The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) new home valuation code of conduct was created to promote transparency and put distance between lenders and appraisers to encourage more accurate property appraisals, but some question whether it will be effective.

Fannie Mae will begin using the HomeTracker Lender Center software to track property preservation efforts conducted by Fannie Mae mortgage servicers. The software, created by Dallas, Texas-based HomeTelos, will allow Fannie Mae to streamline the approval process servicers use to make requests for property preservation expenses by created standardized rules and processes for all user requests.

REO brokers that work in Detroit are seeing shorter wait periods for city inspections and increased access to records at the Detroit Water Department, according to a release by the Detroit Association of Realtors’ REO Task Force.

Austin, Texas-based REO maintenance and repair services company Field Asset Services (FAS) launched its redesigned Web site Thursday. The new site has a new look and added functionality that allows users to log into the company’s FAS 3.

A majority of Americans oppose using federal bailout funds to pay the mortgages of homeowners in default, according a survey released in the inaugural Reecon Advisory Report Tuesday. While 51 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed the idea, 43 percent are in favor of using the funds to help homeowners.

Recent increases in the rates Washington, D.C.-based Fannie Mae requires lenders to charge for some mortgages has caught the ire of the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors (NAR), who claims the new rates unfairly increase the cost of buying a mortgage, even for qualified buyers seeking mortgages they can afford.

With loss mitigation becoming an increasingly more important tool for the mortgage industry, Philadelphia-based Radian Guaranty, the mortgage insurance subsidiary of Radian Group Inc., will begin offering to its customers loss mitigation training techniques and services from CampusMBA, the education division of the Washington, D.

Indiana lawmakers are considering a variety of options to help homeowners and lenders in the Hoosier state overcome the mortgage crisis, according to a report in The Indianapolis Star. According to the report, Indiana is one of nine states with a higher rate of loans in foreclosure than the national average of 3 percent, and lawmakers are looking for ways to stem that tide, including extending the foreclosure process, financial assistance, and a state-wide moratorium on foreclosures.

Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) Chairman Ronald Rosenfeld resigned from his post on December 31. The Federal Housing Finance Board was responsible for the supervision of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks until the enactment of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 merged it with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) mission team, to create the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in July, 2008.

The lack of mandatory earthquake insurance in California would result in high levels of mortgage defaults that would further cripple the United States housing market if a major earthquake occurred, according to an analysis released by the Chicago-based Impact Forecasting LLC, a division of international reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor Aon Benfield.