News

Demand for distressed properties from investors is contributing to the recovery, not creating an artificial one, according to Pro Teck's Home Value Forecast for April. One of the catalysts driving the housing market rebound has been large investment funds, which are buying distressed single-family homes to be used as rentals. ""These funds have also been renovating homes, which has helped to improve the overall conditions of the surrounding neighborhoods and provided a positive injection of capital,"" said Tom O'Grady, CEO of Pro Teck.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance increased for the fourth time in the last five weeks, edging up 4,000 for the week ending April 13 to 352,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 347,000 initial claims. Initial jobless claims for the week ending April 6 were revised up to 348,000 from the originally reported 346,000.

Despite threats from the federal budget sequester, the nation's economy expanded ""at a moderate pace"" from late February to early April, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday in its periodic ""Beige Book. Activity in five Federal Reserve Districts--Cleveland, Richmond, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Kansas City--was described as growing at a moderate pace, while in five other districts-- Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco--growth was notched slightly slower as ""modest.""

BofA reported Wednesday net income of $2.6 billion for the first quarter of 2013, up from $653 million the same quarter last year. On the residential lending front, the company reported lower mortgage banking income, largely as a result of lower servicing income. However, first-lien mortgage production rose 57 percent to $24 billion, approximately 91 percent of which was for refinances. In addition, the number of 60-plus day delinquent first mortgage loans dropped by more than 100,000 from Q4, falling to 667,000.

As more details of the foreclosure settlement emerge, additional concerns and questions continue to be raised. During a hearing before a Senate committee, Debby Goldberg of the National Fair Housing Alliance addressed a handful of those concerns. One issue dealt with how the 13 servicers part of the settlement would receive credit for the $5.7 billion in mortgage assistance they agreed to provide. Goldberg says that unlike the national mortgage settlement (NMS), the Independent Foreclosure Review settlement ""bases the amount of credit the servicer receives on the unpaid balance of the loan, rather than the amount of assistance provided to the borrower.""

Housing continues to be a bright spot in the economy, contributing positively to GDP. In fact, Fannie Mae cited the sector as the most likely source of upside to our forecast in its April 2013 Economic Outlook. According to the GSE, residential investment--once a drag on the economy--has contributed positively or neutrally to the nation's economic growth for the past seven quarters. The GSE expects this trend to continue this year.

Although about 50,000 checks from the recent foreclosure settlement have been cashed or deposited as of Monday, according to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), not all recipients were able to cash their checks due to insufficient funds. In a statement issued Wednesday, the Fed announced ""early problems with some checks have been corrected"" and ""funds are available to cash all checks."" The Fed stated early recipients of the checks called the Fed's consumer helpline on Tuesday after being told their checks could not be cashed.

Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada (RTSNV) was granted $50,000 through Wells Fargo's Neighborhood LIFT program to provide repair and renovation projects for low-income homeowners.

Capsilon, a San Francisco-based provider of cloud-based document sharing, imaging, and document management solutions, announced it has merged its Katalyst and DocVelocity imaging systems into a combined offering.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reported a 25 percent decline in mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports (SARs) last year. However, the organization has seen ""dramatic growth"" in the number of SARs involving foreclosure rescue scams, according to Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of FinCEN. Overall, financial institutions reported 69,000 suspicious activities to FinCEN in 2012, down from 92,000 in 2011. While this category experienced improvement in 2012, foreclosure rescue scams appear to be on the rise. About 2,800 SARs in 2011 involved foreclosure rescue scams. In 2012, the number ticked up to 4,400.