Loss Mitigation

Foreclosure activity in California was again mixed last month, according to ForeclosureRadar. The company's latest report shows that foreclosure filings and cancellations dropped in July after rising the month before, while foreclosure sales rose. But even with the wrong indicators heading upward and a large ""shadow inventory"" of properties in default, ForeclosureRadar says it doesn't expect the foreclosure picture in the Golden State to worsen any time soon, namely because it currently takes lenders 226 days to complete the process.

Struggling Atlanta homeowners with Fannie Mae-owned home loans can now take advantage of the company's new mortgage help center. The third facility in a series of planned, nationwide mortgage help centers, the Atlanta center provides counseling and other services for borrowers to help them avoid foreclosure. Both English- and Spanish-speaking housing counselors will be on hand to explain options to homeowners and help finalize documentation for modifications or other loan workouts.

More than one million homeowners have received counseling through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program since its launch in January 2008. The program, which is administered by NeighborWorks America, has been appropriated $475 million in federal funding to provide free, community-based counseling to distressed homeowners. Lawmakers are pushing for another $113 million to be made available for the program through fiscal year 2011.

The severity of losses on liquidating loans backing U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) exceeded their historical average in the second quarter, Moody's Investors Service says in a new report. During Q2, the credit ratings agency says the 342 commercial real estate loans liquidated for a loss had a weighted average loss severity of 42.8 percent, 740 basis points higher than the current average. And Moody's expects loss severity to worsen as more 2006-2008 loans go bad.

When the Treasury Department released its latest progress report for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in late July, it showed the redault rate for permanently modified loans to be around the two percent mark. An outcry from analysts - and some of you discerning DSnews.com readers - immediately followed, questioning the validity of the government's math. Last week, the Treasury quietly corrected its redefault assessment. The revised numbers are between 6 and 10 percent.

Axios Valuation Solutions has fully integrated its appraisal management operations with a la mode's Mercury Network Vendor Management Platform. The integration is expected to benefit lenders and appraisers in terms of regulatory compliance, quality assurance, appraisal data security, cost, and flexibility.

ServiceLink reports dramatically reduced short sale approval and closing timelines, thanks to the company's short sale business model. The Fidelity National subsidiary cites completed package and contract acceptance in less than 30 days, a far cry from the industry's 90-day delays just a year ago. ServiceLink also reports a total short sale completion time of fewer than 75 days, a process that once took more than five months.

Vendor Resource Management (VRM) announced Joe Morrow has been promoted from operations director to senior director of strategic planning for the company. As senior director of strategic planning, Morrow is responsible for the development, implementation and subsequent measurements of performance of VRM's default servicing strategies.

Mortgage Builder Software, a Southfield, Michigan based loan origination software (LOS) company recently announced an alliance with Cenlar FSB, a mortgage loan subservicer. The two companies have joined forces to provide a process for boarding closed mortgage loans from Mortgage Builder Software's LOS system directly to the Cenlar servicing platform.

The Obama administration said Wednesday that it will provide additional support to help unemployed homeowners through two targeted initiatives. The Treasury will make another $2 billion available to housing finance agencies in 17 states and the District of Columbia to implement local programs for unemployed homeowners. HUD is also launching a $1 billion program to provide up to 24 months of assistance to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure because of lost income.