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DSNews Sept 2015 - 'I Wouldn't Be Here Without...'

DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.

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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 119 Knowledge Knowledge Knowledge & Experience & Experience & Experience & Experience & Experience You Can Count On SAN ANTONIO'S #1 HISPANIC REALTOR FOR 2015 Ruben M. Peña TC AUSTIN RESIDENTIAL GROUP, LLC 12950 Country Pkwy Suite 180 San Antonio, TX 78216 210.490.3948 ext. 1002 Offi ce 210.424.0312 Direct 210.710.2612 Cell www.tcaustinres.com Knowledge Knowledge Knowledge & Experience & Experience Knowledge & Experience Knowledge & Experience You Can Count On You Can Count On & Experience You Can Count On & Experience Knowledge IN THE NEWS Stewart Information Services to Exit Delinquent Loan Servicing Operations Stewart Information Services Corpora- tion's net income nearly tripled year-over-year in the second quarter up to $17.1 million and $0.72 per diluted share (from $6.3 million and $0.27 per diluted share), but rapidly declining volume in the default space has prompted the Houston-based real estate services provider to exit delinquent loan servicing operations, ac- cording to an announcement from Stewart. Stewart's mortgage services segment gener- ated $58 million in revenue during Q2, a 62 percent leap from the same quarter in 2014 when it generated $35.8 million in revenues. While acquisitions closed in Q 3 and Q 4 2014 resulted in favorable year-over-year revenues, rapidly falling demand for delinquent loan servicing and continued pricing pressures exit- ing delinquent loan servicing-related contracts resulted in a quarter-over-quarter decline of 8.9 percent in Q2, according to Stewart. "Given the weak demand outlook for these services, our offerings no longer meet our scale and margin requirements," said Mat- thew Morris, CEO of Stewart. "As a result, we have made the strategic decision to exit our delinquent loan servicing operations, and we anticipate taking a related charge in the third and fourth quarters totaling approximately $5 to $7 million. is decision will focus capital and resources on our business units that we believe have the strongest future for continued and stable growth including centralized, loan origination, and capital markets offerings." Stewart's pretax loss in the mortgage services segment increased from $2.3 million in Q2 2014 up to $3.3 million in Q2 2015, while pretax income held steady at $2.7 million year- over-year. Charges relating to severance costs totaled approximately $0.9 million for Q2 2015, according to Stewart. "While this decision was difficult, we are committed to improving our consolidated pre- tax margins, and this action will support that objective," Morris said. "We are not exiting any business lines we recently acquired and we will retain our expertise in providing services to the delinquent loan market. Our remain- ing mortgage services operations constitute a core set of diversified offerings that satisfy the needs of lenders seeking to manage vendor risk in a heightened regulatory environment." Stewart's Title's segment performed well in the second quarter, generating pretax income of $72.8 million on revenues of $469 million, which calculates to a margin of 15.5 percent. In Q2 2014, Stewart's title segment garnered pretax income of $45.6 million on revenues of $406 million for a margin of 11.2 percent. MCS Valuations Moves Operations from Utah to Texas, Florida, and Louisiana MCS Valuations (MCSV) has announced the closing of its Sandy, Utah, office and the move of all of its operations to the Mortgage Contracting Services(MCS) headquarters in Plano, Texas, and MCS offices in Tampa, Florida, and Ruston, Louisiana. MCSV, a nationwide provider of appraisals, broker price opinions, and other valuation-related products to the financial services industry, became part of MCS in September 2014 when it was purchased from Irvine, California-based CoreLogic. All MCSV employees will have the opportunity to relocate to either the Plano, Tampa, or Ruston offices and expand the company's valuations operations teams. "After nearly a year of evaluating the skills and experience of our management and staff in our various offices, we made the business decision that we could best serve our valuations customers by consolidating our valuations operation into our other locations," MCSV CEO Caroline Reaves said. "is will allow us to leverage our quality control, audit and business continuity capabilities, and better serve our clients by supporting all our products at centralized sites." MCS Valuations performs property valuations in all 50 states and surrounding territories with a product suite that includes BPOs, appraisals, and evaluations. e company delivers data integrity and valuation accuracy for use throughout the life cycle of a loan and has a long history of providing data-validated products that utilize quality industry leading-tools and excellent customer service. Virginia RANK: 47 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JUNE 2015 1.46% 0.55% 4.9 YEAR AGO 1.79% 0.63% 5.2 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -18.0% -12.2% -0.3 Top County GALAX CITY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JUNE 2015 2.61% 2.48% YEAR AGO 2.86% 1.41% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -8.9% 75.3% Top Core-Based Statistical Area MARTINSVILLE, VA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JUNE 2015 2.55% 1.63% YEAR AGO 3.46% 1.06% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -26.4% 53.8% 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 June 2015 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary June 2015 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics.

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