News

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday that the national delinquency rate for residential home loans fell to 7.99 percent in the third quarter. That's the lowest reading since the fourth quarter of 2008. The delinquency rate encompasses borrowers who have missed one or more payments but are not yet in foreclosure. While delinquencies fell, the number of borrowers entering the foreclosure process rose for the first time in a year, driven by a handful of servicers and hard-hit states.

Property IQ has rolled out its flagship inventory management software nationwide, and the company says it expects the new technology to ""make an impact in the REO agent world."" The software solution is designed for use by individual agents or full REO sales offices, allowing users to take control of their inventory, whether it's 10 or 300 properties. Agents can sign up for a 30-day free trial test run through the company's website.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that MERS, as record-holder of the mortgage, does have the right to initiate foreclosures in the state. The decision reverses an April ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals, which called into question thousands of cases in which MERS was named as the foreclosing party. The appellate court's judgment sent shockwaves through the distressed housing market in Michigan. Now, with the higher court's ruling, sales of homes that had been foreclosed in the name of MERS can proceed.

Hudson & Marshall conducted an REO auction event for HUD in Las Vegas earlier this month targeting owner-occupants. The result? There are now more than 100 new owners of homes throughout both Nevada and Arizona that were previously sitting idle and vacant as part of the government's foreclosed inventory. The Las Vegas event was the culmination of a five-week aggressive marketing campaign, and was conducted in conjunction with BLB Resources.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) is vigilantly targeting mortgage and foreclosure rescue scammers that advertise online. SIGTARP announced Wednesday that it recently halted 85 online scams that promised to help homeowners pursue mortgage loan modifications. Google has cooperated with SIGTARP in its investigation and since the discovery of the 85 mortgage fraud schemes, has suspended 500 advertisers.

WFG National Title Insurance Company has named Ravi Bapodra VP and managing director of its TitleNet division. TitleNet provides title, closing, and settlement services for both residential and commercial transactions, as well as loss mitigation, default, and REO transactions. It is comprised of a national network of independent providers using a centralized technology platform.

A federal judge has reversed HUD's decision to temporarily suspend Allied Home Mortgage Corporation after the agency accused the bank of committing fraud and violating several Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements. The judge said the damage to Allied's business as a result of the suspension outweighs any harm that would be suffered by the government before the issues can be litigated. Allied and its CEO deny the allegations against them.

Freddie Mac has announced the launch of a nationwide winter sales promotion to move its inventory of foreclosed homes and put them back into the hands of responsible homeowners purchasing a primary residence. HomeSteps, the GSE's REO sales division, will pay selling agents a $1,000 bonus for offers received on Freddie Mac-owned homes in select locations. The offer is valid only on homes sold to owner-occupant buyers and runs through March 15, 2012. Freddie Mac held 59,596 single-family REO homes as of the end of September.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have released highly anticipated guidelines for the revised Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Among the key program revisions, the GSEs have eliminated or raised the loan-to-value cap, and relaxed representation and warranty stipulations. Both government officials and market analysts have said rep and warranty waivers could spark heated competition among lenders to refinance borrowers through HARP. With the new guidelines, the GSEs laid out exactly what will be waived.

HOPE NOW announced a major milestone Tuesday -- the completion of 5 million loan modifications since the group began tracking such loss mitigation efforts in 2007. More than 80 percent of these modifications were completed through servicers' own proprietary programs, with the rest coming from the government's Home Affordable Modification Program. Officials called the 5 million mark a halfway point, adding that much more work needs to be done to help distressed homeowners.