The Treasury Department is setting up a Homeownership Preservation Office to ride herd on servicers that are failing to turn trial loan modifications into permanent modifications.

The Federal Housing Administration on Monday unveiled new proposals to strengthen its depleted insurance fund, including a mandate for all FHA lenders to maintain minimum capital of $2.5 million within three years.

Marathon Asset Management LP, after raising $500 million from investors, has been cleared by the Treasury Department to participate in its 'Public-Private Investment Program' to buy toxic mortgage assets.

Fannie Mae issued $40.7 billion in mortgage-backed securities in October, down 14.5% from September, according to the government-sponsored enterprise.

Homeowners with combined loan-to-value ratios greater than 120% are more likely to fall behind on their payments than other borrowers who lose their job, according to analysts at the Amherst Securities Group.

The median price of existing houses rose for the eighth consecutive month in California in October, while the statewide inventory on unsold units fell to a four-months' supply, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Lenders Asset Management Corp., a nationwide default asset manager in Littleton, Colo., is expanding its REO liquidation management process to effectively handle the intricacies of each account.

Phoenix-based CCG Catalyst now offers contract negotiation services to financial institutions for vendors such as loan origination systems, servicing and online banking providers.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 332,292 U.S. properties in October, a decrease of 3 percent from the previous month but still up nearly 19 percent from October 2008.0Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMTForeclosure filings were reported on 332,292 U.S. properties in October, a decrease of 3 percent from the previous month but still up nearly 19 percent from October 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The report also shows one in every 385 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in October. “Three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for our report, and on first blush an indication that the foreclosure tide may be turning,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “However, the fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn continue to loom over any nascent recovery.”

Cities in California, Florida and Nevada accounted for the 10 highest foreclosure rates in the third quarter among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more.0Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:00 GMTCities in California, Florida and Nevada accounted for the 10 highest foreclosure rates in the third quarter among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. But five of those Top 10 metro areas reported decreasing foreclosure activity from the third quarter of 2008, while many other metro areas with Top 50 foreclosure rates reported sharp increases in foreclosure activity. “Rising unemployment and a new variety of mortgage resets continued to gradually shift the nation’s foreclosure epicenters in the third quarter away,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 937,840 U.S. properties in the third quarter, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 23 percent from Q3 2008. 0Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:00 GMTForeclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 937,840 properties in the third quarter, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 23 percent from Q3 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter — the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005. Foreclosure filings were reported on 343,638 properties in September, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month but a 29 percent increase from September 2008.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 358,471 U.S. properties in July, a decrease of less than 1 percent from the previous month but still an increase of nearly 18 percent from August 2008. 0Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:00:00 GMTForeclosure filings were reported on 358,471 U.S. properties in August, a decrease of less than 1 percent from the previous month but still an increase of nearly 18 percent from August 2008, according to the latest RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The report also shows one in every 357 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in August. “The August report demonstrates that there is still an ample supply of properties filling the foreclosure pipeline even while the outflow of bank-owned REO properties onto the resale market is being more carefully regulated,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 360,149 U.S. properties during the month, an increase of nearly 7 percent from the previous month and an increase of 32 percent from July 2008. 0Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:00:00 GMTForeclosure filings were reported on 360,149 U.S. properties in July, an increase of nearly 7 percent from the previous month and an increase of 32 percent from July 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. “July marks the third time in the last five months where we’ve seen a new record set for foreclosure activity,” noted James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we’re seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions.”

Real-time foreclosure data from RealtyTrac’s nationwide database of default, auction and bank-owned homes are now searchable on HomeFinder.com and its national network of 130+ newspaper sites.0Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Cities in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona continued to document the nation’s highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2009, with those states accounting for 35 of the 50 highest rates. 0Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT

The New York State Banking Department and RealtyTrac® released New York county-level foreclosure statistics for the second quarter ending June 30, 2009. 0Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT

RealtyTrac® today announced that its monthly newsletter for real estate investors — Foreclosure News Report — was recently honored as Best Newsletter for 2009 by the National Association of Real Estate Editors. 0Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMTRealtyTrac®, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today announced that its monthly newsletter for real estate investors — Foreclosure News Report — was recently honored as Best Newsletter for 2009 by the National Association of Real Estate Editors during the group’s 59th Annual Journalism Awards in Washington, D.C.

A total of 1,905,723 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,528,364 U.S. properties in the first six months of 2009.0Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMTA total of 1,905,723 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,528,364 U.S. properties in the first six months of 2009, a 9 percent increase in total properties from the previous six months and a nearly 15 percent increase in total properties from the first six months of 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The report also shows that 1.19 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 84) received at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of the year.

RE/MAX International, Inc., announced that visitors to remax.com soon will be able to search more than 1.8 million foreclosue properties in the U.S. via a strategic partnership with RealtyTrac.0Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMTRE/MAX International, Inc., announced that visitors to remax.com soon will be able to search more than 1.8 million default, auction and REO properties in the U.S. via a strategic partnership with RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com).

Foreclosure filings were reported on 321,480 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of 6 percent from the previous month but an increase of nearly 18 percent from May 2008. 0Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:00 GMTForeclosure filings were reported on 321,480 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of 6 percent from the previous month but an increase of nearly 18 percent from May 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The report also shows that one in every 398 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in May. “May foreclosure activity was the third highest month on record, and marked the third straight month where the total number of properties with foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000 — a first in the history of our report,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.