April 1, 2010
A New Way to Value REO
Mortgage Banking
By Matthew M. Lind
... Since 2007, the real estate-owned (REO) market has experienced unimagined changes in volume, value decline and absorption times. The meltdown of the mortgage industry, coupled with a deep and protracted economic recession, has precipitated record foreclosure volumes across the United States...
... The foreclosure problem is no longer being driven by subprime loans. Indeed, according to Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, "|T]he problem is prime loans going into foreclosure and people being underwater and losing their jobs."...