Servicing

Property preservation firms and third party vendors in the default servicing industry are collaborating more today with code enforcement professionals and real estate agents.

The Treasury's point man on GSE reform said Wednesday that the Obama White House will not propose any changes to government guarantees backing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS for fear of hurting the liquidity and functionality of the U.S. mortgage market.

When Eric Peterson buys foreclosed homes through courthouse trustee sales these days, the majority of borrowers are still living in the home rent-free, waiting to be evicted.

Arch Bay Capital, an investor and manager of delinquent mortgages, appears to have scuttled — for now — its plans to enter the origination business, according to industry officials that have worked with the firm.

International real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson has been retained to conduct a sealed bid auction for bank-owned properties in six states including Nevada, California, Oregon, Florida, Arkansas and Colorado.

BB&T Corp. cautioned that it could experience "elevated charge-offs" in the third quarter as it gets more aggressive in disposing of bad loans.

The nation's GSE regulator Wednesday voiced his concern about the slow pace of seller/servicers repurchasing problem loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, singling out the nation's megabanks for their poor performance in this area.

What’s a sure-fire way for the White House to win the hearts and minds of voters? Answer: If a consumer has a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgage the government can wave a magic wand and reduce his 6% loan down to a market rate of 4%. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Let’s go back a few decades and take a look at how commercial banks viewed the mortgage industry. In the 1980s and early 1990s Norwest Mortgage (now Wells Fargo) was a top-ranked player in residential finance as was CitiBank, Bank of Boston and Fleet. Otherwise, it was a business dominated by nonbanks and thrifts.