DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/234855
STATE OF AFFAIRS: WEST » • Pay a $4 million civil penalty to the CFPB for the alleged violations. • Retain all compensation records, abiding by federal law requiring creditors to retain evidence of compliance, including all payroll and bonus records. CFPB Director Richard Cordray, said, "This outcome embodies our mission—to root out bad practices from the marketplace and ensure consumers are being treated fairly." STAT INSIGHT 214% Annual increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions in Utah in November. Source: RealtyTrac THE LEADER IN DEFAULT SERVICING NEWS Help shape the next issue of DS News. Drop us a line at Editor@DSNews.com. 142 Washington rank: 24 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate october 2013 2.6% Unemployment Rate 1.9% 7.0% year ago 3.9% 2.8% 7.8% year-over-year change -33.2% -31.1% -10.3% Top County grays harbor county 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate october 2013 3.6% 3.0% year ago 4.7% 3.8% year-over-year change -22.7% -22.9% Top Core-Based Statistical Area aberdeen, Wa 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate october 2013 3.6% 3.0% year ago 4.7% 3.8% year-over-year change -22.7% -22.9% 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 October 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary October 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. IN THE NEWS More than 75 HUD Homes Hit the Auction Block in Seattle The real estate auction house Hudson & Marshall put more than 75 HUD-owned homes in the Seattle, and Tacoma, Washington area up for sale last month. Due to the distance from some of the properties to the auction venue at the Seattle Airport Marriott, Hudson & Marshall also offered live simulcast online bidding through its H&MLive! Web portal. For the sale, HUD agreed to pay up to 3 percent of closing costs. The federal agency also agreed to pay 3 percent (minimum of $1,250) to broker selling agents with an active name and address identification (NAID) number. Dallas, Texas-based Hudson & Marshall is a full-service real estate auction firm specializing in bank-owned foreclosure listings. With 50 years' experience, the company utilizes a unique marketing approach coupled with an auction strategy that is individualized to suit each property. The company conducts more than 400 auctions a year and has sold more than 100,000 properties since 2000. Over the last five years, Hudson & Marshall's sales have topped $5 billion. Bidding Wars Resume in Major Markets Despite a softening market, competition among buyers remained fairly fierce in October, Redfin reported in its Real-Time Bidding Wars report released in late November. For the month, 55.9 percent of offers written by the Seattle-based brokerage's agents faced competition from other buyers, a decline from 58.3 percent in September. Bidding wars have been on a downward slope since peaking at 79 percent in February. October was the third consecutive month to see a drop in competition compared to the same month the previous year, according to Redfin. Even with the decline, though, competition was higher than expected, given the effects of the government shutdown on consumer confidence. "While many Americans paused their home-buying and selling plans during the shutdown, overall demand in October was more robust than expected, with home tours and offers rebounding once the government reopened," said Redfin analyst Rachel Musiker. "This unexpectedly strong demand paired with dwindling inventory likely kept competition from falling even further in October." Out of the 22 markets reporting, Boston saw the biggest drop in competition with 61.3 percent of offers facing bidding wars in October, down from 70.1 percent in September. San Diego, meanwhile, experienced the biggest increase in bidding wars. There, 63 percent of offers competed against multiple bids compared to 56.1 percent the month prior. In the most competitive markets, interested buyers still have to adopt aggressive tactics, including offering all cash. Mia Simon, a Redfin agent operating in Silicon Valley, tells a story of a bidder vying for a home priced just above $1.4 million. "There were only three other offers, but they were all above $1.8 million. Although my client's offer was not the highest overall, it was the highest of the all-cash offers," Simon said. "Today's Silicon Valley homebuyers realize that they long missed out on the bottom of the market, but many believe that home prices will rise even more in