News

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their regulator anticipate a decision on revamping mortgage servicers' payment structure by mid-summer, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The trade group, however, is urging the GSEs and federal agency to tread carefully and slowly in undertaking such an endeavor. MBA says the options put forth raise more questions than answers, particularly related to the ""default servicing fee.""

The Oklahoma-based technology developer a la mode has teamed up with Real Property Insight to bring the industry a new valuation service for distressed assets. Real Property Insight is a specialized integrator of information and services focused on distressed asset disposition, and the company has selected a la mode's Mercury Network Vendor Management Platform to manage the valuation portion of its new product, the Real Property Insight (RPI) Report. a la mode estimates this valuation service will save the industry approximately $72 billion.

Mortgage servicers had been completing over 100,000 loan modifications per month since late 2009, but that streak came to an end in February. HOPE NOW reports that 87,083 homeowners received permanent loan modifications - through both proprietary and government programs - during the month of February. That's about 14 percent fewer than the previous month and the first time the organization's modification tally has fallen below the 100K mark in nearly a year and a half.

Unemployed or underemployed homeowners in Florida having difficulty paying their mortgages can apply for financial assistance from the Florida Hardest-Hit Fund beginning April 18. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation has been conducting a pilot of its Hardest-Hit foreclosure prevention program since October, and is now opening them up statewide. The agency has made several changes to the program, which is now expected to provide assistance to twice as many homeowners as previously estimated.

The Washington Attorney General's Office says it has uncovered another problem that jeopardizes homeowners' chances of stopping a foreclosure - difficulty contacting trustees. Washington law requires foreclosure trustees maintain offices in the state and local phone numbers, but officials have discovered that some of the largest trustees are not in compliance, making it difficult for borrowers to legitimately stop foreclosure actions.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has some pretty direct words for the American government and its handling of the U.S. housing crisis. In an annual report that will be released next week, IMF says the origins of the global financial crisis can be found in the U.S. housing finance system. The agency says government participation in the U.S. housing market has been ""pervasive"" but has not yielded the expected benefits to prospective or existing homeowners.

Treasury has released updates to the policy guidelines for the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. Among the changes is a requirement that servicers provide written confirmation to the borrower within 10 days acknowledging their request for a short sale or deed-in-lieu, and an amendment to the ""arm's length"" restriction that gives servicers discretion to approve short sales to non-profit organizations that plan to rent or resell the property to the borrower.

Analysis of home prices through the end of February by CoreLogic shows a year-over-year decline of 6.7 percent when distressed properties - REO and pre-foreclosure short sales - are included in the numbers. February's drop marked the seventh straight month that CoreLogic has recorded a decline in its national home price index. But take out the distressed factor, and the company says home prices are showing signs of stability, down just 0.1 percent from a year ago.

Field Asset Services (FAS) successfully processed more than 100 million photos in one year via FASconnect, its online photo management system for proof of performance reporting. The system captures, documents, and securely shares photos of work performed in the field. Powered by Pruvan, FASconnect GPS certification and time and date-stamping capabilities to provide lenders and service providers a ""certified"" performance guarantee of work completed on REO properties.

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) expanded eligibility criteria for several of the Keep Your Home California programs to make them available to a larger number of families at risk of losing their homes, including those with home equity loans and recently originated mortgages. Keep Your Home California is a $2 billion federally funded initiative. Implemented statewide in early February, the programs are part of the U.S. Treasury Department's Hardest Hit Fund.