News

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Dallas/Fort Worth appointed Frank Obringer as president. Sue Meyer, the brokerage's president since 2007, will transition her responsibilities over the next several months and then retire.

Committee chairman Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) of the Senate Banking Committee announced Tuesday plans to move forward on a new proposal to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of a new government backstop for private financiers.

Bank of America filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), alerting the TWC of impending layoffs in three of the bank's North Texas offices. The notice was sent on March 3, detailing layoffs of 114 workers from two offices in Plano, Texas and one in Richardson, Texas.

In recent months, institutional investors seem to prefer buying non-performing loans instead of more solvent ones, according to David LeBlanc, managing director of capital markets at DebtX. His company is the world’s largest online loan sale advisor for buyers and sellers of commercial, consumer, and specialty finance debt.

A report issued by the Wells Fargo Economics Group noted that California lost 31,600 jobs in January—the largest single-month decline in over four years. Non-farm payrolls declined .2 percent during the month of January. The decline from December, 2013 to January, 2014 was the largest one month drop since September, 2009.

Asked about home price trends over the next year, 50 percent of respondents in Fannie Mae’s February National Housing Survey said they expect improvements, a recovery from a slide to 43 percent in January. A slightly larger number of consumers anticipate price declines—7 percent, up from 6 percent—while the share of those forecasting no significant movement was down to 38 percent.

Compared to the prior period, the nation’s average Borrower Health Score was up 2.8 percent to 82.2, rebounding from the third quarter’s 1.6 point drop, according to LendingTree. The Borrower Health Score is calculated using the weighted average of credit score, loan-to-value ratio (LTV), and overall “lendability” of loan seekers in each state throughout the quarter.

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) released a new report, revealing sales of distressed homes have plummeted in the past five years. In January, 2009, 69.5 percent of all homes sold in California were distressed, which included short sales and real estate-owned properties (REO). The report issued Monday noted that five years later, distressed home sales made up only 15.6 percent of sold homes.

DocuTech announced Monday that COO, Scott K. Stucky, has expanded his role within the company, and will now serve as Chief Strategy Officer. In his new role, Stucky will oversee client relations, partnerships, product management and the overall strategic direction of the company.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that servicemembers, veterans, and their families who complained to the bureau about financial products or services have recovered over $1 million. The report covers more than 14,000 complaints filed from July 21, 2011 through February 1, 2014.