Monday Morning Cup of Coffee

A look at HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues: Analysts across the board are making predictions about the future of the economy in 2011. A theme, they say, will be the now commonplace unpredictably in the marketplace. Lincoln Ellis, chief investment officer at Strategic Financial Group, said that due to new price structures and a lack of certainty, markets routinely experience a 2% volatility range. “This is already happening in bonds and equities tend to follow,” Ellis said in his Set of Macroeconomic Thoughts for 2011, published in Business Insider. Scott Grannis of Calafia Beach Pundit blog, and former chief economist at Western Asset Management, expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates sooner than market predictions. The expected raise is to 0.5% by December. “The combination of a stronger-than-expected economy and signs of rising inflation will motivate the Fed to reverse its quantitative easing program sooner than most expect,” Grannis said. As far as housing goes, Grannis said the housing market will show signs of recovery by the end of the year. Economic pick up, an abundant supply of money and ongoing growth in the population and household formations signal the market will improve, he said. President of foreclosure listing website ForeclosureS.com Alexis McGee said she expects 2011 to be the year of the distressed property sales, as markets recover from foreclosure moratoriums and brokers try to sell the built up backlog. She expects liquidation rates to improve. “Banks are now approving short sales much quicker (30 days versus 90 days or longer) and closing them in many cases at wholesale investor prices,” McGee told The Orange County Register based in Santa Ana, Calif. “For investors and buyers, 2011 will be a great time to submit wholesale REOs and short sales offers, as your chances for success will be high.” Fiserv Inc. (FISV) named Mark Ernst chief operating officer and executive vice president. Ernst had been deputy commissioner for operations support at the Internal Revenue Service. Prior to that, he was chief executive of Bellevue Capital, a private investment firm. “Mark has a proven track record in delivering strong results across a wide array of financial services businesses and government,” Fiserv Chief Executive Jeffery Yabuki said. “His leadership experience will complement our management team as we look to further extend our solution differentiation, and capture a larger share of market opportunities.” Fiserv provides information management and electronic commerce systems to the financial services industry. Ernst assumes a chief operating officer post that had been vacant since Norm Balthasar retired at the end of 2007. Andrew Cuomo was inaugurated as the 56^th governor of New York Saturday, pledging to spearhead the state’s financial problems. According to an article by The New York Times, Cuomo plans to unveil an emergency financial plan this week. “There is no more time to waste,” Cuomo said in his inaugural speech. “It is a time for deeds, not words, and results, not rhetoric. It is time for a bold agenda and immediate action. There is no more waiting for tomorrow, and there are no more baby steps, my friends.” Two weeks ago, Cuomo sued accounting firm Ernst & Young alleging the firm helped hide Lehman Brothers‘ financial problems. Ernst & Young said it plans to “vigorously defend” itself and that there is “no factual or legal basis for a claim to be bought against an auditor in this context,” where accounting for the underlying transaction is in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Another case of alleged mortgage fraud will go to trial this week in Denver. According to The Denver Post, the state of Colorado is seeking at least $4 million in penalties, restitution and disgorgement from mortgage brokers Leo Shifrin, Mark Shifrin and Jerry Johnson. The group is accused of luring consumers with newspaper advertisements of low teaser rates and zero out-of-pocket closing costs and then misrepresenting the terms and features of their loans at the closing table. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. did not close any banks the last two weekends of 2010, bringing the total count for bank failures during the year to 157. There were 140 failed banks in 2009. Write to Christine Ricciardi.