News

Barclays Capital says that as servicers perform complicated modifications and other actions, remittance reporting has been found wanting. A recent study by the research firm examines typical remittance reports and points out flaws in the process, aiming to make a case for a complete overhaul. Barclays says current procedures sometimes make it difficult to understand where money is coming and going, and with some transactions the math gets fuzzy very quickly.

Mortgage bankers originated $110 billion of commercial and multifamily mortgages during 2010 - an increase of 36 percent from 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. A separate report from Jones Lang LaSalle corroborates the trade group's assessment of a resurgence in the financing market and indicates even stronger growth in 2011, even without the predicted surge is distressed sales. Wells Fargo is ranked as the largest servicer of commercial and multifamily mortgages.

With loan modifications on a steady decline, the analysts at Fitch Ratings say the common thread running through the industry has become when will the servicer foreclose as opposed to how can a distressed borrower stay in their home. Fitch's analysis of loan mod trends shows little improvement in success rates. While alternatives like short sales are modestly improving loss severities, the agency says servicers report borrowers are electing to remain in their property longer by staying on through the extended foreclosure process.

Realty Pilot, an Arizona-based real estate technology company, recently launched Offer Runway, a cloud-based program designed to unite buyers, sellers, agents, lenders, escrow officers, and home inspectors. Offer Runway is free to all Arizona MLS members. The company says its goal in developing Offer Runway was to create a singular Web-based operating system to ensure transparency and efficiency within each real estate transaction.

With all types of fraud steadily rising, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Financial Crime Task Force has set up two programs to help fight mortgage fraud in New York City. According to the CoreLogic Fraud Index, fraud losses for 2010 are estimated to be $11 billion, and according to the FBI, New York is one of the top ten states with significant mortgage fraud issues.

The recently announced partnership between Zillow.com and Yahoo! Real Estate has created the largest real estate network on the Web, according to comScore Media Metrix, an Internet audience measurement service. Zillow now sells local advertising across both sites, and the 4 million for-sale listings on Zillow also appear on Yahoo! Real Estate. Zillow is now Yahoo! Real Estate's exclusive provider of for-sale listings.

Bank of America has set up a new operational division to service all defaulted residential loans. It will be led by Terry Laughlin, who will oversee the bank's mortgage modification and foreclosure programs, and is charged with resolving investors' mortgage repurchase claims. The decision to establish a new, separate division to handle the company's problem loans came out of the bank's ""self-assessment of default servicing"" following the robo-signing scandal.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is restructuring its safety and soundness and mission offices this week, including establishing an integrated supervision structure and a revamped housing mission and policy division. The agency says changes in the supervision program structure will promote greater uniformity and consistency in the examinations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Although the nation is in the midst of an economic recovery, unemployment levels remain extremely elevated, and that - along with lower housing prices and a large inventory of homes in foreclosure - is leading to an increase in defaults on housing finance agency (HFA) loans, according to the analysts at Standard & Poor's (S&P). A recent study by S&P has revealed that delinquent HFA loans have exceeded state averages for the first time since the agency began tracking loan performance in 2006.

Moody's Investors Service studied two million loans backing residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) pools and found that a loan that is modified and then reported as current is three times as likely to default over the ensuing twelve months as a current loan that has not been modified. The agency's also put the practices of eight major servicers under the microscope. It found that six-month re-default rates vary considerably, from 20 percent for Citi and Litton to 33 percent for Bank of America.