Servicing

CB Richard Ellis is scheduled to auction the Piazza Blanca Shopping Center in Galveston, Texas on June 2.

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan District Cost of Funds Index for April is at its third lowest point ever, and the lowest since the recalculation caused by the removal of Wachovia Mortgage FSB in November 2009.

Mortgage application volume declined by 4% for the week ended May 27, even as the contract rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage resumed its downward movement after a one week break, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The country’s custodians of land property records endorse freely accessible information to the public at large.The Property Records Industry Association, Morrisville, N.C., has posted online the “Access to and Sales in Bulk of Land Records,” a whitepaper based on industry feedback and data gathering the coalition of government and business partners from the property records industry initially started in the spring of 2008—which concludes that land records are public records that should be freely accessible by the public.

Contractual conflicts of interest between investors and mortgage servicers regarding foreclosure sales may create a disincentive for servicers contemplating whether or not to provide lease-to-purchase options on vacant properties with securitized loans.

Borrower risk evaluation findings from untraditional data drilling and analytics sometimes surprise those who initiated the search indicating the existing data is a “gold mine” yet to be explored.That recognition is fueling a new trend among mortgage data providers.

Daryl Schwartz, the acquisition chief for G8 Capital, a private equity fund that invests in real estate and nonperforming mortgages, left the company last week.

Walter Investment Management Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Tampa, has closed on the private placement of $81 million of secured notes, the net proceeds of which will be used to fund its acquisition of St. Paul, Minn.-based GTCS Holdings LLC, the parent of Green Tree.

April was the third consecutive month in which there were more cures than new defaults reported by the members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America. But the month was also the worst of the year so far for primary new insurance written.

The Treasury Department is getting tougher on servicers who don't comply with guidelines of the Home Affordable Modification Program and soon will release compliance grades for the 10 largest HAMP servicers.