Loss Mitigation

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), regulator of the nation’s GSEs and the more than $6.3 trillion in mortgage funding they supply, released its November Foreclosure Prevention Report today.

Freehold, New Jersey-based First Equity Capital, LLC has established a private equity fund to buy pools of non-performing mortgage notes in an effort to stem the tide of foreclosures and delinquencies.

Fannie Mae has begun laying off hundreds of employees at its Washington, D.C. office to make room for more employees at its Dallas, Texas anti-foreclosure office, according to multiple media reports. Affected employees include those that worked in technology, administration, communications, and the company’s single-family unit, which buys and bundles mortgages for securities.

The Distressed Property Institute is training Realtors to help struggling homeowners in danger of foreclosure. The institute, based in Florida and launched last January, is now offering the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation after in-depth on-site or online training on how to handle short sales.

Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Fiserv Inc., a provider of information technology services to the financial industry, today announced enhanced capabilities to its Home Retention Solutions offering – a system that helps financial institutions proactively identify and contact troubled borrowers with customized repayment solutions to try to keep them out of foreclosure.

Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman of Bethesda, Maryland’s The RLJ Companies and chairman of Urban Trust Holdings Inc., introduced his $1 billion proposal to help homeowners avoid foreclosure during a speech at the National Housing Forum sponsored by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) this week.

The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) announced last week that it has received $683,060 to support the continuation of the state’s foreclosure prevention counseling efforts. The much-needed boost will enable an existing network of 13 community-based organizations across Arizona to provide continued assistance to homeowners in danger of foreclosure, ADOH said in a press statement.

West Palm Beach, Florida-based Ocwen Financial Corporation, one of the nation’s largest servicers of subprime mortgages, has reported solid success with its program to modify substantial numbers of troubled loans in a way that avoids redefault, and keeps borrowers in their homes and loans performing for investors.

Fannie Mae announced a series of actions this week designed to help borrowers and loan servicers get an early jump on potential mortgage problems and prevent unnecessary home foreclosures among the more than 18 million single-family loans owned or guaranteed by the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE).

Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Financial Corporation says that even in today’s challenging economy and housing market, its proactive home retention strategy has allowed the company to maintain a foreclosure rate of less than one percent for residential first mortgages.