News

Although the median price for existing homes in California soared 15 percent from January 2009 to January 2010, the state's housing supply continued to decrease, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.). The organization's unsold inventory index fell to 5.8 months in January, a notable drop from 7.3 months during the same month last year. Home sales declined on a month-to-month basis, but are holding steady at pre-peak levels from early in the last decade.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has put forth a concept for a new forbearance program that would allow borrowers who've lost their jobs to remain in their homes for up to nine months. MBA cites recent statistics that show it takes the average unemployed worker six to seven months to find a new job. MBA says once new employment is secured, the program would serve as a ""bridge"" for the borrower to be considered for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

To keep pace with rapid growth in its client base, National Creditors Connection, Inc. (NCCI) is expanding its sales force. The Lake Forest, California-based company just announced that it has promoted Justin Meece to East region director of sales. Upon his promotion, Mark Shapiro was added to the team as a new national account manager.

As a result of blizzard conditions and increasing interest rates, mortgage loan application volume fell 8.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending February 19, 2010, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

On Tuesday, Field Asset Services (FAS), an Austin, Texas-based provider of field services to the REO industry, released the results of an independent study of foreclosed properties that compared the number of days on market (DOM) for remodeled properties versus those that were not remodeled.

Interthinx, a national provider of proven risk mitigation and regulatory compliance tools, recently launched the Interthinx Conditioned Valuation Model (CVM) - a unique integration of automated valuation technology and analytics tempered by a professional property inspection.

The latest home price report from Standard & Poor's indicates that property values may be leveling off. The company's national index, which is produced only once a quarter and covers all nine U.S. census divisions, showed a seasonally-adjusted gain of 0.3 percent between the third and fourth quarters of last year. The movement may seem slight, but it's a significant improvement from the freefall that's pushed home values 32 percent below their 2006 peak.

San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a division of MDA Lending Solutions and a provider of property data to real estate and mortgage professionals, recently announced that Burbank, California-based Lockheed Federal Credit Union (LFCU) has selected MDA DataQuick's collateral validation to help the credit union, which has $2.9 billion in assets, proactively identify and manage loan risk and set loan loss reserves.

Stewart Lender Services is offering a new solution to help mortgage servicers meet the requirements of the federal government's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. The company says it is providing servicers with an effective alternative to costly in-house processing, while improving communication among all parties involved and accelerating transaction completion.

Negative equity continues to diminish the severity of foreclosure for many homeowners. Industry studies show that borrowers become more likely to default when they owe more on their home than it is worth. Unfortunately, the underwater number is still growing. First American CoreLogic said Tuesday that more than 11.3 million residential properties were in negative equity at the end of 2009. That equates to 24 percent of all homes in the United States with mortgages.