News

BrokerPriceOpinion.com, a California-based provider of customized valuation solutions, now provides a new online repair cost estimator with its broker price opinion (BPO) services. The tool, available as an add-on to the BPO, generates repair estimates for REOs, short sales, and other properties. It covers interior and exterior repair cost and maintenance estimates and complies with new GSE and interagency valuation requirements.

Washington's guard dog who's watched vigilantly over the handling of the federal government's $700 billion bailout purse will step down from his post on March 30. Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), told President Obama that with his initial goals as the program overseer met, ""it is the right time for me to step down and pursue other opportunities.""

DecisionReady, a provider of default servicing compliance solutions, released a pre-foreclosure review module for the DecisionReady Compliance Suite on its cloud-based technology platform this week. Operating like a compliance quality control checklist, the pre-foreclosure review module enables servicers to ensure they meet the requirements for reviewing a delinquent mortgage loan.

Oklahoma-headquartered a la mode, a developer of desktop, mobile, and Web tools for the real estate and mortgage industries, is expanding its Mercury Network vendor management platform (VMP) to offer broker price opinions (BPOs). Mercury Network is an online VMP, allowing lenders and appraisal management companies to manage appraisals nationwide.

They say ""it's all in the numbers,"" but what if the numbers don't match up, in fact don't even come close? The real estate data and analytics firm CoreLogic has released a market report in which the company claims 2010 home sales estimates from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are overstated by 15 to 20 percent, or about 1.5 million homes. NAR says it's Corelogic's numbers that are off. Both parties agree that the issue lies in the methodology, compounded by the volatility and turbulence of today's market.

Another lawsuit may join the ranks of suits against banking executives for their part in the housing collapse. There are reports that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is said to be considering a lawsuit against former executives of the now defunct Washington Mutual bank, for alleged fraudulent lending practices. The government agency may seek up to $1 billion in damages. The FDIC took control of Washington Mutual and sold it to JPMorgan Chase for $1.8 billion in 2008.

While recent data points to a pickup in sales activity, sales prices are down, and though mortgage rates remain at record-lows, few people are qualifying for loans. Overall, confidence in the housing market has been shaken. Add to that list the woes of agents and other professionals whose job security depends on the success of the housing market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the real estate subsector has risen from 6.6 percent in October 2010 to 8.3 percent in January 2011.

The percentage of distressed properties in home purchase transactions climbed to its highest level in nearly a year last month, according to an industry report released Tuesday. The distressed property index tracked as part of the report indicates that the share of sales transactions involving distressed homes climbed to 49.6 percent in January. Comments from real estate agents collected as part of the survey confirms the growing share of distressed properties, particularly in hard-hit markets.

LenderLive Network Inc. has expanded into private-labeled subservicing and specialty servicing. Through its expanded servicing division, LenderLive offers traditional subservicing of performing assets and end-to-end specialty servicing to help optimize the resolution of distressed assets. The company will continue to provide component servicing for loan modifications, short sales, and REO asset management. The company has tapped David Vida, a 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry to manage the loan servicing division.

Fifth Third Mortgage Company, a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank headquartered in Cincinnati, recently broke $65 billion in terms of its total servicing portfolio for the first time in company history. The company, which services more than 477,000 customers in 12 states, works with customers to refinance homes through the Making Home Affordable program, as well as the Freddie Mac Relief Refinance Mortgage program.