Tag Archives: Attorneys & Title Companies

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC), a post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry, has been recognized by the Florida Business Journals as one of the state's fastest-growing companies.

Trulia is the latest company to report a monthly slowdown in home prices--and trends indicate yearly gains may soon cool as well. "Asking home prices give us the first look at where home sale prices are headed, and they point to a slowdown," said Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko. "After rising rapidly in the first half of 2013, asking prices in two thirds of the largest metros are cooling. In fact, asking prices are falling--not just rising more slowly--in 11 of the 100 largest metros, the most markets to see prices slip in six months."

In Colorado, Urban Lending Solutions (ULS) announced the hiring of industry experts Ken Harthausen and Julie Bussey.

As the first government shutdown in nearly 20 years marches on, the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) David Stevens is urging lawmakers to consider the impact that an ongoing shutdown will have on the housing market. Stevens, president and CEO of the trade group, pointed out that while furloughs are currently impacting the out-of-work government employees the most, the effects of a long-term crisis are sure to spread, with lenders having to wait for tax transcripts, Social Security number verification, and other required items.

Real estate agents say the housing market is beginning to shift from seller control, and they expect price gains to moderate over the next several months, according to the latest survey from Redfin.

Meg Burns, senior associate director for housing and regulatory policy for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, joined Zillow for a Google+ Hangout session to field questions from underwater homeowners and explain the Home Affordable Refinance Program's (HARP) finer points. Hosting the call was Erin Lantz, Zillow's director of mortgages. Thursday's question and answer session represented one way in which FHFA is working to spread knowledge of HARP and get more borrowers involved.

Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has announced that he will retire in early 2014.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed average fixed rates dropping for the third straight week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 4.22 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending October 3, down a tenth of a percentage point. In addition to the government shutdown (which threatens to shave points off of GDP growth in Q4 if allowed to continue much longer), rates were brought down by a slip in consumer sentiment in September.

National home prices will rise 4.8 percent over the next year, according to a third-quarter forecast from Veros Real Estate Solutions, a risk management, valuation services, and analytics firm based in Santa Ana, California. Regionally, Veros predicts continued strengthening in the West and a lag in the Northeast and parts of the South. The top 10 markets labeled by Veros' forecast are all located in Western states: Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

The StoneHill Group, which offers mortgage quality control, due diligence, compliance audits, and more, has hired Stephen M. Witters as system administrator.