REO

With a common goal of economic recovery, Congress and the Federal Reserve diverge on the best means to that end. Should the housing sector finance the government's economic policies, or should the government help boost the housing sector? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke submitted a white paper to Congress last week as a framework for policymakers to help the housing market, but that move has drawn the ire of at least one senator.

Nationwide REO Brokers, Inc. (NREOB) unveiled a new service for lenders and servicers Wednesday, offering independent loan-level foreclosure reviews and legal opinion. Due to the ever increasing complexities surrounding the foreclosure process, particularly in NREOB's home state of Massachusetts, the company has expanded its service offerings to include a complete foreclosure document evaluation performed by attorneys and supervised paralegals.

Marking the fifth consecutive month of decline, home prices fell 0.8 percent in October, matching levels last seen in 2002, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Home Price Index released Wednesday. As of October, the national home price average was $200,000. The year-to-date decline in October was 2.7 percent. The LPS index noted that price declines were consistent across the country. In fact, prices fell in October in 403 out of the 409 metro areas LPS tracks.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a nationwide provider of property preservation services, inspections, and REO property maintenance, announced Tuesday the addition of Tod Phelps as chief information officer (CIO). Phelps started his career in the IT industry 23 years ago.

CoreLogic released its November home price report Monday, showing prices nationally fell 1.4 percent month-over-month and 4.3 percent year-over-year. November marks the fourth consecutive month CoreLogic's index has returned negative results, with the downward pressure coming from distressed REO and short sale transactions. When you exclude these distressed deals from the dataset, the year-over-year decline is just 0.6 percent. In fact, CoreLogic says the non-distressed market is expected to be down ""very modestly"" at year-end.

While year-over-year home price measurements notched down in 2011, prices are expected to see a slight uptick in 2012, according to Clear Capital. Should the valuation company's predictions ring true, it would be the first time since 2006 that the change in annual home prices has landed in positive territory. Data released by Clear Capital Monday shows year-over-year, national home prices dropped 2.1 percent in 2011. For 2012, the company projects a slight gain of 0.2 percent.

New data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) shows mortgage delinquencies at the end of November 2011 were nearly 25 percent below their January 2010 peak. LPS says over that period, the number of noncurrent mortgages was slashed by nearly a quarter simply because fewer borrowers were falling behind on their payments - a trend which dominated 2010 and the first quarter of 2011. Unfortunately, the company says that trend has come to an end.

The Federal Reserve is throwing its support behind a large-scale REO-to-rental program to address the oversupply of vacant homes and prevent property values from falling further. The Fed notes that in contrast to the market for owner-occupied homes, rental housing is strengthening. Officials say a government-facilitated program has the potential to help the housing market and improve loss recoveries. They've identified specific markets with large concentrations of vacant REOs, where bulk sales to investors make sense.

In the servicing sector, compliance was the buzz word in the fourth quarter of 2011, according Equator, a leading software provider for the default servicing industry. And compliance will continue to be top-of-mind throughout 2012, according to the company. ""The needs of our clients have focused on the demands for stricter compliance and Infrastructure Security,"" said John Vella, COO of Equator. Having released its short sale module in 2009, Equator has initiated almost 1.2 million short sales as of the fourth quarter of 2011.

Wipro Gallagher Solutions (WGS), a provider of end-to-end lending solutions for financial institutions, has redefined its fulfillment offerings to better meet the demands of middle- and top-tier lenders and their servicers. WGS has revised its business process outsourcing (BPO) packages depending on the lender's volume of originations and service offerings, with solutions tailored to fulfill clients' specific needs.