of the third quarter.
Read More »Success of GSEs’ Credit Risk Transfer Programs Ensure They Are Here to Stay
But the success of programs like the Connecticut Avenue Securities (CAS) Series by Fannie Mae and Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) debt note offerings by Freddie Mac have ensured that credit risk transfer is not simply a passing trend, but the way of the future for the GSEs look to transfer more credit risk to private investors.
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