Servicing

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has denied Ocwen Financial Corporations’s attempt to expedite a court ruling on the constitutionality of the Bureau. The CFPB said that the mortgage servicer shouldn’t get special treatment in the case, alleging it failed “every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” The CFPB attempted to block Ocwen’s expediting attempt by telling a Florida federal court to deny Ocwen’s attempt at fast-tracking its constitutional challenge against the agency’s structure.

According to Ellie Mae’s most recent Millennial Tracker for March, millennial homebuyers are moving to the Midwest. Homes in Midwestern states have proven to be more affordable, and Mount Vernon, Illinois was the most popular metropolitan area for homes purchased by millennial buyers. Other popular cities for millennials included Midland, Texas and Odessa, Texas.

Ocwen's shares are finally starting to recover since the CFPB and 21 states filed suit against it last month. Following an announcement that New Residential Corporation will acquire Ocwen's mortgage servicing rights, the company's stock rose 46 percent at one point, reaching $3.32 at its highest. Ocwen's shares had dropped more than 50 percent after April's legal allegations.

Tripp Levy PLLC announced on Monday that the deadline for investors to pursue their claim against Ocwen in the class action lawsuit is approaching. These investors seek to recover compensation damages caused by Ocwen’s violations of the Securities Exchange Act, and those that purchased shares of Ocwen during the period between May 11, 2015 and April 19, 2017 are encouraged to contact the firm soon.

On May 11, the second annual Five Star Diversity Symposium will be held in Dallas, Texas. The Diversity Symposium is a day-long event focused on advancing the conversation on diversity within the mortgage industry, and will feature keynote addresses from diversity leaders as well as roundtable discussions and panels.

Flagstar Bank is seeing growth across its mortgage service lines, according to the Q1 2017 earnings report released by the bank on Wednesday. Flagstar’s commercial real estate loans jumped 11 percent from Q1 2016 and 58 from Q4 2016. The bank’s mortgage revenues are also up, rising 19 percent for the quarter.

Bell will be responsible for planning, organizing, optimizing and managing staff and overall operations of LoanCare’s IT department. He will provide strategic leadership to ensure operational services to the business are being supported in a timely and cost effective manner, as well as developing objectives and short and long term goals for the department.

According to data released on Tuesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau, new home sales grew by 5.8 percent month-over-month in March, and 15.6 percent year-over-year. The median home price rose to $315,000, while the average home price grew to $388,200.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI covers 20 metropolitan areas across the U.S., and is released on the last Tuesday of every month. The previous HPI, covering January 2017, showed home prices at a 31-month high. During January, home prices were up 5.9 percent year-over-year and 5.7 percent month-over-month.

A new list reveals the country’s most overleveraged cities—areas where mortgage balances far outweigh home values and median incomes. San Luis Obispo, California, topped the list, with a mortgage debt-to-income ratio of more than 2,000 percent. The market’s historically low mortgage rates are likely to blame for overly ambitious buying.