Servicing

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is selling some seized homes in the Cleveland area for as little as $100.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's common and preferred stock began trading on the over-the-counter market Thursday morning, as directed by their regulator.

Sun Bancorp Inc. of Vineland, N.J. said billionaire investor Wilbur Ross' private equity firm, Sun's founding Brown family and others will invest $100 million in equity in the bank, news that sent its stock soaring 37% on Thursday.

The latest average weekly rate for a Freddie Mac 30-year fixed-rate mortgage beat the previous week's survey-record low by a hair, but the average 15-year FRM rate rose slightly.

In wake of the subprime meltdown and rising foreclosures, Congress passed legislation in late 2008 authorizing the FHA to refinance up to $300 billion of underwater mortgages to help at-risk borrowers stay in their homes. To date the program has resulted in the agency endorsing just 64 loans under the "Hope for Homeowners" moniker. To call this once-heralded effort a disappointment is being generous.However, Banker's Portfolio, a vendor that specializes in auctioning bulk REO and portfolios of seriously delinquent loans, has not given up on the FHA program. The Irvine, Calif., company has lined up four government-approved lenders to facilitate H4H refinancings and is testing portfolios for several mortgage investors to see if their conventional loans qualify for the program.

New technology developed as a result of the foreclosure crisis known as "intelligent granularity" could lead the way to a more stable and productive lending industry, according to a new report from Integrated Asset Services, a Denver-based valuation provider.

Banker's Portfolio has fed over $10 billion in underwater mortgages through its "decisioning engine" that shows how many loans are eligible for a refinancing under the FHA "Hope for Homeowners" program.

Foreclosure filings fell by nearly half in the tri-county South Florida region in the second quarter, and dropped by a third for 2010's first half, according to a report by CondoVultures, the Bal Harbour-based consulting firm.

Mountain Real Estate Capital, the equity investment arm of the Mountain Real Estate Group, closed a $75 million joint venture with GL Homes of Florida to purchase one new project and recapitalize six other partnerships.

The recovery in the housing sector has stalled with the April 30 expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit and now the market is "going into reverse," according to IHS Global Insight chief economist Nigel Gault.