In an effort to expedite REO sales, Fannie Mae has adopted a new policy. As part of this policy, Fannie Mae may accept offers to purchase homes it has repossessed without notifying loan servicers, and loan servicers may be required to reimburse Fannie Mae for a loss if it turns out the original mortgage on the home did not meet its eligibility or underwriting requirements, Inman News said Wednesday.

The international asset management firm TCW Group Inc. has pulled out of the Treasury's highly-anticipated but slow-to-progress initiative to buy banks's toxic mortgage-backed securities, the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP).

LenderLive Network Inc. has announced a strategic partnership with Customer Retention Solutions Inc. (CRS) that the company says will provide mortgage servicers with performance analytics and the targeted direct marketing and back office resources needed to originate and fulfill loan refinances and modifications.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has expanded its preferred service provider program with Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services to include the company's Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and Regulation GG tool kits, as well as the company's suite of Regulation CC products.

The Florida Supreme Court has instituted a statewide managed mediation program to open up communication between lenders and distressed borrowers prior to foreclosure proceedings in the hopes of stemming the state's raging foreclosure problem.

Servicers who lower distressed homeowners's mortgage payments by reducing the principal balance, as opposed to just making interest rate adjustments, are much more likely to see the payments keep coming in and ward off a redefault, according to a new study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

While the bumps and bruises of the housing meltdown are far from healed, the vitals do indicate it's on the mend, nonetheless.

The impact of the global economic recession in 2009 was experienced by commercial real estate markets around the world, according to the 24th annual Global Market Report released Tuesday by Princeton, New Jersey-based NAI Global.

Jointly developed by the American Securitization Forum (ASF) and Standard & Poor's Fixed Income Risk Management Services (FIRMS), the American Securitization Forum Loan Identification Number Code (ASF LINC) is a new standardized universal code that creates greater data transparency at the collateral level. Truckee, California-based Clear Capital, a provider of collateral valuation for residential mortgage-backed securities, announced today that the company has updated its systems to accept the new loan identification code.

In an announcement Tuesday, Shelton, Connecticut-based Clayton Holdings LLC, a provider of customized risk analysis, loss mitigation, operational solutions, and staffing services, said Edward S. Robertson has joined the company as managing director of commercial real estate services.