Mortgages

The national delinquency rate remained at 8.15% at the end of December, the same as the prior month, according to Lender Processing Services' "first look" mortgage report.

Some AMCs are looking at the UAD as an opportunity to revisit quality control processes, updating them and streamlining them where possible. Those AMCs that are not taking advantage of this opportunity should be.

Yesterday news broke from HUD secretary Shaun Donovan that a robosigning deal was imminent. Today, we learn that maybe a deal isn't as close as Donovan portrayed. Then again, the 'State of the Union' address is next week and there is some talk that President Obama wants to mention the robo settlement using the speech as yet another opportunity to bash the mortgage banking industry.

Carrington Holding Company and Oaktree Capital Management have reached an agreement to purchase $450 million in distressed single-family properties throughout the country and rent out these housing units.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The average weekly primary market rate for a 30-year mortgage in Freddie Mac's survey inched down by a basis point to 3.88% during the week ending Jan. 19, setting the bar for the lowest rate for this loan has ever had just a little bit lower.

Warehouse lending is becoming less popular with some of the big players who have provided it, but remaining and new market participants find it can be profitable if they can get comfortable with the credit.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the ongoing settlement talks between the federal government, state attorneys general, and the nation's largest servicers has produced a "package of programs that we believe will be very positive" for the housing market.

Residential construction ended 2011 on a positive note with single-family housing starts rising in December for a third straight month at 4.4%, according to government figures released Thursday morning.

A New York probe has brought national attention to servicers' alleged self-dealing in the sale of force-placed insurance. But the investigation is just one of many looming challenges to the practice.

The head of the Mortgage Bankers Association is calling on his brethren at other trade groups to work together with MBA to forge coordinated policies to "reestablish a vibrant" housing finance system in the U.S.

Bank of America's residential mortgage division posted a net profit of $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, but for the full year the unit bled almost $8.2 billion of red ink, according to earnings figures released Thursday morning.

Mitt Romney has been a key figure in the saga of the nation's financial woes, perhaps more important than any other Republican politician. But much of what he did and said in the early stages of the crisis, including about housing, has been largely forgotten.

Speculation continues to run rampant from analysts and mortgage servicers about what might lie ahead in 2012 for bank owned properties. But one area that is critical to any improvement in the housing market is the economy, specifically the unemployment rate.

As the housing market is still plagued with uncertainty about whether distressed conditions will continue to be seen nationwide, one trade association says the blame for the state of the industry should not be placed against appraisers.

Insurance companies have become more sophisticated in the face of the housing crisis, hiring teams specifically to investigate and adjust hazard claims filed by the mortgage servicers. This has resulted in an increase in hazard denials.

The mortgage banking division of PNC Financial Services lost $61 million in the fourth quarter due to what the bank called “foreclosure-related expenses primarily as a result of ongoing governmental matters.”

Remember the first time you were introduced to the concept that the law, as discussed theoretically in law school, was not necessarily the law as it played out in reality? Please allow me to provide yet another example of what happens when the cost/benefit analysis of defending what is obvious under the law weighs heavily in favor of tossing hundreds of years of property law out the window.

New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman's office will fund $1 million in foreclosure prevention services to assist state homeowners who are struggling through the foreclosure crisis.

Due to the increasing complexities surrounding the foreclosure process, Nationwide REO Brokers has expanded its services by offering third-party foreclosure review and certification for lenders and servicers.