Servicing

Residential servicers completed 20% fewer proprietary loan modifications in February than the month prior, according to new figures compiled by the Hope Now servicing alliance.

Recent Federal Housing Finance Agency efforts to interest buyers in the foreclosure-to-rent market may be off to a good start with an unlikely type of investor even though it still is everyone's guess whether this management strategy will effectively ease off inventory pressures and speed up the recovery.

Fannie Mae purchased $62 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in February, its weakest monthly acquisition volume in four months.

One of the biggest challenges for lenders trying to unload distressed real estate is to do so without pushing prices even lower. Foreclosed homes already sell at steep discounts-sometimes trailing market values by as much as 30 percent.

If you're looking for the next megabank to exit the mortgage sector the most likely candidate would be Ally Financial, the government owned bank holding company that controls No. 5 ranked servicer GMAC Mortgage/Residential Capital Corp.

Private-label residential mortgage securitizations continue to be relatively scarce, but the market keeps coming up with creative ways to issue them from time-to-time that are worth noting as investors continue to hunger for yield.

A Fitch Ratings pre-sale report is out on the first commercial mortgage-backed security backed by non- and sub-performing assets to come to market in over a decade.

There were more cures than new notices of default in February for the nation's private mortgage insurers, continuing a trend of recent years, according to data compiled from members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

A pilot program can be devised to show principal reduction is a cost-effective way to keep underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers in their homes and prevent strategic defaults, according to a new report by a research group.

A key piece of case law supporting defaulted borrowers' fight against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. was vacated Wednesday, after a federal judge ruled that a New York-based bankruptcy judge overstepped his authority when he issued a scathing opinion of the private loan registry.