News

The Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Mortgagee Review Board has announced sanctions against 240 FHA-approved lenders. The federal agency says these lenders failed to meet its underwriting requirements for home loans, which are designed to minimize the risk of default. Actions taken against the 240 lenders include reprimands, probations, suspensions, and civil money penalties. In addition, some lenders will have their FHA-approval revoked.

RE/MAX ranked highest for customer satisfaction among both buyers and sellers in J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Home Buyer/Seller Study released this week. On a 1,000-point scale, home buyers rated RE/MAX 805, while home sellers gave the company a rating of 791. Overall satisfaction among home sellers increased from 2010, up to 779 from 742. Overall satisfaction among homebuyers was 797, a slight decrease of six points since the 2010 J.D. Power study.

The Chicago City Council has passed a local statute that will make lenders liable for the upkeep of vacant homes even when the borrower still holds the title. The ordinance was approved unanimously by council members. It amends the definition of a ""property owner"" in the municipal code to include an entity who holds a mortgage on the property, which means lenders are liable for routine maintenance and repairs even prior to foreclosing and taking control of the title if the borrower abandons the home.

A recent report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy found that delinquency and foreclosure rates among owner-occupants living in homes in Community Land Trusts (CLT) were consistently lower than overall market numbers. While 1.3 percent of CLT homeowners were seriously delinquent at the end of 2010, 8.57 percent of homeowners nationwide were seriously delinquent. CLTs are a type of shared equity homeownership -- a resale-restricted housing model designed to help low- to moderate-income families achieve homeownership.

Wells Fargo and the National Urban League have released the second edition of ""The Foreclosure Workbook: The Complete Guide to Understanding Foreclosure and Saving Your Home."" The resource offers information to aid homeowners behind on their mortgage payments. Through its affiliates that manage homeownership and foreclosure prevention programs, the Urban League will distribute about 7,500 copies of this latest edition to distressed homeowners across the country.

CoreLogic has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its India-based operations, CoreLogic Global Services Private Ltd., to Cognizant. Cognizant is an information technology, consulting, and outsourcing firm headquartered in New Jersey with a large presence in India already. The deal will net CoreLogic approximately $50 million in cash, plus adjustments for working capital. The transaction is expected to close next month.

Economic activity continues to grow but the pace has moderated in many parts of the country, weighed down by a persistent weakness in the residential real estate sector, according to the latest market-gauging Beige Book from the Federal Reserve. Contacts in the Boston district said housing markets ""remain in the doldrums."" A pickup in sales of higher-priced homes was evident in the D.C. area. In the Kansas City region, they're seeing an increase in all-cash purchases of existing homes, while demand in the Dallas district was described as ""choppy.""

The nation's leading mortgage lenders are extending extras for short sale transactions employed as an alternative to foreclosure - both in the form of monetary incentives for borrowers and streamlined procedures for real estate agents. Wells Fargo has increased its financial relocation assistance to as much as $20,000 in states where the foreclosure process is lengthening. Bank of America is now allowing agents to submit a new backup offer for a short sale property if the original buyer has walked away.

The Association of Mortgage Investors has sent letters to a handful of large banks expressing concerns on behalf of its members who hold residential mortgage-backed securities certificates. The mortgage investors called for enforcement of repurchases based on what they described as ""significant breaches"" of representations and warranties that have been discovered in the underwriting of loans, and voiced concerns that servicers are putting more effort into modifying their own loans than those of investors.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that pending home sales rose for the month of June, marking the third of the last four months its index has increased. Pending sales last month were up 2.4 percent from May and 19.8 percent from June 2010. The measurement is a forward-looking index based on contracts but not actual closings. Some economists are warning not to read too much into the latest numbers considering contract cancellations are on the rise.