HomeTelos, LP announced Wednesday that it has been selected to provide new marketing strategies to sell HUD's single-family residential portfolio in five geographic regions encompassing 25 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Old Republic International Corporation, a Chicago-based mortgage insurer, and PMA Capital Corporation, a holding company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, jointly announced Thursday that the companies have entered into a merger agreement pursuant to which Old Republic will acquire all of PMA's outstanding common stock. The transaction attributes a total enterprise value for PMA of approximately $365 million, consisting of $228 million for PMA common shares and $137 million for its debt.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, recently announced that it will start to incorporate the new Collateral Valuation Report (CVR) into its product pipeline for lending solutions. As part of this product incorporation, Forsythe Appraisals, LLC, an independent provider of residential real estate appraisals, and Valocity, LLC, a nationwide valuations provider, have been selected by U.S. Bank to provide the new CVR appraisal report on a nationwide basis.

The journey downward has begun again. After remaining relatively steady last week, mortgage rates this week hit new lows, as indicated by industry reports released Thursday. Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are now averaging 4.72 percent. The GSE's chief economist, Frank Nothaft, explained that bond yields headed lower this week following the relatively weak employment report, and mortgage rates followed.

IndiSoft, LLC, a Columbia, Maryland-based technology developer focusing its efforts on the default service management industry, announced Wednesday that more than 18 million transactions have been processed through its RxOffice platform since 2008. In addition the company announced that it is in line to receive third-party certification from Microsoft, which will validate the platform's security and scalability.

In an effort to make homeownership a real possibility for residents across the state, Idaho Housing and Finance Association has launched a new product for creditworthy borrowers through its IdaMortage program. According to the association, the new Affordable Advantage Loan offers a down payment as low as $1,000 and has a low-cost, 30-year fixed interest rate. In addition, the loan has no mortgage insurance requirement, saving qualified borrowers money on their mortgage payment every month.

FirstService PGP Valuation and Colliers Arnold jointly announced Tuesday that they have teamed up to create a commercial real estate appraisal firm in Central Florida. According to the companies, this new firm - Colliers International Valuation & Advisory Services Central Florida - will serve as an appraisal service provider across the Central Florida region while expanding the service line reach of the Colliers International enterprise, which encompasses more than 480 offices throughout the world.

Inching up two percentage points from April, more than 43 percent of home sellers slashed their home's list price in May, according to a monthly review of home listings in 26 of the nation's largest housing markets conducted by Emeryville, California-based ZipRealty. Although the number of price reductions increased, the survey showed that the median reduction - coming in at $19,240 - was down 1.06 percent from April.

In order to provide further assistance to Maine homeowners at risk of foreclosure, the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection signed a contract Monday with the Washington Hancock Community Agency, adding a ninth certified housing counseling service to the list of nonprofit agencies currently under contract around the state. According to Will Lund, superintendent of the Bureau, there is a definite need for housing counselors in Washington and Hancock counties, as more than 1,000 residents in these areas defaulted on their mortgages in the last year alone.

After two consecutive weeks of growth, mortgage application volume tumbled 12.2 percent for the week ending June 4, 2010, as both purchase and refinance applications plunged, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, the purchase index continued its streak of declines, falling another 5.7 percent from the week prior. And in an unexpected turn of events, the refinance index plummeted 14.3 percent