Servicing

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.

While shaken, consumers' sense of obligation to the mortgage contract remains strong, according to the results of a market survey conducted last summer on behalf of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

With the comment period drawing to a close on a federal rule that would all but eliminate private transfer fees, Virginia has become the 24th state to either restrict the controversial levies or ban than outright.

Ending the Making Home Affordable Program would increase avoidable foreclosures and put the fragile housing market in worse shape, the program's director told an audience at the SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference Tuesday.

Richard Neiman believes regulators may step in and provide guidance to mortgage servicers on their use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems.

Two Chicago Bancorp executives this week acquired the charter and assets of Generations Bank, an FDIC-insured savings bank based in Overland Park, Kan., and plan to ramp up production of both residential and commercial loans.

The housing sector has yet to recover from the financial crisis and it will take "several more years" to work with though all the foreclosures, according to Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.

Owner-occupied, bank-owned properties, will continue to both open business opportunities and increase loss severity pressures on lender-servicers.

Banks are dealing with the vicious circle of finding the right balance between lack of liquidity that makes necessary both the discharge of nonperforming assets from their books and investments that make foreclosure sales possible.