Servicing

The lending division of Carrington Mortgage Services announced the addition of industry vet Jeff Gillis as SVP of operations. In addition, Carrington announced the promotion of Mariano Demarin to national sales director for the firm's retail lending division.

In its most recent economic outlook, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group revealed expectations for the economy to continue the modest recovery and grow 2.2 percent this year.

The company behind the VantageScore credit scoring model announced a webinar covering the current credit environment and new predictive models developed post-recession. VantageScore Solutions will host the webinar, which will feature Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, and Sarah Davies, SVP of analytic, product management, and research for VantageScore Solutions.

Realtors attending the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo expressed renewed confidence in a forum on the commercial real estate (CRE) market. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun joined several Realtor CRE specialists on a panel to discuss the economy and regulatory issues and how they impact the market. In a live audience poll, the majority of attendees said their local economy is either a little better or showing a major improvement from last year.

According to the CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, some markets experiencing rapid gains may soon see a slowdown or even reversal of recent trends. As homeowners looking to sell are encouraged by rising prices and as new construction picks up, increased inventory will dampen these rapid increases, according to CoreLogic. Also, rising prices will eventually ward off investors, and "it is not clear if demand from first-time and trade-up buyers will immediately fill the void," said David Stiff, chief economist for CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

LendingQB announced the implementation of mortgage insurance (MI) underwriting guidelines into its automated system, giving users the ability to automatically check MI eligibility and pricing.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) announced the expansion of its social media monitoring tool.

Redfin's monthly report--based on home prices, sales, and inventory across 19 U.S. markets--shows prices rose 4.9 percent in April on a monthly basis and 16.1 percent on a yearly basis. Out of the 19 metros measured in Redfin's report, 18 reported month-over-month increases in April. "The housing market across the nation was hot again in April. Yes, home prices are up. But the big story in this month's report is that inventory posted its largest month-over-month increase in over three years," wrote Redfin blogger Tim Ellis.

360 Mortgage Group, a privately owned mortgage banker headquartered in Austin, Texas, named Jeff Slain as regional manager for the Central Region of the United States.

The most recent Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo shows home affordability slipping slightly in the first quarter. According to the index, 73.7 percent of new and existing-homes sold in the first quarter of this year were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income, a decline from 74.9 percent in Q4 2012. Despite the decrease, NAHB Chairman Rick Judson noted the HOI has still stayed high over the past four years.