Servicing

Mortgage applications rose 5.8% last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, with similar increases for both refinancings and purchase loans, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury jumped above 2.7% on Wednesday, compared to a reading of 2.5% earlier in the week, a sign that mortgage rates may be headed upward.

Federal regulators should allow three-year ARMs and certain interest-only loans to be classified as "qualified mortgages" that will be exempt from risk retention rules, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

With prices trending down in the third quarter of 2010, lenders and servicers are looking for innovative tools to improve the marketing and liquidation of REO homes.

The nation's foreclosure scandal may soon have a profound effect on residential servicers passing on principal and interest payments to end MBS bond holders, affecting the value of certain tranches.

Mom-and-pop lodging options are popular among vacationers on a budget. And a novel type of short-term rentals adds vacant foreclosures to a traveler’s list of inexpensive options if REO managers are willing to embrace new ideas.

Borrowers, including first-time homebuyers, scattered across the country are surfing the Web to find deals on the latest foreclosed properties.

PNC Financial Services Group, the nation's ninth largest residential servicer, said it plans to resume foreclosures with "enhanced procedures."

When banks buy insurance on the homes of borrowers whose policies have lapsed, they get a great deal. Just not for the homeowners and investors who have to pay for it.

Now that the government's HAMP program has adopted a principal reduction option, the performance of loan modifications should improve "substantially," according to Laurie Goodman of the Amherst Securities Group.