The JPMorgan Chase Foundation is making a $1 million grant to help about 70 police officers and city employees move back to Detroit over the next two years. Mayor Dave Bing has launched several initiatives to strengthen Detroit's communities by bringing law enforcement and city employees into the areas where they work. Qualifying buyers will receive money for a down payment on vacant homes in select neighborhoods as part of the mayor's initiatives.

Housing has become an industry afraid of its shadows. That shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes has professionals from every side of the business worried about the impact such a sizeable volume of distress will have on property values and overall market fundamentals. But according to Standard & Poor's, the obscurity hiding in the corner is getting smaller. The agency's current estimate of time-to-clear the market's distress is 47 months. That represents a five-month decline from its first-quarter estimate.

Bank of America has named Ron Sturzenegger to replace Terry Laughlin as head of the bank's Legacy Asset Servicing division, the unit that manages problem home loans and investors' mortgage repurchase claims. Laughlin has now officially assumed his new role as chief risk officer, as announced by the company last month. Sturzenegger joined Bank of America in 1998. He most recently has served as a catalyst team member for Project New BAC, focused on the company's home loans business.

The PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE: PMI) issued a statement Friday informing investors and the public that the company has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange that it has fallen below the NYSE's listing standard, requiring a minimum average closing price of $1.00 per share over 30 consecutive trading days. PMI has six months to bring its share price back into compliance with the NYSE rule or the company will be delisted from the stock exchange.

California's attorney general and the state's Department of Justice have taken down a fraud ring of legal firms and attorneys that officials say swindled thousands of homeowners out of millions of dollars by convincing them to take part in mass lawsuits against their lenders. Attorney General Kamala Harris has sued three law firms, four lawyers, and 14 other defendants. Officials with the state and HUD have seized the defendants' assets and bank accounts.

Axios Valuation Solutions, LLC has just made the appraisal process smarter with the introduction of its new mobile application for smart phones and tablets. The new application will be offered to Axios' nationwide appraisal network and will allow the appraiser to receive, accept, or decline orders in real time. Appraisers can even view a map of the property location.

Freddie Mac's REO disposition unit HomeSteps rolled out a new program this week aimed at trimming its inventory of foreclosed condominiums. HomeSteps' Condo Cash is a special limited time offer that will provide eligible condominium buyers with up to $1,500 for standard condominium association dues. Offers must be submitted between August 15 and November 15, 2011 and close escrows by December 30, 2011.

REO Allegiance, a national property preservation firm headquartered in Bayonne, New Jersey, announced this week that it has been chosen as a premier inspection service provider for Atlas REO Services which is based in California and provides customized REO management and disposition services for lenders and servicers. The new program goes well beyond the services traditionally offered by asset management firms, according to the two companies, and saves clients time and money by putting properties back on the market faster.

Investors' growing appetite for the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds in the wake of European debt troubles and a stagnant economic recovery here in the U.S. have driven mortgage interest rates to their lowest level in over 50 years. Freddie Mac says both fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages have reached all-time record lows, providing further incentive for homeowners looking to refinance. By the GSE's assessment, the 30-year rate is now averaging 4.15 percent and the 15-year rate is at 3.36 percent.

Sabal Financial Group, L.P., the financial services management firm formerly known as Milestone Asset Resolution Company, LLC, has appointed Kevin McKenzie as portfolio manager. McKenzie's expertise span investment, banking, advisory, development, and architecture. In his new role, he oversees the firm's growing commercial real estate portfolio of assets under management and will play a role in expanding the company's acquisition and valuation services platform.