Foreclosure

Keystone Asset Management Inc., a national provider of REO, default management, and property valuation services, announced last week the retirement of co-founder Nick Salamone. The announcement comes as part of a requested transition for Salamone as he begins to focus on new consulting developments and business ventures. Co-founder Jane Hennessy assumed the role of CEO and president earlier this year so that plans for a smooth transition could be made, the company explained.

RealtyTrac says foreclosure filings were reported on 610,337 properties in the third quarter of this year. That translates to one in every 213 homes with a filing during the three-month period. The third-quarter tally represents an increase of less than 1 percent from the previous quarter, but it breaks a trend of three consecutive quarterly declines that started late last year. RealtyTrac says it looks as though foreclosure activity is about to do an about-face from the falloff that set in after the robo-signing controversy.

The United States Supreme Court has denied a writ of certiorari in a case involving MERS, refusing to reconsider a California court ruling, which upheld MERS' right to initiate foreclosures. The Supreme Court of the State of California previously refused to review the initial decision, leading San Diego foreclosure attorney Ehud Gersten to elevate his client's case to the U.S. Supreme Court. ""It is disappointing,"" Gersten told DSNews.com, adding that a Supreme Court ruling would have ended state-by-state discrepancies in MERS cases.

Richard M. Leibert, partner at Hunt Leibert & Jacobson, P.C. has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of mortgage banking foreclosure law. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey in which more than 39,000 attorneys cast almost 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas.

New foreclosure actions in states along the country's West Coast returned to levels in line with prior months during September, according to ForeclosureRadar. The leveling off in September follows a surge in foreclosure starts during the month of August in the western states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. ForeclosureRadar continues to see strong investor interest on the courthouse steps, with purchases by third parties at or near peak levels in four of the five states.

Bank of America has begun a pilot program in Florida offering extra incentive payouts to distressed homeowners who agree to and successfully close on a short sale. Incentive payments for relocation assistance range between $5,000 and $20,000. The program is being offered on a limited basis for investor-approved, pre-offer short sales. Bank of America is calling it a pilot ""test-and-learn"" program, and if successful in Florida, it could be expanded to other states.

With the release Tuesday of the Zillow Real Estate Market Report, which recorded a 0.1 percent increase in home values from July to August, the company's chief economist issued his forecast for home prices heading into next year. Dr. Stan Humphries says prices have yet to find their trough. He doesn't expect a definitive bottom to be reached until 2012 at the earliest. Zillow's report also showed that foreclosure liquidation rates are still lower than they were before the robo-signing controversy - now more than a year since the news broke.

Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS) now offers a cost-effective, long-term solution to defective drywall, a problem that has plagued thousands of homes, particularly along the Gulf Coast. The term defective drywall refers to a type of drywall that releases sulfur compounds, especially in warm, moist climates. Salvaging a home with defective drywall required major reconstruction to replace all the drywall in the structure, but IMS now offers an on-location solution that requires about one-third of the time and about one-half of the cost of traditional methods.

Stewart Lender Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, now provides nationwide foreclosure file processing reviews for mortgage servicers to ensure their compliance with standard foreclosure practices. The company says these services can also prove beneficial to servicers in preparation for the continued scrutiny and subsequent response to federal and state law enforcement agencies investigating mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing practices.

Pro Teck Valuation Services and Collateral Analytics have teamed up to launch Home Value Forecast (HVF). The inaugural edition of the monthly HVF was released Monday. The two partnering companies describe it as bringing ""a unique perspective on the U.S. housing market."" The goal of the new forecasting solution is to highlight the fact that all real estate is local. HVF employs a unique ranking system for the largest metros to highlight the best and worst markets with regard to a number of real estate indicators.