Loss Mitigation

The Military Warriors Support Foundation teamed up with servicers to provide wounded veterans with mortgage-free homes as they transition back into civilian life. They say good things come in threes. But for Phillip Hall, an Iraqi veteran from Louisiana, he never imagined that he could ever be so lucky.

Experian announced Monday the launch of CreditHorizons for Securities, a data-feed product that the company says provides the missing link to understanding the true creditworthiness of the underlying borrowers in secondary market mortgage deals. CreditHorizons for Securities consists of anonymized U.S. consumer credit profiles that have been matched to the private-label mortgage-backed securities (MBS) deals in a loan-level database provided by First American CoreLogic.

Faith Schwartz will be stepping down from her post as executive director of the HOPE NOW Alliance, effective June 1, 2010. Schwartz has led the industry coalition of mortgage servicers, investors, housing counselors, and other market participants since it was formed by Congress in October 2007. According to Schwartz, she will stay on in an advisory capacity in the coming months. Larry Gilmore, the current deputy director of the HOPE NOW Alliance, will assume the role of acting executive director.

After steadily increasing for 12 consecutive quarters, the national mortgage loan delinquency rate--the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due--dipped down to 6.77 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to data released Monday by TransUnion. This statistic, which is traditionally seen as a precursor to foreclosure, reflects a 1.74 percent decline from the previous quarter's 6.89 percent average. TransUnion reported that delinquency rates in the first quarter continued to be the highest in Nevada and Florida, both above 14 percent.

Just four months after its launch, the Responsible Homeowner Reward (RH Reward) program has offered more than $86 million in rewards to eligible borrowers nationwide as an incentive to remain current on their mortgage payments. As DSNews.com previously reported, the RH Reward program was developed by the Loan Value Group LLC (LVG), a Rumson, New Jersey-based company, in response to the increasing rate of strategic defaults, in which homeowners walk away when the value of their mortgage exceeds their house value - even if they can afford the monthly payments.

Despite the fact that the economy added 290,000 jobs last month, the nation's unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in April. But the job gains were more than analysts were expecting and a positive for the housing market since unemployment has become one of the strongest default triggers for borrowers.

A recent study by Barclays Capital says that U.S. lenders are holding fewer foreclosed homes than previously assessed by the firm. Some are viewing the revised estimate as a testament to the stability that is taking hold in the housing market, but Barclays warns that the industry should expect REO inventories to grow - albeit gradually - over the next couple of years, as banks push more properties through the pipeline and foreclosure alternatives are exhausted. Barclays estimates that as of the end of February, 480,000 repossessed homes were held by U.S. lenders, mortgage investors, and the GSEs.

With foreclosures, housing vacancies, and mortgage fraud at all-time highs, it's no secret that the real estate sector is struggling. These intertwined problems are threatening the stability of entire neighborhoods, making the search for effective responses crucial. As part of this search, the Bureau of Justice Assistance brought together experts from around the country to examine possible solutions to these challenges, and on Friday released a report outlining the various strategies that were discussed.

A group of real estate developers and partners in the Southeast have announced the launch of a new venture - SunBelt Capital Solutions. The firm, headquartered in Atlanta, is focused on acquiring distressed commercial real estate loans and property in the southeastern part of the country.

The Fisher Law Group, PLLC, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, announced Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of Specialized, Inc. of Virginia, from the CBCInnovis family of companies. Specialized, Inc. of Virginia is a trustee company that has been transacting foreclosure business in Virginia since 1992 for both residential and commercial loan servicers and lenders.