Servicing

According to figures released Tuesday morning, home values are still in the tank, with three key S&P price indices sinking in the fourth quarter to their lowest level since the housing crisis began seven years ago.

After months of pressure from Congress and consumer advocates, the Federal Reserve Board released new details Monday about how mortgage servicers plan to follow regulatory directives that they improve their foreclosure systems.

The new president and chief executive of United Guaranty Corp. said the private mortgage insurance business will "kick it up a notch" as it goes along its contrarian path of risk-based pricing.

Some CMBS special servicers are charging undisclosed fees to borrowers seeking modifications, according to Fitch. And there is concern that this may be the beginning of a trend.

Mortgage loan rates continue to hit record lows not seen for nearly 60 years, but tight credit has made obtaining a home loan more difficult than ever. Meanwhile, gas prices now average nearly $4.00 per gallon, and industry experts predict $5.00 per gallon gas by Memorial Day. All this against a backdrop of the Dow Industrial Average, which is flirting with the 'magic' 13,000 number.

No lender or servicer wants to keep a portfolio of REO or short sale properties. For starters, they're not in the business of managing properties. Each day an REO or short sale property isn't sold is a day of upkeep and lost interest payments.

Fannie Mae has hit the market with a 2,490-REO package designed for bulk investors - the first such pilot auction promised by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

What will be the story of this decade in the mortgage industry? It will be the return of the market to normalcy (or a new normal). The question is: when?

Should Ally Financial Inc. break itself up, Ocwen Financial Corp. and private-equity shops might be interested in Ally's mortgaging servicing arm, Residential Capital LLC, which has mortgage servicing rights of $1.2 billion on mostly impaired loans, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analysts wrote in a research note last week.

CMBS performance still appears to be stabilizing somewhat, at least for the time being, recent commentary from Moody's Investors Service indicates.