REOMAC Dinner Meeting...Great Networking Event.

June 19, 2008
REOMAC Dinner Meeting

Marriott Denver City Center
1701 California Street
Denver, CO 80202

Pre-Dinner Workshop
Lender / Outsourcer Roundtables
Come meet representatives from some of the top companies in the industry.

Dinner Panel
Outsourcing Here and Now
The rise in foreclosure and REO volumes has affected everyone in the mortgage banking industry. Come hear our panel discuss the challenges they are facing, strategies / resources they are utilizing and what they need and/or require from their business partners in order for everyone to succeed!!!

Schedule
Registration Opens: 2:30pm
Pre-Dinner Workshop: 3:30pm
Reception: 5:00pm
Dinner: 6:00pm
Dinner Panel: 7:00pm

To Register Visit: http://www.reomac.com/calendar.asp

Dinner Sponsors

AssetLink
Wheat Ridge, CO

REOTRANS,LLC
Hawthorne, CA

Twin Lion, Inc.
Palm Desert, CA

Fidelity Information Services

Asset Management Solutions

Westminster, CO

MBA Survey Confirms Q1 Foreclosure Surge

The first quarter MBA National Delinquency Survey released today largely supports the findings of the RealtyTrac Q1 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released at the end of April, which found overall foreclosure activity increased 23 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 and 112 percent from the first quarter of 2007.

That closely mirrored the trend in MBA’s foreclosure rate, which put the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at 2.47 percent at the end of the first quarter, up 21 percent from the 2.04 percent reported in the fourth quarter of 2007 and up 93 percent from the 1.28 percent reported in the first quarter of 2007.

The trend lines are even closer when looking at the RealtyTrac first quarter foreclosure rate (0.515 percent of total housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter), which was up 21 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 — exactly the same percentage increase as the MBA foreclosure rate — and up 109 percent from the first quarter of 2007.

The record-high delinquency rate reported by the MBA in the first quarter indicates that foreclosure activity has not peaked, which is also reflected in the numbers RealtyTrac has reported so far for the second quarter. The total number of properties with foreclosure filings in the RealtyTrac April report was the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing the report in January 2005.

State trends

The four states with the highest foreclosure rates in the RealtyTrac first quarter report — Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida — were also the four states identified in the MBA report as having the most severe foreclosure problems. Those four states accounted for 47 percent of the total foreclosure activity in the RealtyTrac report and 42 percent of the foreclosure starts in the MBA report.

Both the RealtyTrac and MBA reports identified Ohio and Michigan as states where foreclosure activity decreased in the first quarter. It’s too early to say that the lower foreclosure numbers in states such as Ohio and Michigan represent a light at the end tunnel for the battered real estate industry, but it’s certain that the continued surge in foreclosures in populous states such as Florida and California will cast a shadow over the entire U.S. housing market for several months and even years to come.

Courtesy of Foreclosure Pulse

Litton to Purchase Fremont's Portfolio

Fremont Investment & Loan has entered into an agreement with Litton Loan Servicing to purchase the majority of Fremont's loan servicing portfolio.

The scheduled release date is June 1, 2008.

Any agents working with Fremont might want to contact them to see how you may be affected by this and to make sure you will compensated for outstanding invoices. There may be a deadline that the invoices need to be in by.

Attn. Cali Agents: REO's are now 34% of California Home Sales

The term real-estate owned (or REO) is taking on new meaning in California, where REO properties recently accounted for 34-percent of the state's home sales in April, according to a new report from ForeclosureRadar—a company that tracks all foreclosure data in the Western state.

ForeclosureRadar says the data collected in April hints at what lies ahead, and it's not necessarily good news.

In April alone, California set a new record when 44,101 new notices of default were filed. In addition, Notices of Trustee Sale increased 7.8-percent to 29,892, dwarfing the previous record. The number of foreclosures sold in California auctions (22,838) also increased 44-percent when compared to March.

“We expected a significant increase in auction sales based on previous default patterns,” said Sean O'Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar. “Unfortunately, the continued increases in defaults tell us that the worst is still ahead. It is time for lenders to accept this reality, and start approving short sales rather than forcing more than two-thirds of troubled homeowners through the entire foreclosure process.”

ForeclosureRadar also painted a somewhat bleak picture for lenders, saying they “added 22,324 properties to their 'real estate owned' inventory last month." “Based on these levels, lenders are increasing REO inventories 1.36-times faster than they are able to resell them,” ForeclosureRadar said.

Nevada, California, Arizona post top foreclosure rates

Despite a 5 percent month-over-month decrease in foreclosure activity in April, Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate. One in every 146 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing in April, 3.6 times the national average, and the state’s foreclosure activity was up 95 percent from April 2007.

California posted the second highest state foreclosure rate in April, with one in every 204 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 64,683 California properties in April, down less than 1 percent from the previous month but still the most of any state and an increase of 112 percent from April 2007.

Arizona foreclosure activity in April increased 26 percent from the previous month and 181 percent from April 2007, helping to bump the state’s foreclosure rate up to third highest among the states. Foreclosure filings were reported on 11,620 Arizona properties in March, one in every 224 total households.

With one in every 242 households receiving a foreclosure filing in April, Florida documented the nation’s fourth highest state foreclosure rate. Foreclosure filings were reported on 35,264 Florida properties during the month, the nation’s second highest total. Florida foreclosure activity increased nearly 17 percent on a month-to-month basis and 146 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Colorado foreclosure activity in April was down nearly 3 percent from the previous month and up just 3 percent from April 2007, but the state’s foreclosure rate still registered fifth highest among the states. One in every 349 Colorado households received a foreclosure filing in April, nearly 1.5 times the national average.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan and Massachusetts.

Five Star Default Servicing Conference and Expo: September 17-20, 2008

There is a very good industry event coming up September 17-20 in Dallas, TX. Its the Five Star Default Servicing Conference and Expo. This is a great networking event for agents and anyone else in the REO or default servicing industry.

The Five Star Default Servicing Conference and Expo is a one-of–a-kind event that brings together default pros and provides them the rare opportunity to discuss their industry—where it is, where it’s going, and ways it can operate even better. The Five Star is the largest conference in the industry and the second largest in the entire mortgage business.

Slated to play host to 3,000 default professionals spanning the nation, the 2008 conference is poised to be the biggest ever. The fifth Five Star to date, this year’s event will be held at the perfect point in time: The industry currently is experiencing the highest rate ever of defaulted properties in the marketplace, with a resulting surge in the need for qualified professionals to handle the increased load.

You can make a lot of good connections at this event. It is expensive though and if you are coming from out of state, the trip, hotel, entrance fee, etc can add up to be quite expensive.

If the event is out of your budget, the REO Agent 411 list for $99.99 will provide you with the contact info for all of the companies that will be at this event and hundreds more. This way you can start soliciting them for business ASAP. If you don't have a copy of this list yet, you really need to order one. It will become the backbone of your REO and BPO career.

OFHEO: Home Prices Decline in 1st Quarter

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) released its House Price Index (HPI) for the first quarter of 2008 on Thursday. The new report says on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the prices of homes in the United States fell 1.7-percent between the first quarter of this year and the fourth quarter of 2007. In addition, OFHEO says home prices in its index dropped 3.1-percent between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008—making it the largest price drop in the purchase-only index's 17-year history. Full Story