Amilda Dymi

Findings from Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research indicate a small-ticket remodeling pickup is likely to help lift both near-term and long-term investment.

Equifax's latest monthly national consumer credit trends report shows a decline from July 2011 in the amount of overall mortgage debt and a decrease in residential mortgage delinquencies.

Mortgage servicing rules will enhance the relationship between servicers and special servicers in the short term.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to decrease the New York State Fair Market Rent limits for fiscal year 2013.

Starting in September Bank of America has agreed to use the Web portal of Hope Now, in a move the alliance sees as “a game changer.”

Bank of America’s alliance with Hope LoanPort may give a new boost to the number of modifications completed hereon.

Analysts are warning that, if implemented, the new mortgage servicing rules proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could lead to further market consolidation.

The mortgage servicing market has been experiencing a continued consolidation trend in the recent past.

In July workouts outnumbered new delinquencies among securitized commercial property loans of all types leading to a 14 basis point decrease in the CMBS delinquency index, according to Fitch Ratings.

The appraisal world is changing along with the housing marketplace. Insiders agree, only well-rounded, granular neighborhood-level knowledge combined with global awareness can make a real estate valuation provider powerful.

Controversy about what method leads to higher real estate valuation accuracy and realistic pricing is keeping up competition between vendors striving to custom fit their tools to the changing needs of their lender and servicer clients.

Low-income community revitalization has always been one of the most challenging jobs in housing finance. Both investors and individual buyers are hard to come by these days when cost is an issue for sellers as much as it is for buyers.

Appraisers may have started to change their business practices one at a time probably only a few years ago, but their strategy shift and where they are headed already has started to become clear.

Despite signs of a recovery and increased levels of real estate lending, devaluation is expected to lead to defaults at maturity for almost half of all securitized commercial loans monitored by Fitch Ratings.

A decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals has added new language to a notice of foreclosure requirement case that, according to some analysts, could invalidate thousands of Georgia foreclosures.

Servicers of securitized commercial mortgage loans beware of the still-elevated delinquency rates.

A new series of Centex homes is designed “to respond to the increasing demand for affordable homes by “Generation Y,” the largest U.S. demographic, according to executives.

Forget refinancing. A new hypothesis suggests targeted modifications would be much more effective in easing the negative equity crisis.

Tom Wind, the executive VP of residential and consumer lending at EverBank and an industry veteran whose mortgage banking experience goes back over 20 years, believes the jumbo loan market is in growth mode. Overall housing market improvements and loan limit changes have opened the door to more growth, he said. “The jumbo business out there is starting to rebuild.

American Enterprise Institute resident fellow Ed Pinto—known for his harsh views on government intervention in housing—proposes targeted modifications for severely underwater borrowers who are current.