Distressed

The Home Affordable Modification Program became a national blueprint for loss mitigation in the last crisis, but changes in the servicing landscape and circumstances call for a new approach now.

As financial hardships mount with the COVID-19 outbreak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released their plans for mortgage borrowers impacted by the pandemic.

A number of proposals have been floated for debt payment holidays and other types of moratoria, but such approaches offer solutions that are worse than the problems.

The Federal Housing Administration is making coronavirus adjustments while warning of possible delays as the industry anticipates a new wave of borrowing due to the Federal Reserve's latest short-term rate cut.

Temporary disruptions from the coronavirus shouldn't lead to consumers having lower credit scores because of missed payments, Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are telling banking trade groups and regulators in two separate letters.

Mortgage lenders could benefit from the surge in refinancing due to widening market spreads, and that could help offset damage to servicing rights portfolio valuations, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Altisource Portfolio Solutions lost nearly the same amount of money as it did for the whole year while it continued the business transition started in 2018.

The dollar amount of fix-and-flip properties purchased using financing reached a 13-year high in 2019, but the share of flips financed was lower year-over-year, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Any impact from the coronavirus outbreak on commercial and multifamily loan delinquencies won't be known for some time, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Pittsburgh rose from the ash heap of the Great Recession and then became one of the hottest cities in the country for real estate flippers.

While the overall foreclosure rate fell, the share of zombie properties grew in the first quarter of 2020, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Distressed mortgage servicing costs are falling and that's primarily due to the market's stability, but it also reflects improved efficiencies that may help in a weaker economy.

Alabama is fourth in the country for raw vacancy rate with more than 18% of all housing units in the state empty.

Corporations that own California properties could soon be fined for keeping homes vacant for more than three months under a proposed law to give tenants, nonprofits and cities more say over what happens to empty buildings.

For the first time in 15 years, fewer than 2 million mortgaged properties lie in default or foreclosure status as of the end of January, according to Black Knight.

Despite a healthy economy and booming real estate market, 2.2% of Orange County, Calif., mortgages were "seriously underwater" at year's end, Attom Data Solutions says.

The city's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion program, born out of the recession in 2008, has prevented nearly 14,000 foreclosures by working with lenders and homeowners to lower mortgage payments.

Mortgage delinquencies dropped to a 40-year low in the fourth quarter as strong employment bolstered borrowers' ability to make timely payments, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The city's decision to drop a lawsuit alleging predatory ending by Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup highlights the challenges municipalities face in taking on deep-pocketed financial institutions.

Default rates for prime jumbo mortgages will increase, but a strong economy and rising home prices will bail most borrowers and lenders out, Moody's said.