In an announcement today, Starwood Property Trust, a commercial real estate finance company based in Greenwich, Connecticut, said Andrew J. Sossen joined the company on January 14 as EVP, general counsel, and chief compliance officer.

In order to inform congressional decision-making representatives about efforts to address problems in the mortgage markets, the growing problem of poor loan performance and negative home equity in the nonprime mortgage market was addressed in a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Few borrowers are asking lenders for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) these days, what with all the bad publicity paid to ARM resets in the face of soaring foreclosures and borrowing costs for fixed mortgages now sitting at record lows. An annual report on the ARM market published by Freddie Mac Tuesday shows adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for just 3 percent of all conventional home purchase loans in 2009. That's the smallest piece of the pie for ARMs since at least 1982. At that time, they made up 62 percent of all new mortgages.

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.

Citigroup, Inc. said Tuesday that it lost $7.8 billion during the fourth quarter of 2009 because of its $20 billion repayment of government bailout dollars. The bank also attributed some of the deficit to soured home loans, but Citi says it still thinks of mortgages as an attractive asset, not toxic waste, and plans to keep them as a central piece of the company's business.

LPS Field Services and LPS Asset Management Solutions, both divisions of Lender Processing Services, will host the South Florida Code Enforcement Summit, in cooperation with the Gold Coast chapter of the Florida Association of Code Enforcement, on Wednesday, February 17, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

IndiSoft LLC, a technology development firm that focuses on systems for the default services industry, has hired Brian Friedman as SVP. He will be responsible for business development, contract negotiations, investor relations, and joint ventures.

According to the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, the economy is on a sustainable recovery path, and job growth will return this year. However, a more rapid economic growth will be hindered by high unemployment and restrained consumer spending.

In an effort to prevent foreclosures in communities across the country, Wells Fargo & Co. said it is continuing to use the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and other modifications to provide customers with mortgage payment relief. As a result, over 400,000 Wells Fargo loan customers received assistance through active trial and completed modifications in 2009.

Florida was hit hard by foreclosures in 2009, and a predicted increase in foreclosures in 2010 has prompted many attorneys to add foreclosure defense to their practices, according to Sarasota, Florida-based AmStar Litigation Support, a provider of continuing education and legal process outsourcing (LPO).