Fannie Mae introduced Servicing Management Default Underwriter™ (SMDU™), a tool to help mortgage servicers work faster and more consistently with homeowners to prevent foreclosure. This technology, a counterpart to Fannie Mae’s widely used Desktop Underwriter® for mortgage originations, breaks new ground by evaluating a homeowner’s financial situation and determining what options are available to prevent foreclosure.

“SMDU addresses several challenges the servicing industry has faced in recent years by eliminating a manual and resource-intensive process for servicers while improving accuracy and consistency,” says Leslie Peeler, Senior Vice President of Fannie Mae’s National Servicing Organization. “So far, adoption has been voluntary and we are pleased a number of leading technology providers and servicing partners have implemented SMDU. There are several large servicers working towards adoption this year. Servicers should anticipate that adoption will be required at some point in the near future. SMDU serves the interests of homeowners, servicers and taxpayers. The bottom line is that we want servicers to prevent as many foreclosures as possible and provide excellent service.”

Freddie Mac recently released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for April showing that despite the ongoing housing recovery and gains on the construction jobs front, large economic headwinds persist. For example, the stubbornly high unemployment rate serves as a reminder of just how far the economy needs to go to get back to a healthy level. A short preview video and the complete April 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook are available here.

Housing starts were up 47 percent from March 2012 to March 2013, passing 1 million starts for the first time in nearly five years.
The pace of construction job growth has been accelerating in recent months. Over the past year, net construction job growth represented 8 percent of all job gains, while in the last six months it represented 15 percent.

Projecting an increase by $100 billion in refinances in 2014 to account for additional Home Affordable Refinance Program volumes with its extension through 2015.

Spring is here and home buying is in full bloom. I want to gently remind you that while "curb appeal" may attract you, it's the "guts" that should play a key role in determining whether or not a home is a good buy.

According to Ed Ingalls of Newington Electric Company, most people have no idea how dangerous wiring problems may be in a potential new home, even if they hire a home inspector.

Ingalls notes that about 80 percent of homes he sees have some level of outdated wiring. Whether buying a new home or assessing an existing home, there are red flags that wiring should be updated such as:

Soaring production of multifamily apartments pushed nationwide housing starts beyond the million-unit mark for the first time since 2008 in March, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. The data show that total starts activity rose 7.0 percent for the month due entirely to a 31.1 percent increase on the multifamily side, while single-family production slipped 4.8 percent from a number that was revised strongly upward for the previous month.

“Today’s report is a reflection of the solid demand that many areas are seeing for rental apartments as young people take that first step into the housing market, which is a very positive development,” notes Rick Judson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “The numbers are also in keeping with our latest surveys that show single-family builders are experiencing some difficulties in keeping up with rising demand for new homes due to increasing construction costs and other factors.”

Calling the latest data a “mixed bag” due to the opposite direction of single- and multifamily starts and a somewhat weaker amount of permit issuance, NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said that nevertheless, the numbers indicate “a continuation of the slow, methodical march forward” that characterizes the housing recovery. He also noted that “The three-month moving average for single-family starts remained unchanged at 628,000 units in March – which is right on pace with NAHB’s forecast for a 25 percent gain in new-home production in 2013.”

Vacation home sales improved in 2012, while investment purchases remained elevated for a second consecutive year, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Vacation-home sales accounted for 11 percent of all transactions last year, unchanged from 2011, while the portion of investment sales was 24 percent in 2012, down from 27 percent in 2011, marking the second highest share since 2005

After being battered during the housing bust, the vacation-home market is showing signs of life. Reports of bidding wars are trickling out of some of the locales that bore the brunt of the housing bust, and brokers in other markets, while not sounding the "all clear," at least say conditions aren't getting much worse.