Servicing

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and other Republican lawmakers Friday introduced legislation to end the Home Affordable Modification Program.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday officially suspended its anti-flipping rule for the rest of this year to facilitate the financing and sale of newly renovated foreclosed properties.

The concept of a “fee for services” model, including a flat cash payment, has been kicked around for the past 10 years, but is finally gaining traction as the mortgage industry and regulators look for a better way to compensate residential servicers.

Now that the President's first pick to be the new GSE regulator has bowed out due to Republican opposition, the White House will likely appoint an administration official who has already been confirmed by the Senate to run the agency.

Economists at Moody's Analytics expect a pickup in home sales and construction in 2011, but admit they are "nervous" about their price forecast because of the high level of seriously delinquent loans, distressed sales, and strategic defaults.

Old Republic International Corp., Chicago, had net losses of $13 million for the fourth quarter, including a $110 million pretax operating loss for its mortgage insurance business. However, these are still an improvement over a $37 million corporate net loss and a $126 million pretax operating loss for the same period in 2009.

Lenders seized roughly 7,900 homes backed by delinquent mortgages in Orange County, Calif., in 2010, the third highest number of lost homes on record, according to figures compiled by DataQuick.

Mortgage servicers have refused to complete foreclosures on thousands of vacant homes in Chicago because they do not want to pay the cost of maintaining the homes, according to a report this month from the Woodstock Institute, a local nonprofit.

It appears that Wilbur Ross hit a home run on his first day out. The WL Ross & Co.-affiliated BankUnited Inc. raised $783 million in its initial public offering, more than 18% more than what it initially expected.

Freddie Mac purchased $49.7 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in December, its best purchase month of the year and a sign that loan production remained strong in the fourth quarter.