News

Experts at Freddie Mac and Equifax expect falling unemployment and economic growth to keep the housing market steady in 2014. This, despite climbing interest rates and anticipated growth in housing prices nationwide. While industry economists welcome the idea of a steady, slowly recovering housing market, they also have a checklist of housing and economic indicators they're keeping tabs on that could influence the pace of recovery.

Despite declining foreclosure starts over the year, distressed sales made up a higher percentage of overall home sales in 2013 than they did the previous year, according to the U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. Foreclosure sales—which include sales to third-party buyers at foreclosure auction and sales of REOs—combined with short sales to make up 16.2 percent of residential property sales in 2013, up from 14.5 percent in 2012. The report also revealed an uptick in cash purchases at the close of the year.

The co-founder/chairman and the CEO of RE/MAX were named among the most influential real estate industry executives of 2013 on two prestigious lists released last week. Dave Liniger, who founded the Denver-based real estate franchise in 1973, and Margaret Kelly, who became the company's president and CEO in 2005, were named to the Inman 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders and the Swanepoel Power 200.

Ocwen's servicing segment is set to acquire mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) on a $39 billion portfolio from Wells Fargo, the two companies announced Wednesday. The loans underlying the MSRs in the portfolio are primarily in private label securities, the companies said, and they were not originated by Wells Fargo. They represent about 2 percent of Wells Fargo's total residential servicing portfolio as of the end of 2013.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc., announced Tuesday that its banking subsidiary, Berkshire Bank, has completed the previously announced acquisition of 20 retail bank locations from Bank of America, effective January 17, 2014. As a result of the transaction, Berkshire acquired approximately $450 million in deposits and $4 million in loans as of January 14, 2014, bringing the total number of branches in Berkshire's footprint to 91 across New England and New York.

Mortgage document preparation vendor International Document Services, Inc. (IDS), in Salt Lake City, Utah, has hired Daniel Miller as VP of business development. With nearly 20 years’ experience in sales, Miller is responsible for overseeing IDS’ various partner integrations and new customer implementations, in addition to managing and growing sales in the western part of the United States.

After much anticipation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final rule for new integrated mortgage disclosures, combining the overlapping disclosures required by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The new rule will certainly change the landscape of the settlement services and mortgage lending industries as we know them.

Following a year of fast-paced appreciation, Fitch Ratings expects home price gains to slow to a more moderate pace in 2014 in the United States, according to its Global Housing and Mortgage Outlook released Tuesday. The ratings agency also predicts mortgage volume will decline and delinquencies and shadow inventory will decrease, albeit slowly, while liquidation timelines continue to rise.

Stewart Lender Services hired John Desmond as director of regulatory compliance, capital markets. Desmond is responsible for overseeing the compliance and regulatory aspects of operations within Stewart’s capital markets group. Desmond has more than 19 years’ mortgage experience with a particular focus on origination operations and origination-related compliance. He has an additional five years’ legal experience in commercial litigation, corporate finance, and secured transactions.

In Colorado, Prudential Preferred Real Estate of Greater Denver and Prudential Rocky Mountain Realtors of Boulder have joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the new real estate brokerage network operated by HSF Affiliates LLC. Based in Irvine, California, this new network is designed for a new era in residential real estate. It currently currently comprises more than 22,000 agents and more than 600 offices in 26 states.