News

According to the New York State Banking Department, more than 76,000 New York homeowners have received 90-day pre-foreclosure notices since May 31, and a total of 134,000 pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to those who have fallen behind on mortgage payments since data collection began in February. The banking department says it is working with 10 non-profit housing counseling agencies throughout the state, which use the data to target their services to those homeowners most at-risk.

Jones Lang LaSalle and its partner Real Estate Disposition, LLC (REDC) will host a hotel-only note and REO auction in November with more than $420 million in primarily non-performing notes. The companies say it will be the largest hotel-note auction in the United States. The 62 notes and two REO properties are from five special servicers and two regional banks. They are backed by full and select service hotels throughout 25 states and carry an average unpaid balance of $6.4 million.

Home loan applications for mortgage refinancing increased for the first time since late August, as borrowers sought to take advantage of the lowest market interest rates in more than 50 years. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday that its measurement of refinance applications jumped 21 percent for the week ending October 8, 2010. Refinance volumes are now close to their highest level of the year.

Denver-based BlackBox Logic LLC has hired Scott Spittler as a senior applications developer and David Feiner as its new business strategy associate to support the company's recent growth. The data aggregation service company provides a database of loan-level collateral underlying non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) for investors, broker/dealers, and researchers.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a nationwide provider of property preservation, inspections and REO property maintenance, is now providing photo inspection services to supplement the traditional data required for valuations, proof of property condition, and other verification reporting.

Home prices in the United States found their floor during the early part of 2010 and are expected to begin trending upward next year, according to a panel of elite economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. They are projecting gains in home prices of 1.2 percent over the course of 2011. ""The housing recovery is intact, but tepid overall. Home prices have hit bottom,"" according to the group of economists.

The only national radio talk show devoted to commercial real estate, ""Commercial Real Estate Show,"" launched October 2 on CREshow.com and in Atlanta on Biz 1190 AM (WAFS). The weekly show is geared toward business owners, investors, property owners, lenders, and people in businesses related to commercial real estate. It highlights news and market updates, and features industry guests discussing a weekly topic, such as commercial loan workouts.

During the third quarter, 49 mortgage-related companies went under or closed down part of their operations, according to industry data released Tuesday. Organizational shake-ups were felt at even the nation's largest lenders. One top-four bank put the brakes on its subprime lending business, while the country's No. 1 lender abandoned mortgage broker originations. As of the end of September, industry casualties for the year tallied 158. However, overall mortgage-related failures this year are on track to subside from 2009.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is holding meetings with the nation's four largest lenders to address growing concerns about their processes for short sales and selling REO homes. The trade group's leadership team has already met with representatives from Bank of America and Wells Fargo to discuss, as NAR put it, ""the problems Realtors face every day when working to get deals to the closing table."" Meetings are scheduled later this year with Chase Home Mortgage and CitiMortgage.

The National Association of Women REO Brokerages (NAWRB) intends to fill a void within the distressed services industry by advocating for a uniform, industry certification for women business owners. No mechanism currently exists to ensure that women-owned businesses (WOBs) are actually woman owned and operated, according to the Irvine, California-headquartered organization.