News

After five years of significant declines, title insurance premiums written in 2009 nearly held steady from 2008, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) reported Thursday. According to ALTA's 2009 Market Share Analysis, the industry reported a mere 4.5 percent drop in title insurance premiums in 2009, falling to $9.6 billion from $10 billion in 2008. Despite the national decline, 25 states experienced increases in year-to-year title insurance premiums, ALTA said.

Mesa Law Group, a California-based law firm with specialty financial services, recently announced that it has partnered with Investors Finance Inc. to provide homeowners an alternative to loan modifications through the firm's Home Owner Mortgage Restructuring (HOMR) program. A strong alternative to loan modification, the HOMR program reduces the principal balance and helps those at risk of losing their home, Mesa Law Group said.

NeighborWorks America and the Ad Council have announced the launch of new national public service announcements (PSA) as part of an ongoing foreclosure prevention campaign. The PSAs are designed to educate homeowners about where they can turn for help if they are at risk of foreclosure.

Leroy Hayden has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge in connection with a $136 million fraud scheme that sent Pine Brook, New Jersey-based U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its subsidiary CU National Mortgage into bankruptcy in early 2009. Hayden held the position of servicing manager at U.S. Mortgage from 2004 to 2009. According to federal court documents, during that time he conspired with others to fraudulently sell Fannie Mae hundreds of loans belonging to various credit unions.

While the financial crisis has significantly reduced access to mortgage credit for all borrowers and communities, neighborhoods of color have been hit the hardest, according to a new industry study. The report, Paying More for the American Dream IV, examined the mortgage lending patterns of banks, including the nation's four largest financial institutions, in seven major metropolitan areas. The analysts found that prime mortgage lending in communities of color has declined more than twice as much as it has in predominantly white communities.

Commercial real estate in the U.S. has recorded its first positive quarterly return in 18 months, according to the global research firm IPD. The company's index shows a total return of 1.2 percent for the first three months of this year, boosted by a sizable increase in income yield. IPD says the performance of the commercial property market has shown a steady improvement since bottoming out in Q1 2009, with returning investors now starting to compete on pricing more aggressively.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled a new strategic plan for the federal agency in an address to all HUD staff nationwide on Wednesday. Donovan says the plan will serve as the agency's roadmap toward accomplishing its mission of creating strong, sustainable communities and affordable homes for all. At the top of Donovan's goal list is strengthening the housing market by reducing foreclosures.

The first three months of 2010 marked the sixth consecutive quarter that sales in both the existing-home and condo markets in Florida increased on a year-over-year basis, according to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors. A total of 38,846 existing homes sold statewide in the first quarter of this year, up 24 percent from the same period last year. And 16,897 existing condos sold in the the quarter, surging 67 percent from year-ago levels.

A new technology partnership between DocuSign and PropertyInfo, a Stewart subsidiary, was announced Wednesday. The two companies said they are joining forces to accelerate online transactions for real estate closings by integrating DocuSign's eSignature service with PropertyInfo's SureClose management system.

Redwood Trust, Inc. is again making moves to return some liquidity to the jumbo residential mortgage market, with a new program for buying banks' individual non-conforming loans as they are originated. Last month, the real estate investment trust (REIT) put together the industry's first private-label residential mortgage securitization in nearly two years, which was backed by jumbo loans. This week, Redwood said it will begin buying lenders high-dollar jumbo loans one at a time.