News

The market's been flooded with REOs, and banks are struggling to get these properties off their books and back into the hands of responsible homeowners. According to Field Asset Services, the answer to moving these properties faster is simple - with some pretty standard repairs, such as fresh paint and updated appliances, the company's independent market study found that lenders can cut more than two-thirds off the length of the sales cycle.

FEI, a national provider of posting, publication, auction management, property preservation, and asset management services based in Washington, recently acquired RSVP, a national provider of similar services headquartered in California. Together, FEI and RSVP will offer foreclosure services including posting, service of process, and publication management that controls the production and placement of legal notices in 2,300 publications from coast to coast.

Income and expense data released by the Federal Reserve this week shows the central bank is earning a pretty penny from its investments in mortgage securities. The Fed began buying mortgage bonds from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae in November of 2008 to help prop up the nation's deteriorating mortgage markets. In 2009, Fed officials reported that these efforts, combined with its purchases of Treasury securities, yielded a $46.1 billion profit. In 2010, earnings on those investments jumped to $76.2 billion.

According to a report released Thursday by the Woodstock Institute, vacant homes in the city of Chicago are piling up and costing the city millions of dollars while bringing crime and blight to neighborhoods. According to the report, there were more than 18,000 properties on the city of Chicago's vacant buildings index as of September 2010. Vacant and abandoned properties can rapidly spiral into disrepair, affecting the values of neighboring properties and attracting criminal activity.

Mortgage rates retreated this week, marking the second week in a row they've headed lower. Interest rates began a sharp ascension in early November, and experts have warned that the trend is likely to continue. The recent change of pace was attributed to last Friday's jobs report, which was weaker than market forecasts. Freddie Mac says 30-year rates this week dropped to 4.71 percent while 15-year rates fell to 4.08 percent. Bankrate says the larger jumbo 30-year fixed rate edged down to 5.57 percent.

A recent report by ForeclosureRadar shows unexpectedly mixed foreclosure activity in its five-state coverage area for the month of December. The California-based firm found that foreclosure starts were down in Arizona, California, and Washington; flat in Nevada; and higher in Oregon. Completed foreclosure sales numbers were also mixed across the West Coast states. ForeclosureRadar says the disparity in activity could be due in part to the differing laws between states.

Pro Teck Valuation Services, a national provider of residential real estate valuations, recently partnered with Collateral Analytics to offer a suite of real estate analytic products and automated valuation models (AVMs) to Pro Teck customers. According to the two companies, the combination brings a strategic blend of data, analytics, and valuation expertise to today's mortgage and residential real estate markets.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) recently added Michael Weinberg to its team in Miami as a senior real estate analyst. Weinberg will focus on equity and debt commercial real estate capital markets transactions in the hotel and retail sectors in Florida. Weinberg has more than five years' experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining HFF, he was director of real estate at Rida Development and an associate with Trammell Crow Company-CB Richard Ellis.

Cyprexx Services LLC has a new online look. The Florida-based default and REO field services firm has just launched a completely redesigned Web site and Web portal. The new layout offers improved navigation features and provides both clients and vendors an easier-to-read site. In addition to offering more information about new releases and updates to the company's technology platform, the new login panel provides users with special enhancements that include an improved property search page to return results faster.

Lenders repossessed 1,050,500 homes last year, according to the 2010 end-of-year foreclosure report from RealtyTrac. The annual figure marks a record-high number of new bank-owned properties tracked by the company. The 2010 tally is up 14 percent from the previous year, when banks seized 918,376 homes. While the number of homes taken back by lenders jumped by more than 130,000 from 2009 to 2010, RealtyTrac's data show the number of default filings declined by 20 percent over the same period.