Dallas-based MRG Document Technologies (MRG) now offers mortgage servicers loan modification document packages that are compliant with the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

Long-term interest rates for home loans continue to drop, marking the third consecutive week they’ve declined. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s VP and chief economist, explained that fixed mortgage rates are now down about half a percentage point from early June levels, when they began heading upward.

Nearly two million foreclosure filings were recorded during the first half of the year, according to the market research company RealtyTrac. One in every 84 homes in the United States has received at least one foreclosure filing, the company says.

The Des Moines, Iowa-based mortgage and real estate research firm iEmergent has updated its 2009 first-time homebuyer loan volume forecasts in light of the new federal tax credit. The company projects that home loans made to first-time buyers will tally 955,000 this year and generate $133 billion nationwide.

South & Associates, P.C., a creditors’ rights firm serving Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, recently announced that it has hired two new associate attorneys – Phillip R. Anderson and P. Daniel Calderon.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its latest Foreclosure Prevention Report on Wednesday, detailing actions taken by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prevent foreclosures and keep people in their homes.

Hinting at another small victory for the housing market, Denver-based Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS) has reported a gain in national home prices of 1.6 percent during the month of May. The company released its IAS360 House Price Index (HPI) Tuesday, which showed an increase in property values in all four U.

Irvine, California-based Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC) has appointed Chip Hidinger SVP of its new default solutions division. Hidinger has more than 16 years’ experience in the default industry.

ForeclosureRadar, a company based in Discovery Bay, California that tracks every foreclosure in the Golden State, says it expected the new California Foreclosure Prevention Act to have little impact. But the company reported Tuesday that in fact, the day the law went into effect, it saw a significant decline in filings of Notice of Trustee Sale, which set the date and time of a foreclosure auction sale.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey Wednesday, which showed a resurge in refinances over new loan requests. After a lull last month, more homeowners are looking to lower their monthly payments by taking advantage of mortgage rates that have again started to fall to record-lows.