Foreclosure

Commercial real estate prices have increased for three consecutive months, according to Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices. Prices are now similar to levels recorded two years ago. In July, the national index posted a 5 percent increase. It's now 12.6 percent above its post-peak low, however, it is 42.5 percent below its peak. Moody's sees the latest gain more as a continuation of the bottoming process than as a harbinger of recovery. Sales of distressed assets made up 28 percent of the market in July.

Brandy Sams has joined WFG National Title Insurance Company as the director of its default services division. Sams' career in the mortgage and real estate industries spans a period of more than 15 years. She worked most recently in the secondary market with Fannie Mae. She also held the position of title and escrow specialist for a national servicer and title and escrow manager with a California-based title company.

Chase has opened two new Homeownership Centers in North Carolina to provide one-on-one help for borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments - one in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg and the second in Jacksonville, near Camp Lejeune. The company is staffing all of its Homeownership Centers near military bases with employees who have served in the military or military family members. Chase also recently set up Centers near bases in Texas and Virginia, and has plans for openings later this year in Tennessee and Washington.

Mortgage delinquencies rose to 6.62 percent in August, according to a report from CreditForecast.com, supported by Moody's Analytics and Equifax. This is up from 6.54 percent in July. Delinquencies for both first mortgages and home equity loans posted increases for the month, rising to 6.85 percent and 4.14 percent, respectively. However, the CreditForecast.com report predicts the delinquency picture will improve later in the year with a return of economic growth.

Randall S. McHugh, VP at Bendett & McHugh, P.C., has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of mortgage banking foreclosure law. This marks the third straight year that McHugh has been honored with the designation. Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 3.9 million evaluations by fellow attorneys.

Last month's 18.6 percent surge in existing-home sales from a year earlier had some market observers doing a double-take, but Galen Ward, who runs a real estate brokerage web site, says it wasn't unexpected. Michael Simonsen of Altos Research says anything is going to look good coming off the market's tax-credit hangover this time last year. But the fact that the median home price was down more than 5 percent from August 2010 at the same time sales jumped so sharply is one of the most telling stats for Clear Capital's Alex Villacorta.

New data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) Tuesday shows the population of mortgages going unpaid in the United States contracted during the month of August. LPS offered the media a sneak peak at several key mortgage performance statistics slated for public release later this month. The company says there were 6,397,000 home loans at least 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure as of the end of August. That's down from 6,538,000 the month before.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is working alongside other federal agencies to create ""common-sense national servicing standards,"" according to the Treasury's advisor on the bureau Raj Date. One of the issues Date plans to address through national servicing standards is what he says has been a lack of incentive for originators and others involved in the front end of the lending process to ensure a borrower has the ability to repay their loan.

At a Senate hearing titled, ""New Ideas to Address the Glut of Foreclosed Properties,"" industry experts shared varying opinions on the concept of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conducting bulk sales of REOs to investors, but most agreed that long-term investors from the private sector should be part of the solution. One analyst with Amherst Securities says investors are the only potential buyers for many distressed homes likely to hit the market over the next five to six years.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is calling for independent reviews of almost 4.5 million loans. After examining 200 loans from each of 14 major servicers, regulators determined enforcement actions were necessary, but said their review was not nearly enough to answer all questions. In addition to assessments of individual cases, the OCC is implementing a complaint process for borrowers who feel they faced financial harm as a result of an improper foreclosure action.