News

Subprime mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial Corporation has converted the highest percentage of trial loan modifications for distressed homeowners to permanent status under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). According to the Treasury's just-released HAMP report on servicer performance, 83 percent of the Florida-based company's customers who had trial modifications through the federal program have now been moved into permanent modifications.

Reports on the San Francisco Bay Area housing market were mixed in April. New industry data shows that the median price for single-family homes in the Bay Area jumped 5.5 percent from March to April, but during the same period, sales volume fell 3.7 percent.

The future of U.S. home prices is acutely tied to the speed and the manner in which distressed sales work through the system, Moody's Economy.com stressed in a report issued this week. The discount on properties sold through foreclosure is now close to 40 percent of a non-distressed existing home price. Price cuts in short sales were averaging around 12 percent at the end of last year, but Moody's says short sale volume is not sufficient enough to temper the impact of foreclosure sales and curb further price declines.

While it's undeniable that the financial crisis and recession were triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis that began in late 2006 to early 2007, a working paper recently released by the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia suggests that reform to personal bankruptcy law also played an important role. Overall, the researchers calculated that bankruptcy reform caused the number of mortgage defaults to increase by around 200,000 per year even before the start of the financial crisis.

As homeowners continue to default on their mortgage loans, banks are desperate to determine the pre-default triggers that are causing this phenomenon. A new service offered by Atlanta-based VueLogic will give banks the opportunity to do just that and much more. Starting in June 2010, the company is bringing its loan level statistical scoring techniques to the default space to help banks determine the customer behaviors that trigger defaults.

The LAMCOnetwork, an REO vendor database provided by Lenders Asset Management Company, announced Monday that it will be hosting a members-only live and interactive ""Ask the Expert!"" Webinar on May 21st at 10:00 a.m. (PST). The Webinar will feature the company's CEO Brandon Hawkes and EVP Dan Reynolds, who will provide network members with an executive-level view of the distressed asset world and tips on how to increase their business.

In a servicing policy update issued Monday, Fannie Mae introduced a new Web-based technology tool that automates key functions required of servicers to evaluate borrowers for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The GSE's Workout Evaluator automates HAMP's net present value (NPV) test and the modification ""waterfall"" methodology required under the program. It is only for use by Fannie Mae servicers modifying Fannie Mae loans.

The law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP recently announced the addition of Mark Weibel as a partner in the firm's Dallas office. Weibel joins the firm with his experienced team of four associates, including Bryan L. Larson, Bryan D. Garner, Christopher W. Neilson, and Shannon Fey Stapp. Together, Weibel and his team will combine with Thompson & Knight's existing real estate, banking, and financing expertise to establish a capital markets practice group.

Interthinx recently announced the release of ValueGUARD, an automated collateral risk solution that the company says will revolutionize the way property, neighborhood, and market area risk can be assessed by lenders and investors. The solution identifies the risk of future value deterioration as well as risk associated with the current value of a property, Interthinx explained.

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams & Williams Worldwide Real Estate Auction announced the launch of a new proprietary index last week that tracks actual results derived from the company's monthly auction performance data. Williams & Williams says the combination of this tracking system and the company's own pricing models for residential and commercial real estate allow it to provide clients with a 30- to 90-day advanced view of real estate market performance.