News

A new product from Aon Underwriting Managers will offer financial institutions that own or service mortgage loan portfolios the ability to combine insurance coverage. Aon's Global Portfolio Protection Program (GP3) offers mortgage impairment protection, mortgagee errors and omissions coverage, foreclosed/real estate-owned property and liability insurance, and force-placed hazard and flood insurance in one insurance policy.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced this week that Alan Todd will join the group in August as head of U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) research. Todd joins the company from JPMorgan, where he served in the same capacity as head of U.S. CMBS research since 2005. He also spent five years at Bear Stearns, also in CMBS research.

MLSListings, Inc., a not-for-profit, California mutual benefit corporation formed by eight Northern California Realtor associations, will participate in the Fannie Mae Short Sale Assistance Desk program. MLSListings, which represents more than 18,000 subscribers in 6,000 firms in an area covering 28,000 square miles, is the first multiple listing service (MLS) in California to participate.

State attorneys general are holding meetings with the nation's largest mortgage servicers this week to negotiate a settlement agreement for the robo-signing issues that surfaced last fall. The most controversial piece of the AGs initial proposal - mandated principal write-downs - has reportedly been dropped from the discussions. The primary issue now is the amount of fines to be levied, which the states want to use to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie has signed into law a measure aimed at stemming foreclosures in the state by bringing homeowners and their lenders together to negotiate an alternative resolution. Based on first-quarter foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac reports that Hawaii had the 11th highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 201 homes in the state receiving a filing during the first three months of this year.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP (HFF), a provider of capital markets financing and loan servicing to the commercial real estate industry, announced Monday that it will expand its Florida presence by officially opening an office in Tampa with an immediate focus on investment sales. With the addition of the Tampa facility, HFF operates out of 19 offices nationwide.

Data released by the National Association of Realtors Tuesday show that distressed properties - including bank-owned homes and pre-foreclosure short sales - made up 39 percent of the first quarter's existing-home sales. Overall, sales of previously owned homes rose to an annual rate of 5.14 million units during the first three months of this year. That pace is 8.3 percent higher than during the previous quarter and essentially flat compared to the same period last year.

Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), a provider of property preservation and rehabilitation services to mortgage lenders and servicers, will offer a new remediation process for Chinese drywall, which releases dangerous sulfur compounds into the air, particularly in warm, moist environments. IMS' biochemical remediation process does not require the complete removal of existing wallboard. The on-location, ""in-situ"" process is completed in as little as one-third the time of traditional methods and reduces overall costs by up to 50 percent.

Recent news has highlighted the severity of the renewed downturn in home prices, but Capital Economics says although condominiums will not escape altogether, over the next year or so condo prices are likely to fall by less than their single-family counterparts. The research firm notes that demand for condos is currently stronger than demand for single-family homes, due to cash buyers and investors seeking rental income. The condo market also boasts a lower delinquency rate, which suggests fewer foreclosed properties will support the supply of condos.

CoreLogic says its home price index has posted year-over-year declines for eight months in a row now. The company's latest reading shows home prices nationally fell 7.5 percent in March 2011 compared to March 2010 when distressed sales - including REO and short sale transactions - are factored into the equation. The data clearly demonstrates the extent to which pre- and post-foreclosure sales are weighing down overall market assessments. CoreLogic says if you take out the distressed factor, home prices are down just 0.96 percent from a year ago.