News

As one of the nation's largest mortgage servicers, CitiMortgage is still contending with a deluge of foreclosures that just doesn't seem to be abating. The company is launching a new pilot initiative Friday that will allow distressed CitiMortgage borrowers to avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes for six months if they agree to sign over their property deeds. Citi will also provide relocation assistance to ease the transition to another residence.

The relentless wave of foreclosures that has swelled and battered the housing industry for a good three years seems to have retreated in January, but it's not enough to mean the storm has passed. New data released by RealtyTrac Thursday shows that foreclosure filings were reported on 315,716 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of nearly 10 percent from December. It's a pattern we've already seen this time last year, and RealtyTrac says if history repeats itself, there will be another flood over the next few months.

National home prices fell 0.7 percent in December, according to the latest numbers from Denver-based Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS). Save for a brief rally throughout last summer, the company's benchmark for U.S. housing values was down nearly all of 2009. Now more than 22 percent below its high-water mark set in July 2007, the index has dropped to a level last seen in mid-2004, IAS said.

Cascade Financial Services in Mesa, Arizona has selected Advantage Systems' automated accounting system to address the lender's mortgage accounting needs. The company says it chose Advantage's solution because of its industry-specific software, loan-level and general ledger detail, and flexibility.

Atlanta-based Chrisley Asset Managent, a full-service REO management company, announced Wednesday the integration of short sales and loan modification services to its clients, streamlining the process for lenders and borrowers while increasing overall efficiency with a low-cost and reliable solution.

Despite what seemed to be a flattening - and in some cases even a reversal - of home price declines last year, there are signs that the dreaded ""double dip"" is developing in as many as one in five markets, Zillow says. While residential values in some markets appear to have found their bottom, the company has observed prices in such large metros as Boston, Atlanta, and San Diego to have leveled or begun to decrease again after consecutive monthly increases - early signs of what could become a second period of prolonged declines.

Marking a major milestone in its effort to provide more clarity and transparency in the mortgage process, Bank of America, N.A., (BofA) provided more than 1 million potential homebuyers with the lender's first mortgage Clarity Commitment. ""Customers told us they wanted transparency and 'no surprises' in the lending process, and the Clarity Commitment answers that need-helping potential homeowners clearly understand the key terms and conditions of their mortgage agreement prior to closing a loan,"" said Barbara Desoer, president of BofA Home Loans.

Despite low and stable interest rates, mortgage applications fell for the week ending February 5, 2010, according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.2 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the prior week.

Freddie Mac said Wednesday that it will purchase ""substantially all"" mortgages that are 120 days or more delinquent from the company's fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage Participation Certificate (PC) securities. With new accounting rules that took effect January 1, the company said it is cheaper to buy and hold these nonperforming loans on its books than to pay guarantee fees to security investors. As of December 31, 2009, the aggregate balance of such loans was just over $71 billion.

In an effort to enhance the appraisal ordering process for loan brokers, Loan-Score Decisioning Systems, an enterprise-class pricing and automated underwriting provider, and Global DMS, an appraisal management solutions firm, recently announced the integration of their systems.