News

The American Legal & Financial Network has released a best practices guide for title policy work as it relates to distressed properties. ALFN says the housing crisis has impacted the industry in a number of ways, and one area in particular that calls for attention is default title policy standards. Due to marketplace pressures, the organization warns that large pools of loans are being affected by the inability to properly close escrow after foreclosure, costing investor's time and exposing them to legal risks.

With the deadline for the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program (EHLP) just a couple days away, HUD says it does not expect to meet the program's original goal of helping 30,000 homeowners, even after two deadline extensions. According to a HUD spokesperson, the main obstacle stems from the ""statutory requirements of the program and the statutory time limits."" The agency says approximately 75 percent of the applicants rejected did not meet the criteria of the program.

Even while interest rates continue to post record and near-record lows and affordability is relatively high, many consumers choose to rent rather than purchase homes. According to Freddie Mac's chief economist Frank Nothaft, financial worries among consumers are likely holding back home sales, which remain lackluster despite the most affordable home-buying market in decades. Nothaft says a boost in job and income growth would help instill confidence in consumers and in turn, stimulate the housing market.

The industry's shadows are shrinking, according to CoreLogic. Based on the analytics firm's calculations, the residential shadow inventory of unlisted REOs and soon-to-be REOs stood at 1.6 million units as of July 2011. CoreLogic says that tally represents a supply of five months and is down from 1.7 million units in April and 1.9 million units in July of 2010. The company says the decline is driven by a pace of new delinquencies that is slower than the disposition pace of distressed assets.

Residential mortgage-backed securities investor Two Harbors Investment Corp. has announced the appointment of its controller Brad Farrell to the position of CFO and treasurer, effective January 1, 2012. After that time, Two Harbors' current CFO, Jeffrey Stolt, will continue to serve as partner and CFO of Pine River Capital Management L.P., the parent of PRCM Advisers LLC, Two Harbors' external manager.

Even with a seasonal uptick in the month of July, home prices are falling short of their levels a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday morning by Standard & Poor's. Both the 20-city and 10-city composite readings of the S&P/Case-Shiller index rose 0.9 percent between June and July, but were down 4.1 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, when compared to July 2010. Washington, D.C. and Detroit were the only metropolitan areas to buck the annual trend.

It will be a long road ahead for the 14 servicers who received consent orders from federal regulators earlier this year. Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh says the servicers will spend the next year or more recompensing for past foreclosure errors. Servicers must hire independent consultants to audit cases from 2009 and 2010, set up dedicated websites and toll-free numbers, and launch massive mailing and advertising campaigns to reach borrowers who may have been affected.

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) presented the 2011 NAHREP Founders' Awards to Armando Falcon and Shanna Smith for their efforts in advancing homeownership, particularly in the Hispanic community. Falcon served as director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's former regulator, from 1999 to 2005. He is now chairman and CEO of Falcon Capital Advisors. Smith is CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA).

Processing delays have taken their toll on first-time homebuyer interest in short sales, according to the latest HousingPulse Tracking Survey released Monday. First-time homebuyers were a part of 39.7 percent of the short sale transactions completed in August. That's the lowest percentage for this buyer segment ever recorded by the survey. The study found that the average time-on-market for short sales is 16.6 weeks, with the majority of that time spent waiting for approval.

Mortgage litigations in the second quarter of 2011 have more than doubled since last year, according to an industry report released Monday. During the April-to-June period, mortgage litigations reached 190 cases, up from 75 over the same quarter in 2010 and 151 during the first quarter of this year. Foreclosure-related litigation rose from 29 cases in the second quarter of 2010 to 67 cases a year later. The study also recorded a significant jump in cases involving secondary market transactions.