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.
Read More »StoneHill Group Expands IT Staff with New System Administrator
The StoneHill Group, which offers mortgage quality control, due diligence, compliance audits, and more, has hired Stephen M. Witters as system administrator.
Read More »Fiserv Suite Aids Servicers with CFPB Compliance
Fiserv, Inc., a provider of technology solutions for the financial services industry, says lenders and servicers seeking help to maintain compliance should look no further than the LoanComplete suite.
Read More »CredAbility, ClearPoint Credit Counseling Announce Merger
CredAbility and ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions announced Tuesday that they have agreed to merge effective December 31, 2013.
Read More »Wells Fargo, SunTrust Announce Settlements with Freddie Mac
Wells Fargo and SunTrust Mortgage are the two most recent companies to settle over claims regarding representations and warranties on single-family loans sold to the GSE.
Read More »Fitch: Healthy Improvements in Housing Metrics Still Expected
Though recent reports seem to indicate a hitch in the ongoing housing recovery, Fitch Ratings maintains its expectations of a healthy increase in housing metrics through this year and the next. "As we have noted previously, recovery in the housing market will likely occur in fits and starts and housing absolute numbers are still low relative to past cycles," the company said in its latest analysis. "Expansion should not be expected as a total slope upward, as there are a number of variables that intervene."
Read More »Private Mortgage Insurance Production Slows in August
According to monthly statistics released by Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA), member companies issued 46,051 policies in August, down from 50,575 in July. Activity was still higher than last year, though, when members issued 43,949 policies. The drop came despite an increase in applications received in July. Meanwhile, loan performance picked up after deteriorating for four straight months, with the ratio of cures to defaults rising more than 15 percentage points to 93.6 percent.
Read More »MortgageDocs Releases Subcontractor Management Platform
MortgageDocs, a national mobile notary signing service headquartered in California, announced the launch of myMortgageDocs, the company's new proprietary signing management platform for notaries, lenders, title, and escrow companies.
Read More »STRATMOR Promotes Practice Manager to COO
STRATMOR Group, a Georgia-based consulting firm specializing in all aspects of mortgage lending, promoted Lisa Springer to COO.
Read More »September Sees Slight Uptick in Purchase Applications
Using weekly data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Capital Economics economist Paul Diggle calculated a 7.7 percent drop in mortgage applications from August to September.
Read More »