Servicing

Pango Group hired Joe Curtis as EVP of sales to join the family of escrow and financial service companies.

According to RE/MAX's data, taken from a survey of multiple listings service (MLS) data from 52 U.S. metro areas, the months' supply of homes for sale at the April's sales pace was 3.6 months--the lowest supply since the National Housing Report began in August 2008. However, the company observed a monthly increase in April in the overall number of homes for sale--the first since June 2010. In addition, the year-over-year percentage drop in inventory was 26.6 percent, the lowest annual drop in the last 12 months.

The median price for a home in the San Francisco Bay Area climbed above the half-million mark in April for the first time in almost five years, according to DataQuick.

In Texas, Pacific Union Financial, LLC announced the hiring of Ron Fountain as EVP and chief legal officer. Fountain joins the company from JPMorgan Chase, where he was SVP and managing director. During his time there, he directed all aspects of compliance relating to Chase Bank mortgage servicing operations, including regulatory and investor reviews and audits and the acquisition and disposition of mortgage assets.

In sharp contrast to reports of improving builder confidence, housing starts plunged at the steepest rate in more than two years in April.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. introduced the web-based Workout Interaction Tool (WIT), which provides data from its MSP servicing system to and from Fannie Mae's Servicing Management Default Underwriter (SMDU) platform.

The latest Residential Price Index (RPI) from FNC, Inc., shows home price gains continuing in March for the 13th straight month. The index, which is based on recorded sales of non-distressed properties in the nation's 100 largest metros, rose 0.4 percent month-over-month in March and 5.5 percent year-over-year. On a quarterly basis, prices were up 0.7 percent from Q4 2012 and 5.7 percent from Q1 2012 as of the end of March, FNC reported. As usual, growth was more accelerated in the smaller 30- and 10-metro indexes.

FDIC announced Tuesday the closure of Central Arizona Bank (Scottsdale) by the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. To protect depositors of the failed bank, FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Western State Bank (Devils Lake, North Dakota).

In Connecticut, Total Mortgage Services, LLC announced the launch of its new and improved website offering users with a dynamic browsing experience across all devices.

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc., a Florida-based post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry, released a new white paper outlining the ten hottest issues servicers must consider when undertaking the lien release.