Mortgages

What do Honolulu and West Palm Beach have in common besides being warm, beautiful vacation spots? They made it to the top of RealtyPin's 2012 most surprising real estate markets-for reasons that could not be more different.

Even though fewer foreclosures are being completed at the end of 2012, going through the default foreclosure process is still a troubling period for any distressed borrower.

Reverse mortgage lenders are virtually dependent on federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages for their bread and butter.

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a definitive Baa3 (sf) rating to $182 million in securities in a commercial real estate liquidating vehicle that introduces a new feature.

Purchases of mortgage loans by Fannie Mae jumped 25% in the month of November.

Sales of existing houses and condos in the Phoenix area rose to the highest level for a November in seven years.

The Senate has confirmed Carol Galante to be a HUD assistant secretary and to serve as the Federal Housing Administration commissioner, a position she has held in an acting capacity for over a year.

Ken Perlmutter is still getting business from contacts he made going back to the days when he was just doing mortgages on the side.

Currently, real estate owned entering the market has slowed to about 55,000 a month, compared to 70,000 a year ago.

USFN, a national not-for-profit association of select attorneys, trustee companies and industry-specific vendors who specialize in loan servicing matters, has made changes to its leadership team for 2013.

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a range of definitive ratings to about $300 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities from a single-asset transaction.

HARP loans delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after Jan. 1 will come under new representation-and-warranty standards that could give the refinancing program a boost in 2013.

Las Vegas area home prices overall are up year-to-year again, but the chips are still down when it comes to the number of total sales.

Various real estate investment trusts, hedge funds and private equity groups have been exploring private REO-to-rental investment strategies as a source of higher returns than other investments.

The National Association of Realtors is looking ahead for another good year with sales rising 10% in 2013.

Begin with the basics. Make sure the corporate formation documents are in order before tackling other compliance tasks like hiring a compliance officer.

California's windfall is a by-product of a side deal that the state's attorney general, Kamala Harris, cut with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

Repairing homes that were devastated as a result of Hurricane Sandy will not be an easy feat. Just ask those New Orleans residents who suffered through Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

The delinquent unpaid balance for commercial mortgage-backed securities decreased in nine of the past 12 remittance periods through November 2012.

The shortage of affordable housing is no longer confined to the major cities with historically large numbers of renters, it is growing across the country.