News

With mere hours to go before major regulatory changes sweep the industry, servicers might be wise in taking one more look at how the new rules will affect them and what they can do to stay ahead.

Churchill Mortgage's West Coast presence continues to expand with the opening of a new office in Orange, California, the company announced.

More than 35 percent of the more than 350 metro markets tracked in the NAHB's Leading Markets Index are performing at 90 percent or higher of their pre-housing crisis norms.

Commercial real estate (CRE) loan prices in the secondary market were largely flat in November, according to the latest report from DebtX, a loan sale advisor for commercial, consumer, and specialty finance debt. The estimated price of whole loans increased to 92.7 percent as of November 30, rising from 92.3 percent the prior month. Loan values were 89.4 percent. Meanwhile, DebtX's Loan Liquidity Index was 107.5, up from 105.7 in October.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) sales team has added Barbara Hanson as director of education sales, the group announced.

While most larger servicing shops have made a great deal of progress ahead of Friday's new industry regulations, a report from Fitch finds smaller companies still have a number of challenges to meet. Fitch acknowledges that many independent and non-bank servicers have adapted to the technological advances made in the industry, but compliance with the new rules will mean more recordkeeping and infrastructure improvements that could mean higher costs for these smaller firms.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Wednesday that it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to delay implementation of planned changes to their guarantee fee (g-fee) structure.

Mortgage Harmony Corp., the provider of Loan Retention Software (LRS) and the HarmonyLoan product, announced that its Rate Reset Protection software has been added to online applications on select mortgage products from Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed), the country's third largest credit union.

Mortgage applications declined at the end of the year, but Capital Economics expects applications to rise this year as both the housing market and broader economy continue to improve.

In the Dallas area, Matt Martin Real Estate Management LLC (MMREM) welcomed Jo Ann Kruse as COO of MMREM and its subsidiaries.