Servicing

Hudson & Marshall will auction 400 REO properties during a three-day event in Atlanta this week.

The nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers are currently in a battle for their lives. They are engaged in implementing new loan quality initiatives to stave off investor buyback requests, forensic reviews of past deals for risk assessment and trying to meet the government's demands for aid to troubled borrowers. Little time is left for seeking out new loan origination volume, and yet there is still business out there.

The Federal Housing Administration acquired 98,349 REO properties and sold 87,709 during its fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, according to a report on the FHA mortgage insurance program released this week.

An 18 basis point rise in rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages resulted in a decline in mortgage application volume of 14.4% last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The data was not adjusted for Veterans Day.

Home prices fell 1.1% in September after falling 1.2% in August, according to the just released CoreLogic house price index.

Real estate investment trust Annaly Capital Management Inc. has formed a subsidiary that plans to provide warehouse financing and other origination services starting in the first quarter of next year.

American Home Mortgage Servicing late Tuesday announced that it had hired GMAC Mortgage veteran David Applegate as its new president and CEO.

An expected drop in the conforming loan limit could make new nonagency mortgages more compelling, according to executives at Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.

State attorneys general are trying to reach an agreement with several mega-servicers on how to fix the loan modification process and end certain practices such as 'dual tracking' that create borrow stress and confusion.

Until now, the quality of services rendered by mortgage technology vendors and bank owned foreclosure management quality has been rated empirically. That reality may change.