Tag Archives: Attorneys & Title Companies

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent in August ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the lowest level since April but the economy added just 96,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. According to Labor, 581,000 people left the labor force in August leading to the drop in the unemployment rate which nonetheless remained above the election-critical 8.0 percent. At the same time, July's job gains ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô originally reported at 163,000 ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô were reduced to 141,000 while June's job numbers dropped to 45,000 from 87,000.

Taking the stage on Thursday, speakers at the ninth annual Five Star Conference, currently underway at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, tackled the issue most politicians evade: When and where should government intervene in the housing market? Not often, according to speakers like Jack Konyk, executive director of government affairs with Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider, and Edward Kramer, EVP of regulatory affairs with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. The Dodd-Frank Act took center-stage during the debate, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau along with it.

Online lending continues to boom, and at least one mortgage-shopping website is reporting that the housing market is heating up, based on site statistics. Citing strong findings from August, MortgageMarvel.com revealed that the number of applications for purchases and refinances submitted during the month quadrupled on a year-over-year basis.

The September data release from Clear Capital heralds good news for home pricing around the country. According to the company's Home Data Index Market Report, national price improvements observed through the end of summer mark four consecutive months of year-over-year gains. U.S. home pricing rose by 2.9 percent on a year-over-year basis to end August, and Clear Capital noted that the recorded growth "on this non-seasonally influenced metric shows fundamental strength fueling gains, rather than a boost from the summer buying season."

In California, a financial institution is selling the majority of its mortgage business to facilitate a return of capital agreement in conjunction with a previous acquisition deal. Redding-based Bank of Commerce Holdings has announced that 51 percent of Bank of Commerce Mortgage has been sold back to Simonich Corporation, following a 2009 capital stock purchase transaction between the two entities.

Struggling borrowers in need of alternative home loan modifications are getting a helping hand from a Texas-based mortgage lender and servicer. Homeward Residential, Inc., has rolled out a new program for consumers who are unable to qualify for modification options through federal initiatives.

A home with a very dubious history has hit the market in Ocklawaha, Florida. The former residence of Kate "Ma" Barker - she's the mother of famous gangsters, the Barker brothers - has been listed for $1 million. The property, which Barker was renting under an assumed name at the time, was the site of her demise in 1935 when she was shot by police following a four-hour standoff.

Illinois has decided to set aside part of its funds from the national mortgage settlement to provide free legal assistance for Chicago area homeowners, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced earlier this week. About $4.7 million from the national foreclosure settlement funds will go to the Legal Assistance Foundation. LAF will use the funds to reach out to distressed homeowners and provide services to keep struggling owners in their home. The funds will also help LAF work with the courts to improve the Cook County Foreclosure Mediation Program and support its staff.

Residential Capital was denied approval from a federal bankruptcy judge to pay its executives bonuses, Reuters reported Wednesday. The key employee incentive plan was for bonuses between $4.1 million and $7 million to be distributed to 17 of the top 20 employees from ResCap. The written court opinion stated the debtors, or ResCap, argued the bonuses would serve to "motivat[e] . . . key talent" during a sales process that has required ResCap employees to assume "responsibilities above their normal duties," and subject them to ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£extraordinary stress, pressure, and uncertainty as to the security of their jobs."

While fraud in the financial services sector declined year-over-year from April through June, mortgage fraud increased, according to the latest report from Experian, a global information services company based in London. Thirty-nine out of every 10,000 mortgage applications were fraudulent during the April to June period, up from 32 out of 10,000 in the same period last year, according to Experian. Mortgage fraud far outpaced savings account fraud.