U.S. home prices show a deceleration in the annual growth rates in 17 0f 20 MSAs and the 10- and 20-City Composites compared to what was reported for October 2010 according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.  It’s the fifth consecutive drop in home prices, falling to the lowest levels since June 2009. The [...]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) terminated the approval of sixteen branch offices, spanning a total of fifteen different lenders due to higher than normal default rates on loans endorsed by the Mortgagees. “HUD’s regulations permit HUD to terminate the Agreement with any mortgagee having a default and claim rate for loans endorsed [...]

Mark Miller writes about how the industry and government are addressing reverse mortgage defaults in his latest Reuters column. Barbara Stucki, vice president of home equity initiatives at the National Council on Aging, told Reuters that about five percent of the 550,000 loans outstanding are non-performing for failure to pay taxes and insurance.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development continues to expand into social media with the launch of HUDle – a new interactive blog. “We’re going to have regular bloggers, guest bloggers, video blogs, and special behind-the-scenes-at-HUD content you won’t find anywhere else,” said the statement from HUDle. The latest from the blog announced the launch [...]

Rockbridge Growth Equity announced it led the acquisition of Connect America, a security and safety solutions provider for older Americans who wish to continue to live an independent life at home. RockBridge, one of the portfolio companies of Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, partnerd with Falcon Investment Advisors in the acquiistion, providing subordinated debt and preferred equity [...]

The latest edition of Kiplinger hit newsstands and includes a new article on the HECM Saver. Released earlier this year, the product allows borrowers to withdraw smaller amounts at a lower cost compared to the traditional HECM product.  Eric Declercq, vice-president of reverse-mortgage operations at MetLife Bank told the magazine, “the new Saver has virtually [...]