Loss Mitigation

Technology provider IndiSoft, LLC, has announced that effective immediately, its RxOffice platform meets the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program requirements, which take effect today, Monday, April 5. In addition, the company announced the roll-out of its new RxOffice Realtor portal, which IndiSoft says will help Realtors manage the anticipated upsurge in short sale transactions expected with HAFA's implementation.

The deadline for servicer implementation of the administration's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program has arrived. HAFA aims to help homeowners who are unable to qualify for a loan modification by providing them with the option to pursue a short sale or deed-in-lieu. To encourage HAFA participation, the Treasury Department raised financial incentives. Borrowers are now eligible for $3,000 in relocation assistance, and servicers will receive $1,500 to cover administrative and processing costs for a short sale or deed-in-lieu completed under the program.

There is a growing consensus among lenders that home prices have stabilized, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. Research by the investment firm also indicates that loan mod efforts have risen significantly, and banks are more aggressively disposing of troubled real estate assets. Barclays' analysts sifted through the Q4 earnings transcripts for 20 regional and national banks to decipher their take on the housing market, and the conclusions point to significant improvements when it comes to real estate holdings.

With financing in the commercial real estate sector severely constricted and billions in multifamily mortgages on the verge of coming due, Freddie Mac is stepping up to the plate to ensure strapped apartment owners have an avenue to refinance their debt. The GSE has launched a new lending program that allows mezzanine debt on qualifying multifamily first mortgages. Freddie officials say the initiative will reduce the number of properties that may otherwise become defaults, drawn-out workouts, or foreclosures.

Commercial real estate firm Signature Associates has launched a new business unit to help property owners secure mortgage term extensions, mortgage workouts, and refinancing in today's challenging marketplace.

There are thousands of troubled mortgages in need of modification, but some lawmakers think there is a conflict of interest, in the form of second mortgage ownership, that may be preventing large mortgage companies from voluntarily offering modification services. In hopes of eradicating this issue, two members of the House Financial Services Committee have introduced the Mortgage Servicing Conflict of Interest Elimination Act, which prohibits servicers from owning debt secured by a home that backs a mortgage they already service.

In new policy guidelines released this week, Fannie Mae told servicers that they can no longer name MERS as the plaintiff in any foreclosure action, whether judicial or non-judicial, on a mortgage loan owned or securitized by the GSE. MERS is widely used by the industry to keep track of the servicing rights on home loans, and is often listed as the ""mortgagee of record."" But the system has become the centerpiece of a number of lawsuits, with foreclosed homeowners challenging the naming of the electronic system as mortgagee.

ISGN Corporation has implemented a new user interface for its LenStar technology, a Web-based attorney and referral communication system for default management that the company says gives servicers access to lenders and attorneys servicing over 25 percent of the residential loans in the United States.

At a briefing of state housing counselors held this week at the HomeFree-USA office in Prince George's County, Maryland, Congressman Steny Hoyer and Raymond Skinner, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development secretary, both expressed their support for HOPE LoanPort, making Maryland the first state in the nation to publicly endorse the program.

The FDIC announced Thursday that Charlotte, North Carolina's Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation placed the winning bid for an equity interest in a portfolio of 3,373 residential mortgage loans. Collectively, the loans have an unpaid principal balance of $490.7 million. They were seized by the federal agency from 19 failed banks between August 2008 and March 2009, and half are delinquent.