Servicing

The volume of mortgage loans moving to REO continued to drop in November as moratoria further delayed foreclosure sales, according to Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

Home prices fell in October for the third month in a row and it appears the housing market is headed for a double dip, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

If Congress decided to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and move toward a fully private secondary market, the Federal Housing Administration could act as backstop to ensure access to credit, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.

Residential foreclosures have been rising for the past six months and will continue to accelerate in 2011, according to analysts at CoreLogic.

Spanish bank Grupo Santander has agreed to purchase a $2 billion Mexican mortgage portfolio from General Electric Co.'s finance division for $162 million plus the assumption of debt, according to Dow Jones.

Data indicate the renewed mortgage industry urgency to encourage short sales and other preforeclosure solutions that help control bank repossession rates is not necessarily shared by buyers in areas where foreclosures are more affordable.An updated report by Foreclosure-Response.org that reviewed delinquency data from March 2009 to June 2010 for all 366 U.S. metro areas reveals that “the severity and trajectory of the problem vary dramatically across the nation.”

Never have more partners than you can fit in an elevator. It’s a comment that seems like a joke but is deadly serious when you’re starting a business.Too many partners will create conflicts you don’t need. Even the most bonded of partnerships will fray under the pressure of competing interests. While it is important to have partners who each bring skills to the table, these choices must be made carefully and with an eye toward keeping the group a manageable size.

As the global economy continues to tighten, most businesses appreciate they won’t get different results by doing things the same way. But much of the science for growing in a recessionary market is counterintuitive, and managers whose hands were on the rudder in previous downturns are no longer in the workplace. Few of today’s executives therefore have ever faced this kind of storm in their career.It’s a situation primed for old mistakes to be made all over again.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is awarding more than 500 housing counseling organizations with $73 million in grants for 2011, up 22% from this year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized three rules on Wednesday, including one that requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce the size of their portfolios.