REO

Nonprofits across the country are partnering up with lenders and government agencies to minimize neighborhood blight caused by vacant foreclosed properties. The topic was part of the curriculum at the Five Star Default Servicing Conference and Expo, and the panelists found themselves speaking to a full house. Paul Kaboth with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland started the discussion by stressing that a marketplace strained with high levels of REOs and vacancies will persist for at least another five years.

Field Asset Services (FAS), a nationwide provider of field services to the REO industry, announced the availability of a new pre-foreclosure service called Avert this week. The company explained that by utilizing integrated technology and building on FAS's experienced staff, Avert offers banks and servicers, for the first time, a single source solution to reduce default expenses and avoid foreclosures.

Foreclosure starts soared during the month of August in states along the country's western coast, reversing what had been a declining trend over the past several months, according to ForeclosureRadar. The firm keeps close tabs on foreclosure activity in the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. It recorded a spike in the first notice filed in the foreclosure process across the five-state coverage area, driven by a 116 percent month-over-month increase in activity from Bank of America.

Freddie Mac sent a letter to investors regarding bulk sales of foreclosed homes. The GSE offers investors the opportunity to purchase properties in bulk from HomeSteps - a division of Freddie Mac that offers sales of the GSE's foreclosed properties. The GSE says it has found most investors are interested in purchasing at 40 to 60 cents on the dollar below current list price, but Freddie is not considering such significant price cuts. The GSE says it is ""extremely mindful"" of how its pricing affects the market.

The housing industry relies on about 10 million broker price opinions (BPOs) each year, according to Franklin E. Rodebaugh, principal broker and president of American Wholesale Properties, Inc. BPOs are not going to go away, Rodebaugh said during a panel discussion at the Five Star Default Servicing Conference and Expo this week. He added that BPOs are ""becoming a far more exacting science than they've ever been before,"" and he believes there are a lot more changes in store for the BPO market.

Home price depreciation over the past few years has made housing more undervalued relative to incomes than ever before, yet home sales have continued to decline. Even more striking is that the dampened activity can be largely attributed to a weakening in demand from cash buyers and investors, according to the researchers at Capital Economics. The firm has found that since January, the number of homes purchased by cash buyers and investors has fallen by 26 percent.

HomeServices of America, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has formed a national title and closing network. The new network provides ""brick & mortar"" title and closing services in all 50 states. Local providers handle transactions, while the network provides a single point-of-contact for all title and closing services nationwide.

Santa Ana, California-based CoreLogic has exceeded 1 million active real estate listings on its Partner InfoNet program, which started operation in June 2010. Partner InfoNet is a revenue sharing program in which multiple listing services (MLSs) license their listing data to CoreLogic for use in risk management products for mortgage lenders, servicers, and capital markets. The program represents more than 300,000 real estate professionals.

The lingering effects of the foreclosure moratoriums enacted after evidence of improper foreclosure processing came to light appear to be fading. Data released by RealtyTrac Thursday shows foreclosure filings heading upward during the month of August, with all of the increase coming from new default notices. The tracking company says overall filings jumped 7 percent between July and August. Default notices posted their biggest month-to-month increase since August of 2007, up 33 percent.

Carrington Property Services, LLC (CPS), a residential asset management company headquartered in California, has hired Michael Harris as its new president. Harris joins Carrington from Stewart Asset Recovery (STAR) where he served as president, responsible for its day-to-day operations, including business development, product and service enhancements, and its vendor network.