MGIC Loosens Restricted Markets Requirements
Credit and debt-to-income ratio requirements have been eased in the country's most struggling real estate markets by Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. The move is a result of market improvement.

Current guidelines require a minimum credit score of 720 in markets where restricted underwriting guidelines are in place.

The limitation applies to loans up to $625,500 that are secured by properties in Arizona, Florida and Nevada.
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Opposing Views on Principal Reduction
The various programs and proposals to reduce the principal loan balance on mortgages to deeply underwater borrowers would improve the equity position of some homeowners while leaving other seemingly similar borrowers with negative equity.

BofA Goes National With Short Sale Payouts
After testing a program that pays delinquent borrowers to help unload their properties through a short sale, Bank of America Corp. is now expanding the program.

Judicial States Bloat U.S. Shadow Inventory
While the nation's pool of distressed loans remains historically high, there have been some positive signs with the shadow inventory. Hurting the numbers are states that require judicial foreclosures, where it takes two-and-a-half times as long to clear out non-performing mortgages as it does in non-judicial states. The problem is much worse in the Big Apple -- where the distressed supply would take far more than a decade to clear.

Shadow Inventory Falls
The latest data on the nation's shadow inventory of homes indicates that the time it will take to clear out the inventory has fallen by one month. There was also some other good news for the shadow inventory.

Realtors Oppose REO-to-Rental Program
The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently began qualifying investors to purchase pools of real-estate-owned assets in some of the nation's worst housing markets from Fannie Mae and Freddie and convert them to rental properties. But the strategy is opposed by some local California Realtors who stand to lose commissions on such bulk sales.

HUD Chief Grilled on Housing Market The head of the Housing and Urban Development talked with reporters about a range of issues including additional funding for the Federal Housing Administration, investors complaints about the mortgage servicer settlement and writing down principal on loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

BofA Tests Deed-in-Lieu Rentals
A new program being tested by Bank of America Home Loans on a limited number of delinquent mortgages would enable borrowers to hand over the titles to their properties but stay on as renters. The program could be expanded if it proves successful.

Shadow Inventory Far Less than Previously Forecasted
A projection last year suggested that 2 million negative-equity mortgages were likely to flood the shadow inventory. Fast forward a year and the inventory has fallen by around 200,000 units, while the time needed to clear out the properties has declined by three months.