Tag Archives: Auction.com

The nation's leading online real estate marketplace, Auction.com, has announced that Mindy Heppberger has been named the company's new executive vice president and chief legal officer.

Auction.com has launched a new portion of its website designed to promote an online community among real estate professionals.

Auction.com announced Monday that it had hired a new chief financial officer. Tim Morse, a former CFO at Yahoo!, has been named as the company’s CFO and executive vice president.

We can expect to see the U.S. housing market cool off as we move into 2014 for a number of reasons–some economic, some specific to the housing market itself. And the implications are significant for companies in the default services industry.

Auction.com and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) are joining forces to advance sustainable Hispanic homeownership. Hispanic homebuyers are the largest segment of new homebuyers nationwide.

The veterans of this business can remember when REOs ran in the neighborhood of 150,000 a year, delinquency rates were just around 4 percent, and you only needed a credit score of 620 to qualify for a prime mortgage loan. But the housing finance industry, and default servicing especially, has changed. In the cover story of it's September issue, DS News looks at the many factors--from a slew of new regulatory mandates to an altered public perception of debt obligations--that have altered the business into something far from customary.

Many economists and market observers have suggested the market is poised for continued growth as the recovery enters its third year, and there are positive elements in play that provide some reasons for optimism. Recent loan vintages continue to perform at levels better than historical norms, which has allowed the industry to work through its backlog of distressed assets; foreclosure activity is declining; and housing starts have begun to rise.

In a commentary shared with DSNews.com, Peter Muoio, chief economist for Auction.com Research, revealed the company's predictions for 2014. Muoio says the housing recovery will get its second wind next year, the Federal Reserve's tapering of stimulus measures will extend for a longer period that most analysts are expecting, REO-to-rental will cool off, and the Canadian housing bubble will come closer to bursting.

Both large institutional and smaller ""mom and pop"" investors have been very active purchasing homes at a steep discount, primarily in housing-bust markets. Industry reports attribute anywhere from 33 to 49 percent of September's home purchases to investors. Whether one-third or nearly one-half of the market, investors are the key force driving home prices, which could signal volatility in coming quarters.

The federal government shutdown is center stage in the news and the question that is repeatedly asked is: What impact will it have on the economy? Of course, the potential economic impact will be difficult to gauge because the shutdown has stopped the flow of government data releases until the funding battle is resolved. Luckily, one key indicator remains live.