Servicing

Investors are increasingly demanding servicers/special servicers file hazard insurance claims on REO properties regardless of whether they will be approved.

With spring right around the corner, and signs of economic recovery everywhere, there is a feeling that brighter days are ahead. Glimmers of hope can even be seen in one of the most distressed U.S. housing markets in the country.

Lender Processing Services' latest Mortgage Monitor report revealed that foreclosure starts and sales declined significantly in February from the month before, a sign that the processing backlog problem is still far from resolved.

Gateway Mortgage Group has selected Mortgage Contracting Services to perform field services for its portfolio involving pre-sale and REO assets.

Bank of America this month will try to unload roughly $42 billion of mortgage servicing rights through two different offerings, one involving private label product, according to investors and investment bankers familiar with the bank's auction plans.

Hudson Valley Holding Corp. has completed the sale of $474 million in loans after it was required to reduce its concentrations in commercial real estate and classified loans.

A joint venture program between Mountain Real Estate Capital and Harridge Development recently expanded with the acquisition of a bank-owned residential infill site in Los Angeles.

Only a single borrower is currently delinquent among the roughly 1,800 newly originated prime loans securitized in the handful of Sequoia/Redwood private-label residential mortgage-backed security deals seen since the start of 2010, according to a Fitch report Monday.

The Treasury Department is fighting back against critics of principal reduction who claim second lien holders will unfairly benefit from a reduction in the loan balances of underwater Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac loans.

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.