Foreclosures

Foreclosures might seem like yesterday's news, but banks are still busy with the cleanup phase of the housing crisis. The situation is producing some herky-jerky housing statistics, and prompting calls for more reforms in states like New York still suffering from stalled dockets and blight.

Three states — Florida, New York and New Jersey — held almost 30% of all seriously delinquent and active foreclosure homes nationwide in April, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Ocwen Financial's shares had fallen nearly 7% Friday afternoon, to under $10 apiece, a day after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services put the company's servicer ratings on CreditWatch negative.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. won a round in a long- running dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., avoiding some of the liabilities tied to its 2008 takeover of Washington Mutual Inc.'s banking operations.

Constraints on GSE loan volume and an overall dearth of liquidity were among the biggest issues at hand during the Mortgage Bankers Association's Secondary Market Conference in New York. Here's a recap of the event.

A Florida court on Friday sided with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the state over claims that a law firm charged illegal fees to consumers seeking foreclosure relief.

A Virginia short sale specialist was convicted Wednesday by a federal jury on charges including mortgage and tax fraud.

Eight years after the bottom fell out of the housing market, investment giants including BlackRock are facing off against small hedge funds over the detritus of the subprime era.

In the wake of recent court rulings upholding homeowners associations' "super lien" status in foreclosures, mortgage vendors have flooded the market with products to help servicers and investors manage this long-standing threat.

Foreclosure starts fell 22% from the previous month, according to a Black Knight Financial month-end mortgage performance statistics report.

Foreclosure starts increased slightly while non-foreclosure resolutions for homeowners remained level from the same time last year, according to industry advocacy group Hope Now.

Black Knight Financial Services Inc., the mortgage-technology company backed by private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, gained in its trading debut after raising $441 million in an initial public offering.

The national foreclosure law firm Butler & Hosch has shuttered its operations after rapid growth through acquisitions tapped out its cash reserves.

Calling his state's foreclosure process "badly broken and in need of change," New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky wants new policies enacted to fast-track vacant property foreclosures and reform the state's mandatory foreclosure mediation requirements.

Banks and mortgage firms representing 70% of the New York market will adopt a set of best practices to combat the "zombie properties" afflicting communities throughout the state, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

Online real estate marketplace Hubzu is offering consumers looking to bid on real estate owned properties a financing contingency option.

There continues to be improvement in the number of distressed homes nationwide, according to a report from CoreLogic.

Genworth Financial Inc., the insurer divesting units after posting record losses, has sold 14% of its Australian mortgage-guaranty unit, the company announced on May 11.

MGIC Investment Corp. ended April with 2,606 fewer delinquent loans on its books as the number of new notices declined from the prior month.

The commercial mortgage-backed security loan delinquency rate dropped slightly in April, according to analytics and technology firm Trepp.