Tag Archives: Attorneys & Title Companies

Stewart Lender Services (SLS), a leading provider of servicing and mortgage origination support services, has entered the capital space with its acquisition of key assets of Denver-based Allonhill, LLC., a due diligence and risk management firm.

Home prices as measured by CoreLogic increased 12.4 percent year-over-year in July, the company reported in its monthly Home Price Index (HPI) report. "Home prices continue to climb across the nation in July with markets hit hardest during the downturn leading the way," said CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi. "Nationally, home prices are now within 18 percent of their peak levels reached in April of 2006." Meanwhile, the Pending HPI indicates that August 2013 home prices will rise 12.3 percent.

Fannie Mae's book of business shrank for the second consecutive month in July as its gross mortgage portfolio continued to decline.

DebtX, an online marketplace for commercial real estate (CRE) debt, reported that CRE loan prices were little changed in July. According to DebtX, the estimated price of whole loans securing the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) universe fell to 90.7 percent, down from 90.8 percent in June. Loan values were 88.1 percent on July 31, 2012. "The secondary loan market remains active and little changed in terms of price. Loan values are essentially right where they were a year ago," said managing director Will Mercer.

Republicans might adopt a wait-and-see approach to the nation's debt ceiling and not vote to increase it to see what might happen. That's playing with fire.

Profits on mortgage loan originations declined while the cost of originating a mortgage loan increased over the second quarter of this year.

National data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows mortgage interest rates rising nearly half a percentage point from June to July. According to FHFA's index, which is based on new mortgage contracts, the contract interest rate on the composite of all mortgage loans was 4.00 percent, up 45 basis points from 3.55 percent in June. The effective interest rate (accounting for initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage) was 4.12 percent, up from 3.67 percent.

According to data released by Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA), member companies issued 50,575 policies to start the year's second half, up from 49,666 in June and 39,192 in July 2012. Dollar volume of primary new insurance written totaled $13.0 billion, marking the fifth straight month of gains. (Despite a decline in policies issued in June, dollar volume still saw an increase to $12.3 billion). Total primary insurance in force was $413.0 billion as of the end of July, the companies reported.

ReverseVision, Inc., announced the addition of Kelly Kelleher to its San Diego office.

Income at financial institutions insured by the FDIC rose during the second quarter, according to a report released Thursday by the agency. Total net income at FDIC-insured institutions increased 22.6 percent year-over-year to $42.2 billion in the second quarter. "Asset quality continues to recover, loan balances are trending up, fewer institutions are unprofitable, the number of problem banks is down, and the number of failures is significantly below levels of a year ago," said FDIC chairman Martin J. Gruenberg.