Foreclosure

According to Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey, positive momentum in the housing market has slowed as Americans remain cautious about their personal finances and the overall state of the economy. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believe the economy is on the wrong track. Within the next year, 22 percent expect their personal finances to worsen and only 45 percent expect home prices to increase.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise their guarantee fees (g-fees). The g-fee increase consists of three components: the base fee for all mortgages will increase 10 basis points; the g-fee grid will be updated to ensure pricing is aligned with credit risk; and the adverse market fee of 25 basis points is being eliminated except in four states where foreclosure carrying costs are exponentially high.

At 48,000, completed foreclosures registered a 30 percent annual decline in October, according to CoreLogic. The industry's foreclosure inventory (2.2 percent) and serious delinquency rate (5.1 percent) also fell. While the declines were significant, CoreLogic pointed out in its report that between 2000 and 2006, completed foreclosures averaged about 21,000 per month and the foreclosure inventory rate was 0.6 percent.

Inventories of homes for sale have been slow to bounce back since the 2007-09 recession, despite steady price appreciation since January 2012. Normally, higher prices reflect robust sales. But lately, prices have been rising even though sales remain stuck at relatively low levels, largely due to a lack of inventory. So why are there so few homes for sale? Two Fed economists examine the many factors affecting today's inventory levels.

The percentage of homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth has declined to less than 12 percent as of the third quarter of this year, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Mortgage Monitor report. While the increasing number of homeowners rising above water is good news for the market, LPS detects some tumultuous seas ahead as a cloud of problem home equity loans forms on the horizon.

Perhaps you've known someone who raised money for a documentary or civic project by making an appeal through crowdfunding on the Internet. Now, the concept of pooled resources is being used as an investment vehicle offering equity in homeownership to investors and loan assistance to selected prospective homeowners.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently published a notice in the Federal Register that new maximum foreclosure attorney fees will be allowed for loan terminations completed on or after December 12, 2013. Maximum fee amounts vary by state. There are no changes in the amounts allowed for deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure or bankruptcy releases, although VA continues to review these fees.

While rising home prices have lifted many underwater homeowners to positions of positive equity, the real estate information and analytics provider DataQuick warns tight credit will still preclude many traditional buyers from the market. Instead, investors will continue to carry an outsized portion of the purchase market for the foreseeable future, according to DataQuick.

LOGS Network announced Wednesday that it has made a strategic addition to its leadership team with the addition of Scott Brinkley as the organization's new CEO. Before joining LOGS, Brinkley held executive positions for two decades with First American and CoreLogic. He also co-founded a large claims processing business and most recently was CEO of the Illinois foreclosure law firm Pierce and Associates.

Distressed inventory is on the decline, but the number of months it will take to clear these distressed homes from the market is on the rise. According to the latest report from Morningstar Credit Ratings, distressed inventory among non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities dropped 20 percent to 891,000 properties as of September. However, Morningstar says it will take 49 months to work through this inventory given current market dynamics. That's 11 months longer than the assessment in 2012.