According to a recent study by the Associated Press:http://www.associatedpress.com, banks that are now receiving bailout money from taxpayers, awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year.

Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County, Ohio, is refusing to evict homeowners or tenants in his jurisdiction who have been foreclosed on and have no other place to live. The sheriff sent a letter to Ohio Gov.

The nation’s foreclosure hemorrhage has finally slowed and 2009 should see a significant decline in foreclosures as buyers return, pushing home prices up and fueling a real estate recovery, according to the 2009 Outlook from California-based ForeclosureS.

Chicago-based Navigant Consulting, Inc. released a report yesterday showing an unprecedented escalation in the number of subprime-related filings, and worsening economic conditions promise to drive the litigation volume ever higher, the research firm said.

Ocwen Financial Corporation has announced plans to separate its business process outsourcing operation, Ocwen Solutions, in a spin-off to Ocwen shareholders. Once the tax-free transaction is completed, Ocwen Solutions will be a separate publicly traded company.

Fidelity National Financial Inc. has received the green light to purchase two underwriting subsidiaries from bankrupt title insurer LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. Federal antitrust regulators allowed the legal waiting period mandated under the Hart Scott Rodino Act to expire at midnight on Thursday without intervening in the deal, essentially clearing the way for Fidelity to acquire LandAmerica’s Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.

Rising home sales, declining home prices, stricter loan underwriting standards, and the financial market meltdown all contributed to a turbulent year in California’s housing market, according to the California Association of Realtors (C.

Representatives of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HOPE NOW announced today that the Streamlined Modification Program (SMP) was successfully launched December 15th as planned – three days after Fannie and Freddie sent detailed implementation instructions to their servicers.

Vantium Capital Inc., a private equity fund that invests in undervalued mortgage assets, announced today that its specialty servicing unit, Acqura Loan Services, has begun offering electronic loan modifications, or e-mods, to delinquent borrowers in an effort to improve and accelerate borrower acceptance and reduce loan modification timelines.

Fannie Mae confirmed this week that it is finalizing a new policy that will allow renter occupants in Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties to stay in their homes even if their landlord falls behind on the mortgage and goes into foreclosure – something the Wall Street Journal:http://online.