Lake Forest, California-based US Real Estate Services, Inc. (USRES) has promoted Rida Sharaf to VP of the company’s REO title and closing division. Sharaf joined USRES in March of 2007 as a closing supervisor, and since that time, the company says he has been instrumental in the growth, efficiency, and effectiveness of the title and closing divisions through policy and procedural improvement and implementation.

Two more community banks have been shuttered by state regulators – New Frontier Bank of Greeley, Colorado, and Cape Fear Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina. These latest closings bring the total number of failed institutions for the year to 23.

The U.S. Treasury said on Friday that American taxpayers have already begun to get back some of the money that they’ve invested to bailout the nation’s banks. The Treasury has collected $2.

RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for the first quarter of 2009 on Thursday, which showed that one in every 159 housing units in the nation received a foreclosure filing during the first three months of the year.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank purchased $21.75 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) from government agencies this week. Total MBS purchases since the Fed program began in early January now stands at $355 billion.

The Obama administration has released the names of the first six mortgage companies to officially ink their commitment to participate in the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HMP).

Maryland-based Aspen Grove’s Aspen iAgent technology has been approved as the default REO solution for Keller Williams Realty agents across the United States. Aspen iAgent allows real estate agents to manage REO properties, from assignment through closing, via a secure, Web-hosted application.

Lake Forest, California-based Retreat Capital Management, Inc., a third-party arbitration services company that specializes in bringing loans back to performing status and keeping borrowers in their homes, announced on Wednesday that it is collaborating with software provider Ellie Mae to provide lenders with loan modification services.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) on Thursday, which showed interest rates on fixed-rate home loans and some adjustable-rate products eased this week. The GSE reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.

Melville, New York-based Lend America, a direct-to-consumer Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender, recently announced that it has raised its 2009 projection. Based on the company’s first quarter business, Lend America estimates that its servicing assets will surpass $1 billion by the end of the second quarter of 2009 and grow to over $2 billion by December 31, 2009, a 33 percent increase over the company’s previous forecast.