News

Safeguard Properties has partnered with the American Association of Code Enforcement (AACE) to offer a training and certification program free of charge to code enforcement officials. Available nationally, the program is conducted via an online, on-demand Webinar platform, the first offered by a mortgage field services company. It provides an overview of best practices pertaining to property preservation and tools to assist code officials with day-to-day responsibilities of maintaining the integrity of properties in their communities.

A new law requires that Arkansas homeowners receive critical documents prior to a foreclosure and encourages loss mitigation or loan modification efforts before the foreclosure is initiated. Mortgage servicers must now provide borrowers facing foreclosure with copies of the note, mortgage, and any assignments; the physical location of the note; and payment history. Homeowners must also receive information about assistance programs that are available.

Federal regulators split from state attorneys general last week to cut their own deal with mortgage servicers as part of a settlement for the robo-signing mess that surfaced last fall. Critics of the side deal are calling for federal regulators to withdraw their agreements and work with the states to hold banks accountable. But even in the attorney general camp there has been dissension. A study released Tuesday by three economists says the original settlement proposal backed by state counsels could increase the foreclosure inventory by $297 billion.

The climb towards an expected 10 percent delinquency rate for loans held in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) has slowed, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings. The agency reports that late-pays retreated two basis points to end March at 8.74 percent, with delinquencies falling for four of the five major property types. At the same time, Trepp says loss severity is the lowest it's been since the company began reporting, with the majority of loans liquidated in March having losses of less than 2 percent.

The National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) and Lender Processing Services (LPS) have teamed up to develop a new online tool that the organizations say will facilitate communication and collaboration between code enforcement officials and national providers of field services to the mortgage servicing industry. The Web-based tool is called ALLIANCE. It will be launched May 1, and is free to both local code enforcement officials and participating national providers.

With foreclosure activity somewhat erratic in recent months along the country's West Coast, time-to-foreclose remains the one true constant in that it continues to increase across the board. ForeclosureRadar has released its monthly report on March foreclosure activity for its coverage area of the five West Coast states. The foreclosure timeline in Nevada extended by more than 16 percent in one month's time to 322 days. In California, the increase was smaller at 4 percent, bumping the state's timeline up to 302 days.

The Illinois Supreme Court announced on Monday the formation of a special committee to study and formulate proposals to help families facing foreclosure. The committee will also work to improve the judicial process in mortgage foreclosures throughout the state. Supreme Court justices noted that Illinois' foreclosure crisis is not easing. At the end of 2010, there were approximately 70,000 mortgage foreclosure actions pending in Cook County alone.

CoreLogic announced Monday that Arlene Hyde has joined the company in a newly created position -- SVP of strategic relationships for its business and information services division. In this role, Hyde will serve as a strategic resource for CoreLogic sales and business operations leaders, helping them to identify, conceptualize, and build-out new strategies, ventures, and business opportunities with some of the largest CoreLogic mortgage clients.

Due to a drop in hirings, mortgage sector jobs lost traction last year, going from a net gain in 2009 to a net loss in 2010, according to an industry report released this week. Layoffs in real estate finance outnumbered hirings by 3,100 jobs last year. In 2009, hirings exceeded layoffs by more than 8,000. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show employment in the mortgage sector has fallen more than 50 percent over the last five years.

Jonathan L. Engman, partner at Fabrizio & Brook, P.C. in Troy, Michigan, has been nominated to run for the board of directors for the Oakland County Bar Association. The firm also recently announced that it has been honored with the fourth-quarter 2010 Performance Recognition Award from Lender Processing Services for outstanding achievement in foreclosure.