Technology

Real estate Web site Zillow differed by few turns over mortgage rates, publicizing a small uptick in real-time mortgage rates. The latest rates arrive amid turmoil in markets at home and record lows for mortgage rates recorded by Bankrate.com and Freddie Mac. According to the real estate Web site, the 30-year fixed-rate loan traded up by three basis points to hit 3.94 percent, up from 3.91 percent from last week ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the lowest such rate for the loan on record for the company since April 2008.

Mortgage Cadence, LLC, has a new client in the Security Service Federal Credit Union (SSFCU). Taking advantage of Mortgage Cadence's enterprise lending solutions, the SSFCU is seeking to enhance its loan originations solutions. The company will utilize Mortgage Cadence's Orchestrator and Finale Document services to gain added compliance measures and document management.

Mark S. Higgins received a major promotion from Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, with his recent appointment as company president. Additionally, Higgins will chair Cornerstone├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Direct Real Estate Investment Committee and continue his work with client investment strategy. Higgins ascension to president is part of Cornerstone's growth and expansion plan, and in his new role, he will oversee real estate investments, commercial property portfolios, acquisitions, asset management, and debt vehicles.

Pacific Union Financial LLC is the latest preferred investor with Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative. Through the partnership, Lenders One members will be able to expand their products lines in order to take on competitive aggregators. Lenders One, a national alliance of community mortgage bankers, product suppliers, and correspondent lenders, will gain support from Pacific Union for both its retail and wholesale platforms.

Commercial real estate loans are making Wall Street headlines again. Joint financing options are becoming increasingly abundant for financial firms struggling to handle the fall out from recent volatility in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. During the summer, yields rose steadily, increasing the need for investor protection measures. As part of events underway, Barclays CApital announced a partnership with FundCore Finance Group to conduct CMBS loans jointly.

Enhanced technology initiatives for wholesale and correspondent lenders is now available thanks to ClosingCorp's new platform. The company recently announced that it would release the SmartGFE Service, targeting streamlined processing for entities in both markets. ClosingCorp's SmartGFE product will provide instant access to RESPA-based Good Faith Estimate (GFE) data to those in the wholesale and correspondent segments.

Changes are on the way for Clopton Capital, with the company's recent announcement that it would launch a small-balance mortgage plan for minimally-sized loans. Primarily focused on commercial mortgages, SBA loans, commercial real estate loans, and niche financing, Clopton's new program is a rarity among similar lenders Clopton's offering will target single applicant loans between $25,000 and $400,000.

An international partnership between the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and Clearstream is set to enhance operations for bilateral loans. The companies plan to combine DTCC's Loan/SERV and Clearstream's collateral management platform to streamline the registration and reconciliation of loans, as well as facilitate the use of loans as collateral. DTCC and Clearstream will the collaboration to support credit claims and syndicated loan markets, with Clearstream initiating the leveraging of DTCC's Loan/SERV reconciliation service during the first half of 2012.

Three of the largest U.S. financial institutions are teaming up to fund a major home giveaway for injured veterans, in collaboration with the Military Warriors Support Foundation (MWSF) JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are making donations to provide seven mortgage-free homes to American soldiers hurt in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The banks are partnering with other industry entities to create the housing gift, which part of MWSF's Homes4WoundedHeroes program.

Numbers between the second and third-quarters of the year lend an in depth look at the real estate markets to invest in now. According to HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor, Inc., now is the time to buy in some of the nation's most compromised areas. The latest data reveals that around 14 percent of single-family residential properties are maintained as rental products, and the company's statistics demonstrate the key locations yielding a high risk-return premium based on national averages.