News

Jones Lang LaSalle, a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate, has added two new executives to its real estate investment banking practice in Southern California and Houston. Bob Morey joins the firm's Los Angeles office as an EVP, and Ross Cannizaro was hired to the firm's Houston office as a VP.

A New York judge threw out a case against Countrywide Financial by investors who wanted the company to buy back mortgages that it had reduced payments for. Investors claimed it is unfair for them to have to absorb the cost of modified loans, and that Countrywide was required under contract to buy back any mortgages that it modified. In 2008, Bank of America agreed to an $8.4 billion settlement with attorneys general from several states regarding predatory lending charges against Countrywide.

The Congressional Oversight Panel has ""significant concerns"" related to accountability and conflicts of interest because of Treasury's extensive use of private contractors to carry out functions for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), particularly foreclosure prevention efforts. The largest TARP contracts were awarded to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie alone employs 600 workers on TARP's foreclosure programs, while Treasury has only 220 staffers working on all TARP programs combined.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has issued a new policy that outlines specific steps Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac servicers should take to identify and correct deficiencies in foreclosure paperwork. Evidence of servicing staff cutting corners to process foreclosures quickly has lawmakers, consumer advocates, and the entire general public calling for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures. But FHFA says bringing the process to a complete halt is not the answer.

The nation's poor employment picture has become one of the biggest impediments to a perceptible recovery in the mortgage markets - both for residential and commercial real estate. Job loss is now the primary trigger of default among struggling homeowners, and two separate research reports have uncovered a clear correlation between state-specific delinquency rates for commercial mortgages and unemployment levels. Nevada and Michigan rank among the highest for both, according to Fitch and Moody's.

Nearly two-thirds of American adults (63 percent) say the current economic situation makes them less likely to buy a house, especially lower-income individuals and families, according to a new national survey by FindLaw.com, a legal information Web site. Mortgage rates are at record lows and the market is saturated with homes, but only 8 percent of people say the current economic situation makes them more likely to buy a house.

The last time rates for 30-year mortgages were as low as they are now was in April 1951. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages have been under 5 percent for 23 weeks in a row, according to data gathered by Freddie Mac. This week, the GSE reports that the average 30-year rate fell again to break the survey's all-time low, hitting 4.19 percent. The 15-year fixed rate also averaged a record low of 3.62 percent.

New data from RealtyTrac shows that foreclosure filings were reported on 930,437 properties in the third quarter, a 4 percent increase from the previous three-month period. Both bank repossessions and scheduled auctions set quarterly records. RealtyTrac's latest report puts the impact of recent foreclosure freezes into perspective. The company found that foreclosure activity in the judicial states most affected by paperwork problems accounted for 40 percent of all filings in the third quarter and 36 percent of REOs.

Stewart Title Guaranty Co. is taking a guarded stance when it comes to repossessed properties that may be the subject of foreclosure paperwork reviews. It's been reported that the title insurer is making it difficult to write policies on REOs from lenders who've instituted foreclosure moratoriums. Stewart says it is evaluating the situation on a case-by-case basis. With concerns over establishing clear title to a property growing, many say the market for distressed properties has all but come to a standstill.

JPMorgan Chase kicked off the third-quarter earnings season Wednesday, and the company says profits are up 23 percent from a year ago. JPMorgan brought in $4.4 billion in net income during the quarter, beating analysts' expectations. During a conference call with investors, CEO Jamie Dimon announced that the company has expanded its foreclosure review to 41 states and 115,000 loan files. He also said the bank will stop using the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS).