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Servicing

FBC Strikes Agreement With Justice Department

The Justice Department has reached a deal with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. The agency recently announced that the two entities have struck an agreement that pertains to underwriting practices related to loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration and HUD. FBC will revise its fourth quarter and full year financial results for 2011 as per the terms of the transaction. Additionally, FBC will reaffirm its forward looking statements for 2012, made by the company during its earnings call for fourth quarter findings in 2011.

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House Prices Hit Lows Not Seen Since 2002: Case-Shiller

Home prices reached fourth-quarter lows not seen since 2002, with the Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós/Case-Shiller Index yielding 3.8 percent in declines for December last year. The index found that prices fell 4 percent year-over-year, alongside 1.1 percent in month-over-month declines for 10- and 20-city composite measures. Eighteen of 20 metropolitan areas monitored by S&P bore the brunt of monthly price declines, with figures up 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent for only Miami and Phoenix, respectively. Atlanta slouched into the negatives at 12.8 percent. Detroit offered the only positive annual return at 0.5 percent.

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Feds Sue B of A For Homebuyer Discrimination

The federal government leveled charges against Bank of America Monday that the mortgage company wrongfully discriminated against three borrowers with disabilities. HUD filed suit under the False Claims Act, alleging that Bank of America requested proof of disability from borrowers and Social Security income information after denying their qualifications for mortgage loans. In a sign of the growing authority for working groups, HUD said that it would hand off the investigation to the Justice Department and Federal Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which will assign it to a group.

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Discounts Drive Cash Buyers to Market: Survey

More homebuyers are scooping up properties with cash only, even in an environment for record-low mortgage rates, according to a recent survey. Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance jointly released the HousingPulse Tracking Survey, collecting responses from about 2,500 real estate agents around the industry. The survey said that cash buyers will account for roughly half of all homebuyers in 2012 if current trends continue. The survey also attributed the rise in all-cash transactions to hefty discounts and late appraisals.

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MetLife Lauds Record-Breaking $11B in Commercial Loans

MetLife originated $11 billion in commercial mortgages in 2011, making last year the largest on record for the life insurer. The company said in a statement Monday that it achieved the results by signing off on a number of real estate transactions with mortgages roughly equal to $200 million and above. It said that these include $350 million on a loan for commercial real estate in Manhattan and $255 million on a mortgage for an office building in Chicago. The record-breaking loans from last year come on the heels of a pullout by MetLife from the forward mortgage origination business.

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Pending-Home Sales Eclipse 2011 Figures by 8%: NAR

Pending-home sales shot up by 8 percent year-over-year in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. The trade group found that pending-home sales ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô contract signings for homes that have not yet closed ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô rose from 89.8 in January last year, which it indexes on a monthly basis. NAR said that the Pending Home Sales Index also climbed by 2 percent to 97 in January, reaching the highest figure since the homebuyer tax credit lifted it to 111.3 in April 2010. Regionally, the index gained by 7.6 percent to reach 78.2 for the Northeast, reflecting a 9.8-percent year-over-year increase.

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Two Banks Go Under, Lifting National Tally to 11

The lights went dark for two banks in Georgia and Minnesota Friday, with one unable to secure an acquirer for deposits. The cash registers at Little Falls-based Home Savings of America fell silent without any bank scheduled to take up $434.1 million in total assets and $432.2 million in total deposits. The FDIC said in a statement that it approved payouts for customers worth the sum of their deposits. The agency insures deposits for up to $250,000 each. State regulators in Georgia also shuttered Ellaville-based Central Bank of Georgia.

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AGA Petitions Federal Reserve, CFPB

On Capitol Hill, the American Guild of Appraisers is petitioning the Federal Reserve Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to overturn a recently adopted rule that stands in opposition to regulations contained in the Dodd-Frank Act. The AGA wrote the organization's plea based on the assertion that the Fed's new rule poses a threat to the viability of professional appraisal practice and undermines the legitimacy of real estate appraisals. The legislation in question was put in place last year by the Fed.

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