Puerto Rico-based Popular, Inc. said last week that it has entered into an agreement to sell loan and servicing assets of its U.S. mortgage subsidiary Popular Financial Holdings to various Goldman Sachs affiliates.

Dolan Media Company, a provider of business information and professional services to the legal, financial, and real estate sectors in the United States, announced yesterday that its majority-owned subsidiary, American Processing Company, has closed the acquisition of National Default Exchange (NDEx).

Zaio Corporation, a real estate database and technology provider, today announced that it will provide Michigan-based Quality Professionals, Inc. with valuation products for use in the company’s quality control services.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, for the week ending August 29, 2008, today. The new stats show mortgage applications increased for the second consecutive week.

Both President Bush and state officials have said that it is too early to truly assess the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav. According to a Bloomberg report earlier today though, the Category 2 storm may trigger insurance claims as high as $10 billion, based on early assessments from firms that specialize in catastrophe estimates, making it potentially the fourth costliest U.

Real Estate Disposition Corporation has announced that it sold 1,100 foreclosed homes in Southern California, grossing over $200 million in a 10-day auction event last month. REDC reported that each auction date saw between 600 and 3,000 bidders in attendance, for a total of 16,321 potential buyers.

If the real estate market is in a meltdown, California real estate investors haven’t gotten the memo. In fact, residential real estate investment activity in the state has grown over 65 percent in the past year alone, according to a report released last week by Walnut Creek, California-based RightNow Consulting.

Mortgage Contracting Services, a property preservation and inspection services provider, says demand for its services and a growing client base has prompted it to increase its office space in both its Dallas and Tampa locations.

LenderLive Network Inc., a company that provides business process outsourcing and technology to the financial industry, has purchased the assets of Colorado-based Guardian Mortgage Documents, which has provided document preparation services and software to the financial industry since it began in 1987.

Home prices in the United States fell in the second quarter of 2008, according to the seasonally-adjusted purchase-only house price index (HPI) issued by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight last week.