Tag Archives: Agents & Brokers

M&T Bank was recently given an "outstanding" rating by the New York Fed for its performance under the Community Reinvestment Act, representing the highest possible ranking.

A new president has been announced at ServiceLink, with the appointment of Chris Azur to the prestigious position. Formerly the company's executive vice president and chief operating officer, Azur has been with ServiceLink for more than four years. In his previous role for ServiceLink, Azur was responsible for multiple aspects of valuations, title, and closing operations for the entity.

All-time highs for housing affordability helped elevate pending-home sales for October 9.2 percent above figures seen over the same month last year, with fewer bad appraisals scuttling deals across the country. The National Association of Realtors measured contract signings for homes last month against numbers from the month before and last year, which it released with the Pending Home Sales Index. The trade group recorded 93.3 for pending-home sales in October, up from 84.5 in September ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô 10.4 percent above figures seen during that month.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency picked up two new appointees, duly announced by the independent federal agency Tuesday. Richard Hornsby will assume his new role as COO with the FHFA, while Jon Greenlee takes on the position of deputy director of the division of enterprise regulation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will clarify and hone rules from 18 consumer financial laws it arrogated from seven federal regulatory agencies in July.

Home prices drifted lower over the third quarter this year, falling year-over-year by 3.9 percent, according to Standard & Poor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Case-Shiller Index. The figures inched forward by only 0.1 percent from last month, with the modest pickup reflecting a 5.8-percent improvement from figures seen for home prices over the second quarter. The numbers beat forecasts for a 3.0-percent slide back from the 20-city composite. Fourteen of 20 cities fell in a southerly direction over September 2011, with figures for home prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and others sliding.

A failure by lawmakers to slash $1.2 trillion from the national debt spurred Fitch Ratings to place U.S. debt on negative outlook Monday, a move that immediately hit GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by association. The ratings agency revised a stable outlook for debt held by Fannie and Freddie to negative, even while it reaffirmed AAA-ratings in place for the GSEs. Multiple news reports suggest that Fitch will likely downgrade credit ratings for the U.S. federal government, along with Fannie and Freddie.

In Massachusetts, the sales pace for single-family homes was on the rise during October, for the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases in the region. However, the state's housing market continues to struggle overall, with a 9 percent drop in total sales volume recorded for 2012. Single-family home sales in Massachusetts are down in terms of the year-to-date pace; by October of last year, around 34,823 homes had sold in the state, according to a recent sales study by the Warren Group.

The Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC) has revealed its membership line up for 2012. The consulting arm of the Federal Reserve Board also announced its president and vice president appointees, along with four new faces joining the roster.

Kirchmeyer & Associates, Inc., made waves with the announcement that it added a new program for collateral valuation insurance in line with a new partnership.