News

As REO sales continue to increase -- according to the latest market report released by Zillow, REO sales made up 22.2 percent of U.S. home sales in March -- it is vital that lenders receive assistance in completing these transactions. In an effort to provide this assistance, MRG Document Technologies has launched an REO document package creation capability within its Miracle Online mortgage document preparation system.

MDA DataQuick announced Tuesday that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Digital Map Products (DMP) to combine DMP's geospatial mapping technology with MDA DataQuick's real estate data. According to John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick, this partnership will empower real estate professionals by helping them better visualize data and market analysis, and ultimately reduce risk.

Further expanding its existing range of default management services, the business outsourcing firm Zenta announced Wednesday that it has successfully implemented an end-to-end short sale program that is fully compliant with the administration's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. According to the company, this workflow-based process management system is customized to adhere to the latest HAFA guidelines and timetables.

The percentage of home loans making their way through the foreclosure process jumped to a new record high during the first quarter of 2010, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. Despite the industry's, and the government's, all-out attack on the nation's foreclosure problem, MBA's regular quarterly study showed that 4.63 percent of outstanding mortgages were in foreclosure at the end of March. Another 10.06 percent were past due.

Despite a surge in refinance applications, total mortgage loan application volume fell 1.5 percent for the week ending May 14, 2010, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. MBA attributed the fall-off to a drastic plunge in purchase applications, which tumbled 27.1 percent from one week earlier, marking the lowest level observed in the survey since May of 1997. MBA's refinance index, on the other hand, jumped 14.5 percent.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan is asking Congress to release additional funds to help communities combat the ongoing effects of the housing crisis and home foreclosures. He says the Obama administration is committed to working with lawmakers to secure a third round of funding for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The federal agency has disbursed $6 billion through NSP to help local governments and non-profit developers buy and rehabilitate or demolish vacant and foreclosed homes in their communities.

The time it's taking for a property to move from the first stage of the foreclosure process to auction has shrunk in Massachusetts, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Warren Group. The Boston-based research firm found that it is now taking an average of about 4.6 months for a property to hit the auction block in the Bay State, compared to eight months in the early part of 2008.

Consumer default data released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's and Experian show a sharp drop in the number of overdue first and second mortgages. Based on Experian's consumer credit database of approximately $11 trillion in outstanding loans sourced from 11,500 lenders, the companies' April default index for first mortgages was down 31 percent from a year ago, while defaults on second mortgages fell 45 percent over the past 12 months.

In the first quarter of 2010, commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 12 percent higher than the same period last year but 26 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday. New origination volumes varied considerably by investor group. MBA found that loans through securities conduits were up 657 percent from a year ago, while originations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which remained robust through the credit crisis, fell by almost half.

As of April 30, Wells Fargo had completed 36,094 permanent modifications under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). According to Treasury, Wells Fargo ranks third for the number of permanent modifications completed to date, trailing behind Bank of America, with 56,398 permanent modifications, and JP Morgan Chase, with 39,507.