Loss Mitigation

HOPE NOW says its members completed 99,499 proprietary loan modifications in January, almost double that of the 50,364 permanent mods finalized under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) industry-wide during the same month. Although HOPE NOW is seeing substantial success with non-HAMP modifications, the organization is also taking a lead in helping servicers collect borrowers' documents at its localized outreach events, in order to speed the process of converting trial HAMP mods to permanent status.

Loan Resolution Corporation announced Tuesday that the company is adding 100 positions this month to meet the marketplace's growing demand for short sales - demand that is expected to intensify even further when the government's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program takes effect in April and short sales become a mandate in servicers' waterfall of loss mitigation options.

The Five Star Institute (FSI) is carving out its place in the commercial real estate sector. FSI is hosting its first-ever Commercial Default 360 conference, from April 5-7 in Dallas, Texas. The conference provides a forum for mortgage default servicing professionals to collaborate with key asset stakeholders from the commercial real estate sector, to address the challenges the market faces in the wake of rising delinquencies, complex commercial mortgage restructurings, looming foreclosures, and swollen portfolios of repossessed assets.

With short sales gaining in popularity among lenders and homeowners alike, and the implementation date of the administration's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program just around the corner, Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is making moves to help servicers respond to short sale offers more efficiently. The Florida-based technology provider announced the launch of its professional short sale service Tuesday.

In an effort to develop new strategies for stabilizing neighborhoods that experience large numbers of foreclosures, dozens of local officials from 12 of the regions hit hardest by the housing crisis are meeting at Harvard University this week for the Neighborhood Stabilization Boot Camp.

Default servicing software provider Equator announced Monday that the company's platform is automating over 125,000 active short sales. Short sales are becoming an increasingly vital strategy for lenders in their struggle to clear underperforming assets. Equator stresses that the keys to a successful short sale are accessibility, responsiveness, communication and fulfillment.

Bank of America completed 20,666 permanent modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program as of February 28, 2010, up from 12,761 a month earlier. The bank also has 22,303 additional permanent HAMP modifications that are pending and leads the mortgage servicing industry with more than 240,000 active trial modifications under HAMP.

As of February 28, 2010, Wells Fargo & Co. had 505,832 active trial and completed modifications through its own modification programs and the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). According to the administration's February HAMP report card released Friday, Wells Fargo completed more permanent modifications than any other HAMP servicer.

While delinquency rates in the United States continue to reach new highs, the pace of deterioration has slowed, Lender Processing Services (LPS) said Monday. Still, company's analysts caution that the nation's housing market remains far from a full recovery. According to LPS' latest Mortgage Monitor report, nearly 7.5 million loans are in some stage of delinquency or foreclosure, with an additional one million properties in REO or post-sale foreclosure.

Foreclosed homes taken back by lenders and distressed short sales accounted for nearly half of all residential home sales in California in 2009, according to a market report released this week by the California Association of Realtors. As one of the hardest-hit states by the housing downturn, the Golden State is littered with bank-owned properties and homes facing foreclosure, but the lower prices and increasing buyer appetite for these deals are helping to reduce some of California's distressed inventory.