Loss Mitigation

The city of Belen, New Mexico has planned their first-ever statewide Code Enforcement Summit, designed to benefit the code enforcement community by building relationships with field services companies who perform preservation services. The summit will take place Wednesday, Oct 13 and Thursday, October 14 at the Holiday Inn Express Conference Center in Belen.

New data released by the HOPE NOW Alliance Thursday shows that during the month of August, mortgage servicers completed approximately 116,000 proprietary loan modifications for homeowners and 33,000 mods under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), for a total of 149,000. The report also shows that foreclosures are continuing to increase, despite the strides made in foreclosure prevention efforts. In August, new foreclosures were initiated on 245,015 properties, while foreclosure sales were completed on 101,780.

Mesa Law Group, a California firm with specialty financial services, recently announced the addition of a REST Report to its Loan Modification Preparation Program (LMPP). The new tool will aid clients in the loan modification process without the high cost of direct representation. According to Mesa Law Group, LMPP allows homeowners to organize finances and better navigate the demands of their lenders.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced this week that from December 18, 2010, through June 30, 2013, Wachovia Pick-a-Payment customers who are at-risk of default may be eligible to earn principal forgiveness by making on-time mortgage payments. The company says it has already written mortgage principals down by a total of nearly $3.4 billion for Pick-a-Payment customers. The bank will also contribute $24 million to eight states to help with customer outreach and alleviate the impact of foreclosure in local communities.

According to recently released reports from the Nevada Title Company, the closing price for homes in Las Vegas Valley was $135,000 in September, down $5,000 from the closing price in August and down $3,000 from September 2009. Last month, 984 REO homes and 734 short sales were closed, making up 40 percent and 31 percent of all closings in the Valley, respectively. The latest figures from Nevada Title suggest that REO inventory, although high, may begin to steady in coming months.

Based on data from six member firms, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) reports that the companies accounted for a total of $780.3 billion in primary mortgage insurance in force in August. The private mortgage insurance industry enjoyed its best month of the year for new business. The dollar volume of primary insurance on newly originated conventional mortgages totaled $6.4 billion. MICA's members reported that 32,215 borrowers used private mortgage insurance to buy or refinance a home in August.

Chase announced this week that it plans to participate in Michigan's Hardest Hit Fund program to offer assistance to homeowners in the state who are receiving unemployment benefits. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority designed the program to help borrowers stay current on their mortgage even after they have lost their jobs. Chase will partner with the state agency to make the program available to its customers. The program will pay up to half of qualified borrowers' monthly mortgage payments for up to 12 months.

Resolute Commercial Services, a Scottsdale-based real estate receivership company, has expanded east with the launch of its new Dallas location. The company says the new office will allow it to connect with the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) marketplace in Texas. Resolute Commercial Services focuses on markets in the Southwest United States but has experience nationally, offering its services to lenders, bankruptcy attorneys, developers, investors, and operators.

OneWest Bank, the Southern California regional lender that was formed out of the old IndyMac, announced Tuesday that it has implemented the new Principal Reduction Alternative (PRA) piece of the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). OneWest is one of the first servicers to officially launch the program, which was initially introduced by the Treasury in late March to provide some mortgage relief to the growing number of homeowners underwater on their mortgage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation are petitioning federal regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into servicers' foreclosure practices. The request was prompted by the recent reports of systemic mishandling of foreclosure affidavits by three major mortgage servicers. Delegation members say they have received thousands of complaints from their constituents, which ""appear to outline a clear pattern of misconduct on the part of lenders and servicers.""