Secondary Market

Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance (USMI), a unit of Richmond-based Genworth Financial, announced a redesigned Commitment/Certificate of Insurance intended to make it easier for customers to understand information about their mortgage insurance.

Blueberry Systems, LLC announced that its RELAY loan origination system (LOS) is now the platform of choice at Cole Taylor Mortgage.

Carrington Mortgage Services' Wholesale Lending Division announced it has added 14 professionals to its sales staff to better provide in-market services to brokers and borrowers.

Capsilon announced it has merged its Katalyst and DocVelocity imaging systems into a combined offering.

Deloitte's Consumer Spending Index, which tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future spending, remained largely on a steady course in March as the economy stabilized. The company reported an index reading of 4.12 for March, down a bit from 4.37 the previous month. While March's reading was a bit of a dip, Deloitte notes the index has remained fairly steady over the past five months, remaining above the 4.0 mark while wages, home prices, and unemployment claims find steadier ground.

Mortgage Daily tracked a total of 15 mortgage-related business closings in the first quarter of 2013, putting the year on pace to see the fewest number of mortgage banking failures in seven years. While Q1's casualty rate was greater than Q4 2012 (when 13 businesses shut down or collapsed), it's an improvement over Q1 2012, which saw 27 total closings. At the current pace, Mortgage Daily forecasts around 60 mortgage-related closings this year, down from 83 last year and the lowest level since 2006.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, V.I.P. Mortgage, Inc., announced its recent selection into Genworth U.S. Mortgage Insurance's (USMI) exclusive Leadership Circle.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a Texas-based provider of property preservation, inspections, and REO property maintenance to the financial services industry, named Ken Scheller as VP of operations.

Housing starts jumped 7.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, the Census Bureau and HUD reported jointly Tuesday. Multifamily starts (which increased 31.1 percent) accounted for all of March's gains, while single-family starts actually declined 4.8 percent. While the trajectory for both starts and permits shows a clear increasing pattern as the recovery marches on, residential construction activity remains far below pre-recession levels.

ValuTrac Software and Platinum Data Solutions announced they have entered into a partnership to integrate ValuTrac Pro into Platinum's RealView.