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ยป to work with lawyers from Mortgage Resolution Partners LLC (MRP) to seize more than 600 properties under eminent domain in an effort to prevent foreclosure and blight. Justice Charles Breyer said the suit had to be dismissed because it was based on future events that may never occur. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, which include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said the seizure of the properties under eminent domain could harm the housing market as a whole if other cities were to follow suit. "Today's ruling addresses only the matter of timing before the courts," said John Ertman, who represented the companies trying to stop the seizure. "This is not a victory for the program and only postpones the day that Richmond and MRP will have to defend this program in court. This is an unprecedented application of eminent domain powers that we believe is facially unconstitutional. If implemented by the city, this eminent domain program will cause harm to millions of savers and retirees throughout the United States. We stand ready to act at the appropriate time to prevent this unconstitutional investment scheme from unfolding in Richmond or elsewhere." The Alliance for Californians Community Empowerment (ACCE), which works to keep low-income homeowners in their homes, praised the development. "Over the last few months, the Wall Street lobby has tried hard to scare cities from moving forward, but to no avail," said Amy Shur, a campaign director for ACCE. "With today's victory in court, we expect to now see other cities join with Richmond to advance this important foreclosure prevention program." Equator Unveils New Compliance and Decision Tool Equator, a Los Angeles-based provider of default servicing technologies, announced the launch of Loan Management, a comprehensive new compliance and decision tool for delinquent loans. Loan Management was designed as an evolution of Equator's Loan Segmentation technology and is built on the company's next-generation, flexible enterprise rules engine. The fully configurable system integrates compliance requirements and rules from all of Equator's other default products and combines them with client-configured rules to provide a comprehensive verification process for users. Loan Management is the entry point for any loan entering the Equator platform, so servicers have the ability to proactively manage compliance on every loan from the moment they're entered into the system. They can also use the tool's analytics to determine the optimal outcomes for each loan based on its own characteristics. "As rules and regulations become more and more complicated, servicers are being faced with more and more challenges," said Equator COO John Vella. "Our clients have asked for ways to ensure they're compliant, and we've created Loan Management in response to those requests. Loan Management is the soup-to-nuts solution that helps servicers stay compliant and profitable." "Using Loan Management, servicers can quickly and reliably evaluate loans to alleviate compliance concerns at the beginning of the process," added CEO Chris Saitta. "Applying the appropriate rules at the beginning of the default process can save time on the backend and reduce the overall cost to service." KNOW THIS There were 6,641 foreclosure starts in California from July to August, according to PopertyRadar. rank: 48 Foreclosure Rate August 2013 1.4% Unemployment Rate 0.8% 7.0% year ago 1.8% 1.5% 8.0% year-over-year change -22.7% -47.7% -12.5% Top County Las animas CounTy 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate August 2013 3.7% 2.7% year ago 2.6% 2.2% year-over-year change 42.6% 21.2% Top Core-Based statistical area monTrose, Co 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate August 2013 1.6% 1.6% year ago 1.9% 2.4% year-over-year change -13.5% IN THE NEWS HUD Announces Disaster Relief for Storm Victims HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that HUD will speed relief efforts to homeowners and low-income renters who have been affected by recent flooding, landslides, and mudslides in Colorado. Since President Obama declared Adams, Boulder, Larimer, and Weld counties disaster areas recently, HUD is now authorized to provide foreclosure relief and other assistance to families and individuals affected by the flooding. HUD has already granted a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and forbearance on foreclosures of FHA-insured home mortgages in the affected counties. HUD will also offer FHA insurance to families who have lost their homes. Borrowers from FHA-approved lenders will be eligible for 100 percent financing. In addition, HUD will allow the state of Colorado to redirect federal funds to disaster relief. RE/MAX Sets IPO Price Colorado 90+ Day Delinquency Rate VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM -34.4% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the August 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary August 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. RE/MAX announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10,000,000 shares of Class A common stock at a public offering price of $22.00 per share. The company granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.5 million shares of Class A common stock to cover overallotments. Shares of the company's Class A common stock began trading on October 2 on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "RMAX." The net proceeds of the offering are estimated to be approximately $194.2 million after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated offering expenses. The company intends to use the proceeds to reacquire regional RE/MAX franchise rights in select markets and repurchase ownership stakes from existing shareholders. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. William Blair, RBC Capital Markets, and JMP Securities served as comanagers. 75