REO

Of that 9.9 percent distressed sales share reported for May 2015, REO sales accounted for 6.4 percent of all home sales, the lowest share for REO since October 2007, when it was reported at 6 percent.

The Senators cited a recent report by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) which alleged that REO properties in minority-dominated neighborhoods were more than twice as likely to have deficiencies such significant amounts of trash and debris, and unsecured, broken, or damaged doors than REO properties in predominantly white neighborhoods.

As has historically been the case, REO sales had the largest cash sales share in March, followed by resales (34.5 percent), short sales (31.6 percent), and new home sales (14.9 percent). All those numbers represented declines from February, according to CoreLogic.

March's distressed sales share was the lowest percentage for any March since 2007. According to CoreLogic, distressed sales usually experience a month-over-month decline in March due to seasonality; this past March, the distressed sales share fell by 1.9 percentage points from February. According to CoreLogic, 8.4 of home sales were REO (real estate-owned) transactions in March 2015, while 3.7 percent were short sales, totaling 12.1 percent.

In CoreLogic's May 2015 MarketPulse released earlier this week, Boesel examined the question of whether or not REO share was headed back toward "a more normal level." Its most recently measured rate of 10 percent is far below the share at the worst of the crisis, which was 28 percent. In some metros, the REO share got as high as 70 percent at the worst of the crisis.

Topics of discussions included whether short sales are still relevant, whether or not to sell occupied properties, claims without certificate of title, resolving the "hold bucket," determining the right disposition strategy for the property, the impact of prolonged sales cycles on the community, what to evaluate when considering a property repair, and what can be done to expedite the foreclosure process on vacant and abandoned properties.

The REO cash sales share percentage of 59.8 for February still has not completely recovered from what was termed a seasonal decline from November, when fell from 61.1 percent to 58.4 percent, though it did move back up to 60 percent for January.

Overall investor intent in April's survey showed that slightly more than half (50.4 percent) of investors preferred flipping as a strategy, while 48.3 percent of investors said they intended to employ a hold-to-rent strategy. This data compared with 53.5 percent and 44.8 percent, respectively, in Q1. "Most of the country and most investor segments performed in a manner very consistent with what we’ve seen over the past year, but investment strategies in Texas appear to have shifted pretty dramatically," Auction.com EVP Rick Sharga said.

Provider of REO asset management and loss mitigation services for mortgage servicers, investment firms, and banking institutions, Green River Capital (GRC) recently named Katie Brewer as COO.

Distressed home sales accounted for 13.5 percent of all home sales nationwide in February 2015, which represented a decline of 3 percentage points from February 2014, according to CoreLogic's February 2015 Distressed Sales data released Tuesday. February 2015's distressed sales ...