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Report: Mortgage Delinquencies Rise, But Improvement on the Horizon

Mortgage delinquencies rose to 6.62 percent in August, according to a report from CreditForecast.com, supported by Moody's Analytics and Equifax. This is up from 6.54 percent in July. Delinquencies for both first mortgages and home equity loans posted increases for the month, rising to 6.85 percent and 4.14 percent, respectively. However, the CreditForecast.com report predicts the delinquency picture will improve later in the year with a return of economic growth.

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Randall McHugh Named a ‘Best Lawyer’ for Foreclosure Practice

Randall S. McHugh, VP at Bendett & McHugh, P.C., has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of mortgage banking foreclosure law. This marks the third straight year that McHugh has been honored with the designation. Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 3.9 million evaluations by fellow attorneys.

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Existing-Home Sales Jump Nearly 19% From Last Year

Last month's 18.6 percent surge in existing-home sales from a year earlier had some market observers doing a double-take, but Galen Ward, who runs a real estate brokerage web site, says it wasn't unexpected. Michael Simonsen of Altos Research says anything is going to look good coming off the market's tax-credit hangover this time last year. But the fact that the median home price was down more than 5 percent from August 2010 at the same time sales jumped so sharply is one of the most telling stats for Clear Capital's Alex Villacorta.

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Past Due Mortgages = 6,397,000

New data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) Tuesday shows the population of mortgages going unpaid in the United States contracted during the month of August. LPS offered the media a sneak peak at several key mortgage performance statistics slated for public release later this month. The company says there were 6,397,000 home loans at least 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure as of the end of August. That's down from 6,538,000 the month before.

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Winans Launches International Housing Index

Wall Street has long struggled with indexing and analyzing real estate as an international investment, according to Winans International, a California-based investment advisor and research firm. Winans International's market researchers Ken Winans and Dr. Bryan Taylor tackled the problem by gathering the data from 36 countries and developing an approach to combine these global studies of home prices into a single data set, tracking housing prices since 1975.

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CFPB, Other Federal Agencies Developing National Servicing Standards

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is working alongside other federal agencies to create ""common-sense national servicing standards,"" according to the Treasury's advisor on the bureau Raj Date. One of the issues Date plans to address through national servicing standards is what he says has been a lack of incentive for originators and others involved in the front end of the lending process to ensure a borrower has the ability to repay their loan.

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California’s Median Home Price Hits 2011 High

The state of California is cashing in on the last days of the traditional homebuying season, with sales soaring in August and the median home price touching on its highest reading of the year. The California Association of Realtors puts last month's median price point at a level not seen since last December, and home sales up more than 10 percent from last year. At the same time, unsold housing inventory statewide has declined to five-months' supply.

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Senate Holds Hearing on Foreclosure Glut

At a Senate hearing titled, ""New Ideas to Address the Glut of Foreclosed Properties,"" industry experts shared varying opinions on the concept of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conducting bulk sales of REOs to investors, but most agreed that long-term investors from the private sector should be part of the solution. One analyst with Amherst Securities says investors are the only potential buyers for many distressed homes likely to hit the market over the next five to six years.

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FHFA Sounds Private-Sector Mantra With Plans to Raise GSEs’ Fees

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will begin raising the fees they charge lenders for guarantees on mortgage loans next year. According to the companies' regulator, it's a step toward readying the market for private-sector reinforcements and weaning the nation's housing sector off of low-cost government support. FHFA's director says it ought to be clear at this point that the two mortgage giants will not be able to emerge from conservatorship. He argues that more progress should have been made on housing finance reform by now.

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OCC Requires Review of 4.5M Foreclosures

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is calling for independent reviews of almost 4.5 million loans. After examining 200 loans from each of 14 major servicers, regulators determined enforcement actions were necessary, but said their review was not nearly enough to answer all questions. In addition to assessments of individual cases, the OCC is implementing a complaint process for borrowers who feel they faced financial harm as a result of an improper foreclosure action.

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