Servicing

RealtyTrac said foreclosure filings reached the lowest level in four years, as there were nearly 1.9 million default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions nationwide in 2011.

Most Americans are probably glad to see 2011 slip into the past, or at least those who own homes are. 2012 may hold the promise of a return to rising home values, something that didn’t happen last year.

The number of words written about the REO industry in 2011 makes 'War and Peace' seem like a Reader's Digest short story. So what's new for 2012? Good question ... tough answer.

PHH Corp. has upsized its debt offering to $220 million and has priced it at 6%. The underwriters have a 30-day over-allotment allowance of $30 million.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp. has hired former Irwin Mortgage Corp. executive John F. Macke as EVP of capital markets in line with growth plans that include the introduction of nonagency jumbos this year.

After slowing for the end-of-year holidays, application volume increased by 4.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Jan. 6, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The results for the current survey as well as the previous survey include adjustments to account for the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays.

Although the final numbers have yet to be tallied for 2011, it appears that Hope Now servicers modified roughly 1 million loans for the year just ended - a huge decline from 2010 when 1.76 million mortgages were restructured.

WASHINGTON—Two senior Federal Reserve officials called on policymakers to take steps quickly to help ease the pain of the housing market to assist ongoing efforts to rescue the U.S. economy.

A married couple recently decided to merge their real estate asset management companies to form AthenianRazak.

National Mortgage News (December 19) asks, “Can Regulators Prevent the Next Systemic Risk Crisis?” Probably not.