2009 has been one of the most significant years in the default servicing industry to date. DS News would like to look back on the year that was, and the -related stories that were most read and left the biggest impact on viewers. Amidst the high-profile news Monday about the administration's push to make more loan modifications permanent, the Treasury also laid out finalized guidelines for short sales. The administration is urging servicers to use short sales as an alternative to foreclosure for those homeowners that don't qualify for a reworked mortgage under the Home Affordable Modification Program. To entice servicers, Treasury will pay out $1,000 for each successful short sale.
The ideal time to invest in commercial real estate is 2010 - that's when commercial property prices will hit bottom, according to a recently published survey of industry investors, developers, lenders, brokers, and consultants. The yearly study, released last week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute, says commercial real estate players predict property values to ultimately drop 40 to 50 percent from 2007 market peaks, making 2010 and 2011 the opportune time for investors to buy at or near cyclical lows.
In recent news from HUD's Mortgage Review Board, a proposal to permanently withdraw the HUD/FHA approval of Financial Mortgage USA, Inc. (FMUSA) was announced. Based in Hawaii, FMUSA is a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or reverse mortgage) lender.
The despair and desperation that often accompanies a foreclosure seems to have gotten the best of one California couple - but it turned to outright violence when they kidnapped and beat the loan modification consultants they'd hired to help them.
Just as the industry steps up efforts to convince Washington to extend the $8,000 federal tax break for first-time homebuyers, news has surfaced that the housing stimulus program could be fraught with fraud. Of the 1.4 million taxpayers who have received the benefit, the IRS is reportedly investigating over 100,000 suspicious claims.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is set to announce its purchase of a major mortgage servicer, Wilshire Credit Corp., from Bank of America, sources familiar with the matter told DS News over the weekend. Details of the rumored deal are scant, but it would mark a major addition to IBM's information empire, the sources said. IBM says it is looking to have a presence in the mortgage market, where technology-based service providers have been under increasing pressure to accommodate rising modification and foreclosure volumes.
The government-backed mortgage financier Fannie Mae is tightening its lending standards. The GSE says it will require a credit score of at least 620 for all mortgage loans delivered in accordance with its Selling Guidelines, including loans guaranteed or insured by a federal government agency.
The housing crash is about to come back with a vengeance, as 7 million new foreclosure properties are about to hit the market, analysts at Amherst Securities Group LP said this week - a huge shadow inventory that threatens to further destabilize a housing market that had shown signs of righting itself over the summer. Market observers say that loan modifications, legal wrangling, redefaults, and bank practices have delayed foreclosures, and that an undisclosed glut of homes is about to come to light.
As the economic recovery kicks off, executives at Citigroup Inc. are working on a strategy to reduce the federal government's 34-percent stake in the banking giant - a plan that would ultimately turn a profit for the taxpayers who funded the bailout in the first place. Washington officials confirmed that they'd had weekend talks with Citigroup and said they don't have a problem with unloading some of their 7.7 billion shares in the New York firm, as long as it is able to raise offsetting capital. Citi says it can provide that capital, and then some.
A Wells Fargo senior VP responsible for foreclosed properties moved into a $12 million mansion in Malibu and turned it into an exclusive party pad just after the owners - a couple whose savings were wiped out in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme - surrendered the house to Wells to settle debts. The exec's free ride could spell disaster for Wells Fargo and its peers in the mortgage-lending industry -- and it could cost her her job ... and her freedom.
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