Servicing

The Obama administration's plan to refinance underwater borrowers with private-label mortgages was supposed to be dead on arrival -- but it appears Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, wants to hear more.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s quarterly bank earnings report shows bank mortgage portfolios increased 1.4%, to $1.88 trillion, at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Default Reconciliation Report provides an improved level of valuation diligence for nonperforming and REO assets in order to help residential property servicers and investors make confident acquisition, pricing and disposition decisions.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the sale of the rest of the securities in the Maiden Lane II LLC (ML II) portfolio.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers has launched a $1.2 billion loan foreclosure mitigation program to help alleviate housing problems for individuals struggling to stay or purchase homes in low-income metropolitan statistical areas.

We keep hearing the same chorus week after week from politicians and regulators: we want private capital to return to the mortgage business. In a nutshell, they want private investors to play the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - that of buying and guaranteeing loans.

Fannie Mae continued its money losing ways in the fourth quarter, posting a net loss of $2.4 billion for the period and $16.9 billion for the year. In 2010 it lost $14 billion.

Mortgage statistics such as the national delinquency rate indicate that the housing market still has a long road to any recovery. With delinquencies continuing to be at a high number throughout the country, many investment firms are taking advantage of opportunities to purchase these nonperforming loans of residential and commercial land from financial institutions.

Technology is building new bridges between traditional appraisals, automated valuations, sensitive property data and housing market analytics. Federal regulation adds to the mix the development of regulatory-compliant appraisal solutions for banks and third-party service providers.

While investing in domestic real estate is simple in theory, it is rarely easy in its execution. There is much involved—from banks’ stringent requirements and the glut of paperwork to overriding labor, market and macroeconomic conditions.