Servicing

Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday morning that home prices fell in February for the sixth consecutive month to the lowest level since 2002.

Although the Government Accountability Office gave the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. its stamp of approval for 2010 and 2011 financial statements, the watchdog yet again said that the FDIC had overestimated the cost of certain of loss-sharing deals.

Don Curtis, vice president of business development for Carrrington Mortgage Services, Santa Ana, Calif., has left the company.

A joint initiative has been formed between three prominent national housing organizations whose focus is to support homeownership across the country by rehabilitating vacant real estate owned properties.

Eagle Bancorp, Bethesda, Md., originated and sold off more residential mortgages in the first quarter, which helped boost profits by almost 49%, to $7.6 million, from a year earlier.

A $20 billion package of residential mortgage servicing rights being offered by Bank of America has yet to trade even though the bidding ended about two weeks ago, according to investment bankers familiar with the deal.

The government's authority to issue new flood insurance policies expires at the end of May and the Federal Emergency Management Administration is urging Congress to pass a two-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program.

Servicers are trying to determine the best strategy to reduce their portfolios of foreclosed/bank-owned properties, and renting them out to investors has become a popular play.

Only time can tell which of the new loan solutions to the housing crisis will eventually succeed, but the search is still on. And at least one option introduced by Carpe Aquam Capital LLC of Marlton, N.J., has already earned the attention of policy makers and bankers alike.

Fueled by record revenue from mortgage banking, Washington Trust Bancorp. in Westerly, R.I., reported a record $8.4 million profit in the first quarter, an increase of 24% over the same period in 2011.