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REO

Foreclosure Filings Down 4% in October: RealtyTrac

Foreclosure filings were reported on 332,172 properties during the month of October, according to data released by RealtyTrac Thursday. That tally represents a 4 percent decrease from the previous month. RealtyTrac says the numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent robo-signing controversy, which may result in further declines in November. Lenders seized 9 percent fewer homes last month than they did in September, before foreclosures were frozen in certain states.

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Inventories of For-Sale Homes Drop in Most Major Markets: Altos

Inventories of homes listed for sale are dwindling across the country, in some markets, significantly, according to Altos Research. Of the 26 major markets the company tracks, only three showed increases in inventory during the month of October - Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego - and Altos described their increases as ""slight."" Washington, D.C. had the biggest decline in its supply of listed homes. While, typically, decreases in inventory are evidence of a leveling off, Altos says the potential impact of the so-called shadow inventory looms large.

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Default Resource Offers New Service to Ensure Proper REO Management

Default Resource has developed a new report that will inspect and oversee work performed by REO and short sale listing agents. The company sends out independent inspectors to listed REO homes to check that the home is properly maintained, has a lockbox in place, is listed correctly in the MLS, and to detail any hazardous conditions on the property. Default Resource says it allows servicers or investors to know at a glance how their real estate sales partners are performing.

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Slide in Home Prices Signals Trouble Ahead: IAS

Residential property values fell 0.2 percent at the national level during the third quarter, according to Integrated Asset Services (IAS). In front of a seasonal slow-down in home sales, IAS says the data foreshadow ""particularly difficult times ahead"" for the housing market and for the U.S. economy. The company's report confirms that the nation's most devastated counties are showing no signs of bottoming. The robo-signing controversy is expected to slow the housing correction even further as banks hold back foreclosures.

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Realtors Exhibit Cautious Optimism for Housing’s Future

At the 2010 Realtors Conference, real estate professionals were cautiously optimistic about the current and future state of the industry. Most agreed that the rise in home sales and prices during the boom was both unrealistic and unsustainable. Today, the industry has returned to a more sound and balanced idea of homeownership. But current conditions mandate agents educate themselves about buying and selling distressed properties and working with investor buyers, particularly when it comes to handling short sales.

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National Home Prices Down 5%, Local Pockets See Gains: Clear Capital

Home prices continue to plunge across much of the U.S., according to Clear Capital, but the company says it's seeing trends at the micro-market level which give credence to the old adage that real estate is local. Clear Capital's home price report released Tuesday shows that residential values at the national level are down 5 percent for the three months ending in October. Several markets in the East are bucking the national trend and posting gains, but Clear Capital also names six markets that have already entered double dip territory.

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Fannie Mae’s Losses Narrow, but $2.5B More Needed in Aid

The nation's largest mortgage financier reported a smaller loss during the third quarter than it did in the second, with the latest figures representing a $17 billion improvement over financial results from a year earlier. Fannie Mae says, though, that it needs another $2.5 billion from taxpayers to cover its net worth deficit. The GSE also reported that home retention actions were down 14 percent in Q3, while home repossessions rose by nearly 24 percent. As of September 30, Fannie Mae's inventory of single-family REO properties stood at 166,787.

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Advantage Title Develops REO Monitoring System

Advantage Title Company recently announced the release of its proprietary REO monitoring system, TitleFlow, which addresses the requirements of foreclosed transactions. The system enables Advantage Title to monitor client-specific requirements and production workflow. Turn times of multiple tasks can be closely tracked, with time-sensitive color coding that enables Advantage Title's team to determine at a glance the status of various jobs for each property in the client's pipeline.

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Fitch Says Outlook for Entire Residential Servicing Sector is ‘Negative’

Fitch Ratings has assigned a negative outlook to the entire U.S. residential mortgage servicer sector, citing concerns over procedural defects in the judicial foreclosure process. Fitch says robo-signing issues pose several risks for the servicers involved, including additional costs and resources to research and remediate errors, potential penalties, and flawed reputations. But the damage goes beyond just those servicers. Fitch says it's now an industry-wide issue that will place all servicers under increased scrutiny.

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NAR’s Pending Home Sales Gauge Slips 1.8%

The number of contracts signed for purchases of previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped in September. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Friday that its pending home sales index slipped 1.8 percent - the first decline reported since June. Economists polled by Reuters were anticipating a 3 percent increase. The fact that the September drop occurred before all the problems with foreclosure affidavits came to light, and created uncertainties for buyers of REO properties, means there's likely more volatility to come in home sales statistics.

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