Servicing

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is claiming that Bank of America’s foreclosure unit Recontrust is conducting illegal activity within the state.

The GSE regulator is looking at selling off modified loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are holding in their giant mortgage portfolios.

Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the principal banking subsidiary of Popular Inc., has terminated negotiations regarding the sale of a portfolio of nonperforming construction and commercial real estate loans.

Carrington Property Services, a national asset and property management company, has increased its ability to manage and rent single-family residential homes that are owned by financial institutions.

Starting on June 1, Kornfeld Cos. will contribute its property management and leasing portfolio to Gart Properties as part of a business merger.

GA Keen Realty Advisors has been retained to assist in the marketing and disposition of 70 leased properties across 21 states operated by Metropark—a high-end clothing company that filed for bankruptcy this month.

Sidus Financial, a nonbank mortgage firm that is at least 11 years old, is pulling the plug on its wholesale and correspondent lending division, according to correspondence provided to National Mortgage News.

Virtus Real Estate Capital, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm, has created a fund to invest in student housing with the goal of acquiring more than $300 million of properties over the next two years.

Mortgage application volume increased 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 20, with the gain in purchase applications outpacing the increase in refinancings. However, five weeks of declines in the interest rate on fixed rate loans came to an end, according to figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Although rising new issuance and increasingly successful loan modifications are helping slow commercial MBS loan defaults, delinquencies likely will climb 12% this year, according to a new report from Fitch on fixed rate conduit loans.