SigniaDocs, a Houston-based provider of eMortgage services, has named Harry Gardner to the post of chief strategy officer. Gardner is the former VP of industry technology at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and former president of MISMO (Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization).
Read More »Long-Term Rates Continue to Drop
Mortgage interest rates slipped lower again this week, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) released Thursday by Freddie Mac. Frank Nothaft, the GSE’s VP and chief economist, said that along with the recent moderation in home price declines, lower rates are providing a big boost to the nation’s ailing housing market.
Read More »Builders Raise Own Appraisal Concerns
Appraisal practices have taken center stage lately with the roll out of the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) by the GSEs. And now, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has raised its own concerns over valuations of foreclosures, REOs, and short sales.
Read More »New Research Reveals One-Quarter of Mortgage Defaults Are Strategic
New research released last week by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, suggests that a novel phenomenon is at hand in the fallout of today’s housing crisis – strategic default on mortgage loans.
Read More »S&P Report: Home Price Declines Ease
According to Standard & Poor’s, a recent improvement in the rate of home price declines is a signal that the housing slump is nearing a bottom. The company’s home price index has been falling for the last three years.
Read More »Government Expands Refinance Program for Underwater Borrowers
The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it is expanding its Home Affordable Refinance Program to allow a larger pool of underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates.
Read More »Chase Releases Mortgage Mod Numbers
Chase Bank announced this week that it has approved 138,000 trial mortgage modifications for struggling homeowners since it began processing loan workouts through President Obama’s Making Home Affordable program on April 6.
Read More »Mortgage Apps Down Despite Rate Drop
Applications for home purchases and mortgage refinances both declined last week, despite a 10 basis point decline in interest rates, according to the Weekly Applications Survey issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Wednesday.
Read More »Connecticut’s Distressed Home Sales Rise
The number of bank-owned property sales in Connecticut has jumped significantly, according to The Warren Group, which provides real estate data for the entire New England region. The research firm said REOs represent nearly 6 percent of the state’s single-family home sales so far in 2009, compared to just 1 percent last year.
Read More »Homeowner Toolbox Estimates 80 Percent of Loan Mods Are Denied
Irvine, California-based Homeowner Toolbox Inc. is helping homeowners wade through the complexities of the loan modification process and showing them how to avoid the roadblocks that prevent consumers from getting a modification.
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