News

Lorraine Brown's legal drama continues as Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette announced the filing of a felony charge against the former DocX president. Brown is being charged with one count of conducting criminal enterprises (racketeering) for her alleged role in authorizing the fraudulent signing of mortgage documents filed in the state.

The Federal Reserve painted a picture of a split economy with concerns about the ""fiscal cliff"" in its periodic Beige Book released Wednesday. The economy, according to the Beige Book, expanded ""at a measured pace"" in seven of the 12 federal reserve districts--Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. According to the Beige Book, business leaders and others ""expressed concern and uncertainty about the federal budget, especially the fiscal cliff.""

Mortgage tech provider SharperLending LLC announced enhancements to its Appraisal Firewall platform with a new technical integration to appraisal management firm American Reporting Company (ARC).

Consumer debt declined in the third quarter, largely due to decreasing mortgage debt throughout the nation, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. After decreasing by $74 billion in the third quarter, consumer debt now stands at about $11.31 trillion. Mortgage balances make up the bulk of household debt but are on the decline as well. After a 1.5 percent decline over the third quarter, Americans hold $8.03 trillion in mortgage debt.

Vericrest Financial, Inc. announced it will acquire about $2.7 billion in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs). On Tuesday, the company stated it signed two definitive agreements for the MSRs without revealing the name of the companies involved. One transaction closed November 16, with the second expected to close on December 1.

The latest numbers from the Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes show that the housing market may finally be on solid footing again. Average U.S. home prices increased by 1.2 percent in Q2 2012 from the same quarter last year. The year-over-year increase is the first since 2006 when excluding 2010, which was influenced by the federal homebuyer's tax credit. Fiserv projects that housing prices will grow annually at a rate of 3.3 percent from mid-2012 through Q2 2017.

The multifamily sector may not see much of a decrease in its vacancy rate over the next year, but the market is still considered to be tight and there's still room for growth, according to a report from National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR offered projections into four areas of commercial real estate: office, industrial, retail and multifamily markets. Out of all four sectors, the vacancy rate for the multifamily sector is expected to decline the least and fall by just 0.1 point. Despite the small decrease, NAR said the multifamily sector still has the ""tightest availability"" and the ""strongest rent increases.""

New home sales barely budged in October, dropping 0.37 percent to 368,000 after September’s report was revised sharply downward from an original 389,000 to 369,000, Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the report to show a sales pace of 387,000.

After reaching a year-to-date high in October, consumer confidence continued to climb in November, according to The Conference Board's recently released Consumer Confidence Index. The index, which is based on survey conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, ""posted a moderate increase"" in November, rising to 73.7 from 73.1 previously. According to Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, the index is now at its highest level in more than four and a half years.

With revenue up and the housing market showing a sustained recovery, Fitch Ratings says the outlook for the U.S. title insurance industry is ""stable."" According to the ratings agency, its stable rating outlook is based on its belief that ""ratings actions for the industry will on balance approximate current levels over the next 12-18 months as financial performance has improved recently."" Operating profit margins for Fitch's title universe rose to 10.3 percent in the first nine months of 2012, a dramatic jump from 6.1 percent during the same period in 2011.