Homebuilder confidence in the single-family homes segment jumped for the fifth consecutive month in February, reaching a four-year high, an industry trade group said Wednesday. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index, which measures homebuilders general view of the market, rose to a score of 29. While that score is up from 25 the previous month, it is still far below 50, which generally indicates more builders view market conditions as good rather than poor. “Builder confidence […]

Mortgage applications declined 1% in the past week on fewer home purchases, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The trade group’s market composite index shows the loan application volume falling for the week ended Feb. 10 as the seasonally adjusted purchase index declined 8.4% from the previous week. The refinance index rose 0.8% and refinancings represented 81.1% of all home loan applications. The average loan size rose to $226,000 from $225,000 in December and $207,000 in January 2011. Mortgages for […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seeks industry feedback on a prototype monthly mortgage statement that aims to provide borrowers with more detailed information about their home loans. Under the sweeping reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act, mortgage statements must contain information about the creditor, loan assignee and mortgage servicer. In addition, the new law stipulates mortgage statements should provide borrowers with information on the principal loan amount, current interest rate, the date of interest rate resets and a description of any […]

Major banks will reimburse military servicemembers for any wrongful foreclosures done in the past five years. JPMorgan Chase ($38.47 0.47%), Wells Fargo ($31.09 0.72%), Citigroup ($32.92 0.21%), and Ally Financial ($23.78 0.18%) will resolve Servicemembers Civil Relief Act claims in connection to the wider $25 billion foreclosure settlement, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said in a speech Friday. These four banks will conduct a review overseen by the Justice Department to find any foreclosure violations of SCRA since Jan. […]

Working within the Airline Industry for 10+ years I flew, managed flight bases and taught Flight Attendants at one of the largest airlines in the world. Having found my way back to beautiful North Carolina I decided to make a career change to real estate. Real Estate is a passion and allows me to see many beautiful homes and encounter many walks of life. After 6 years of sales I decided to continue my knowledge in this field and obtained […]

A small pilot principal reduction program Fannie Mae killed in 2010 was not performing well enough for executives to expand, the mortgage giant claims. Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and John Tierney, D-Mass., sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco on Feb. 8, raising concerns about analysis on principal reductions used to keep the GSEs from implementing such programs. They also cited an unnamed former executive at Fannie who said a pilot program was actually developed, […]

The loss-severity rate on 1998 vintage commercial mortgage-backed securities loans outpaced other vintage classes of CMBS, with the 1998 class recording $289 million in realized losses on an initial loan balance of $474 million, Treppsaid Friday. The CMBS analytics firm released its January loss-liquidation report for fixed-rate, U.S. conduit loans Friday. The report puts the vintage 1998 CMBS class at a loss-severity rate of 60.94%, making it the segment with the highest distressed loan level. It is followed by the […]

Three Northern California real estate investors agreed to plead guilty to forming a conspiracy to rig bids at foreclosure auctions, the Department of Justice Financial Fraud Enforcement Division said Thursday. Charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Barry Heisner of Brentwood, Calif.; Dominic Leung of Alameda, Calif.; and Hilton Wong of San Ramon, Calif. The investigation into auction bid-rigging in North California has resulted in 20 plea agreements thus far. The Department […]

Fannie Mae has announced that it is rolling out a pilot program nationwide that will allow real estate agents to now submit and track their offers online for Fannie Mae-owned properties. Once an offer is submitted, you’ll receive confirmation and be able to track its status through Fannie’s HomePath web site. Fannie first began piloting the program for online offers in 2010 in San Diego, Orlando, Fla., and Detroit. It now be accepting online offers for properties nationwide. “Collecting offers […]

DocX, one of the largest companies in the nation to provide foreclosure services to lenders nationwide, has been indicted by a Missouri grand jury on forgery charges stemming from foreclosures against home owners in the state. The indictment marks one of the “few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against home owners” nationwide, The New York Times reports. According to the indictment, DocX is accused of making “mass-produced fraudulent signatures on notarized real estate documents” and could face […]