The Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) has issued a report finding that Fannie Mae overpaid mortgage servicers approximately $89 million in expenses related to default servicing in 2012. Fannie Mae outsources its reimbursement review process to management consulting firm Accenture, whose employees manually process the vast majority of claims.

Despite some softening housing measures, Moody's Analytics predicted this week that the market will remain strong through 2014 and 2015.

MountainView Servicing Group announced Wednesday the offer of two MSR portfolios with combined unpaid principal balances of $2.1 billion. One is a $635 million Fannie Mae A/A portfolio that will bid on September 19. The other contains Ginnie Mae MSR’s worth approximately $1 billion and approximately $500 million in MSR’s from Fannie Mae.

One of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10,000,000 shares of Class A common stock at a public offering price of $22.00 per share. The company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 shares of Class A common stock to cover overallotments, if any.

The housing market is transitioning away from a rebound driven primarily by speculative forces to one where the underlying fundamentals will be much more important. Over the past few years investor purchases have been the primary driver of the housing recovery, helping clear inventories of foreclosed and lender-owned properties and pulling home prices dramatically higher.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) held a press conference Wednesday accusing Bank of America of ongoing neglect of REO properties in minority neighborhoods vs. white neighborhoods in 18 metropolitan areas, which the NFHA says would be in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

NewOak Advisors announced Wednesday the formation of a strategic alliance with Smith Regulatory Strategies, a Washington D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in financial services risk management and regulatory compliance.

The U.S. Treasury, the County of Santa Clara and the Silicon Valley business community pledged their collective support to create solutions for Silicon Valley’s housing shortage by providing an infusion of almost $3 million in funding for Housing Trust Silicon Valley’s (HTSV) affordable housing programs.

In August, lenders completed 261 foreclosures in Massachusetts-–a 54 percent drop from the same month last year, according to the Warren Group. August marks the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year foreclosure deed decreases. The 54 percent drop in foreclosure deeds compares to the 566 deeds completed in August 2012.

Helmed by founder and CEO Jodi Gaines, Claims Recovery Financial Services, LLC (CRFS), is primed for a growth and expansion project in New York State that will also cement the claims processor as the largest private employer in Orleans County (NY). CRFS will expand its operations into the former JPMorgan Chase complex at 231 East Avenue in Albion.