The American Land Title Association (ALTA) awarded three National Title Professional designations on Tuesday. The professional designation was received by Paula Bachmeier of Minot Guaranty and Escrow Company in Minot, North Dakota; Nancy Landmark of Commercial Partners Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Gregory Wolff of Fidelity National Title Company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced Monday that it has completed the acquisition of Svenson, a regulatory reporting software suite for financial institutions, which is based in Austria. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Svenson was part of SmartStream, a provider of financial transaction management solutions and complements Wolters Kluwer's existing offerings for regulatory reporting and risk management.

Stewart Lender Services announced Tuesday that it has acquired key assets of the due diligence and credit risk management firm Allonhill. Stewart will retain all Allonhill personnel as well as Allonhill's headquarter facility in Denver and the technology developed by the Allonhill team. The acquisition strengthens Stewarts offerings by adding due diligence, loan quality reviews, compliance solutions, and servicer performance management to its suite of products provided to the mortgage servicer and investment communities.

Hot on the heels of a huge fiscal year (FY) 2012 and the issuing of its 20 millionth home loan, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is working through a mandate to expand its VA Appraiser Fee Panel by 25 percent. ""Right now we have just over 4,100 appraisers on our fee panel,"" said Gerald Kifer, supervisory appraiser of the VA in a WorkingRE.com article. ""We are looking to appoint an estimated 1,400 additional appraisers to VA panels nationwide."" The expansion comes at an appropriate time. VA loan volume has grown a staggering 305 percent from FY 2007 to FY 2012.

The Barrett Daffin Frappier Turner & Engel family of law firms has reacquired National Default Exchange (NDeX), NDeX Title, and NDeX West from the Dolan Company. The deal puts the law firms of the BDF Law Group in direct and complete control over their entire operations. Dolan's decision to shed the NDeX assets is in line with the company's plans to move into specialized business technology for law firms and away from business processing and back office services.

Short sales continue to rise along with demand for services provided by selling agents who have the knowledge and experience needed to successfully execute these complex, multifaceted transactions. Although short sales are becoming a bigger part of the housing landscape, ShortSaleAgentFinder.com says there is a shortage of real estate agents skilled in the art of the short sale.

The broadening housing recovery has firmed up home prices around the country, with the potential to restore many underwater mortgages to a position of positive equity, according to Fannie Mae's economic and strategic research group. Citing data from CoreLogic, the GSE notes that 1.7 million properties moved from negative to positive equity last year. Provided the home price gains seen so far this year continue, Fannie's economic analysts anticipate another 1.8 million properties will rise out of their underwater positions by the end of 2013.

Industry leaders gathered in Las Colinas, Texas, Thursday for the Five Star Institute's 2013 REO and Short Sale Executive Summit to discuss issues and market conditions impacting the distressed asset space. A number of the nation's leading financial institutions and government agencies were represented at the event designed to facilitate open dialogue and collaboration for developing solutions to today's most pressing REO and short sale challenges.

Best Homes Title Agency is expanding its presence in Michigan. The company recently announced that it is putting down roots in several locations in the western part of the state with the acquisition of the Closing Office Title Agency. Best Homes Title is headquartered in Farmington Hills, with an ancillary office in Saginaw. The acquisition of the Closing Office Title Agency will add six additional locations to the company's statewide footprint.

A U.S. district judge in Missouri has dismissed a recording fee suit filed by officials in Jackson County against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), on the grounds that the county ""cannot enforce a nonexistent obligation."" Missouri is the fifth state in which judges have granted MERS' motions to dismiss similar recording fee lawsuits.