REO

In an announcement Thursday, The Alter Group, a corporate real estate developer based in Chicago, said it has formed Alter Asset Recovery, which will provide expedited solutions for lenders and special servicers holding distressed properties. The formation of this new affiliate comes at a time when distressed commercial real estate assets are potentially the largest challenge facing banks and other lenders.

Although short sales are likely to increase in 2010, the jump in these transactions is unlikely to have any real impact on the housing market, according to a new study by Housing Predictor. While more at-risk homeowners are turning to short sales as an alternative to foreclosure, Housing Predictor says the small number of short sales that are actually approved by banks represent less than 1 percent of all homes facing foreclosure.

Superior Home Services has announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to a new site in Scottsdale, Arizona. The location is part of the new Scottsdale Quarter development opened last year.

As foreclosures continue to plague homeowners across the nation, foreclosure auctions are becoming an increasingly popular option to sell these properties. Due to the increased demand for these auctions, Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC), a real estate auction company based in Irvine, California, says sales are better than ever.

Bank of America expects to release about 6,000 foreclosed properties into the Nevada housing market in 2010, about 500 a month, according to a local Las Vegas newspaper. The pent-up supply is part of that looming shadow inventory - a stock of distressed properties that have yet to hit the market because of banks' voluntary foreclosure moratoriums prior to the administration's Making Home Affordable program, complex modification evaluations, and lengthy short sale negotiations.

The real estate market is swimming with foreclosures in states like Arizona and Nevada, and banks are aggressively discounting these properties at auctions to move them off the books. As a result, distressed properties are becoming some of the most sought after homes for buyers, according to Hudson & Marshall of Texas, Inc.(H&M), a foreclosure auction firm.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has announced a temporary policy that will lift the 90-day waiting period to obtain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance for the purchase of a foreclosed home. FHA research has shown that acquiring, rehabilitating, and reselling foreclosed properties often takes less than 90 days. The temporary waiver will allow FHA borrowers to purchase HUD-owned, bank-owned, or properties resold through private sales as soon as they hit the market.

Results-Based Strategies for Managing the Bulk of Business That '09 Left Behind -- First American's David Tiberio lays out effective solutions for addressing elevated levels of REO inventories in 2010 and 2011.

The House Financial Services Committee passed a bill Wednesday that lawmakers say will prevent banks and other financial firms from growing so large that their collapse could disrupt the overall economy.

Despite the industry's unprecedented efforts to keep people in their homes, there are more borrowers behind on their mortgage payments than there have been in 37 years.