Servicing

Many of the nation's largest residential servicers — the subject of an intense federal audit that commenced last fall — have signed consent agreements to take corrective actions with regard to the processing of foreclosures and loan modifications, according to sources familiar with the matter.

National servicing standards "are clearly doable" according to New York Banking superintendent Richard Neiman, but the Empire State's top regulator says a lack of cooperation between the states and federal regulators is hobbling the effort.

A House Financial Services Subcommittee Wednesday approved eight separate bills to reform and downsize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae.

Patriot National Bancorp announced the sale of nonperforming assets and the closure of four of its branches.

Marshall Hotels & Resorts Inc. has signed contracts to manage three hotels and was also appointed to become the receivership for another resort.

Sheldon Good & Co. will be conducting a developer closeout auction for the remaining 18 condominium residences available at The Bristol located in the Galleria District in Houston.

The Cogsville Group, a private equity firm that focuses on commercial real estate, has joined with Colony Capital and a consortium of investors to acquire two portfolios from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate has acquired a loan portfolio consisting of 45 assets with a principal balance of $196 million from on an offshore bank.

Bond fund giant PIMCO is launching a new real estate finance company, and plans to raise up to $600 million through an initial public offering of stock, according to a new fling with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Weakness in the housing market did not stop the economic recovery from gaining a "firmer footing" during February and the first-half of March, according to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee.