News

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision have extended the deadline for 12 of 14 mortgage servicers to submit their plans for conducting foreclosure reviews. Under April's consent agreements, servicers are required to retain independent consultants to review all residential foreclosures processed in 2009 and 2010. Initially, servicers had until May 31st to submit their plans for these reviews, but at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, the deadline has been extended by 30 days.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller wants lawmakers to extend a state law that requires creditors to provide notices of free, confidential mortgage counseling services to homeowners in the state facing foreclosure. Under a law that expires July 1, lenders must inform delinquent borrowers about Iowa Mortgage Help, a provider of counseling and mediation services for struggling homeowners to help them pursue an alternative to foreclosure.

According to a notice from Fannie Mae, all future foreclosures in Hawaii must be commenced as judicial foreclosures due to Hawaii's recently passed legislation, SB 651. In addition, the GSE directed servicers to dismiss and convert all pending Fannie Mae non-judicial foreclosures that have not proceeded to sale to judicial foreclosures. Some recent REO acquisitions may also need to be re-foreclosed due to potential title insurance issues.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS), a Jacksonville, Florida-based provider of technology, data, and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, announced Monday that Joe Jacquot has been named SVP of government affairs. Jacquot served from 2007 to 2011 as deputy attorney general of Florida and chief of staff for former Attorney General Bill McCollum.

Florida Realtors president, Patricia Fitzgerald, was in Canada last week with Gov. Rick Scott and other business leaders to encourage Canadian companies to do business in Florida, a move expected to benefit the state's troubled real estate markets. Fitzgerald notes that a large percentage of Florida property sales each year are to international buyers, with Canadians making up 36 percent of all international property sales in the Sunshine State.

Servicers completed 1,666 short sales and deeds-in-lieu (DIL) under the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program in April. That's up 73.7 percent from the number of HAFA transactions completed the month before. HAFA has been in place since April of 2010. According to Treasury's latest report, which covers program activity through April of this year, a total of 7,113 short sales and DILs have concluded through HAFA. Treasury says a short sale typically takes 120 days to complete under the program.

Prospective homebuyers cite worries about unemployment, property affordability, and the economy as issues that hold them back from jumping into the market, according to an industry survey commissioned by Genworth. But the mortgage insurer says these economic concerns have not translated into excessive mortgage stress among recent U.S. homebuyers. According to the survey, 87 percent of Americans who bought their first home in the past 12 months expect to easily meet their mortgage payment obligations in the coming year.

Home equity continued to head south during the first part of the year, but losses were eclipsed by another big jump in the value of financial assets as the stock market sustained positive movement. This, combined with a further reduction in overall debt levels, pushed household net worth higher during the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve. Real estate assets lost $349 billion of their value over the first three months of 2011. The Fed says a mere 38 percent in homeowner equity is now the norm.

Equi-Trax Asset Solutions LP says it has surpassed industry expectations with the high percentage of right party contacts (RPCs) it achieves during its first visit to a borrowers home. An RPC is a successful effort by a loan servicer to speak with a borrower about resolution of a delinquency. The company says its success hinges on hiring qualified and skilled people to work as field agents who also have knowledge of the mortgage business.

Servicers using the XetusOne Loan Management System already exceed the minimum requirements for the Treasury Department's new guideline mandating a single relationship manager for Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) borrowers. Available via California-based Xetus, the system provides servicers with compliance through its Web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform.