The National Housing Report from RE/MAX found that for the third month in a row, home sales in May rose higher than sales in the previous month. May sales were 11.5 percent higher than in April, but stubbornly remained below the same period last year by 9.9 percent.

ProTeck Valuation Services released its May Home Value Forecast (HVF), which detailed affordability indexes for Houston and Miami. The report found that although home prices have been rising steadily, housing is still very affordable when considered on historical terms.

South & Associates, P.C., a law firm focused on the protection of creditors' rights in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa recently announced it has hired three new associate attorneys.

RealtyTrac released its first-ever Natural Disaster Housing Risk Report Thursday, which assigns a risk score for a natural disaster to more than 3,000 county housing markets nationwide. Scores were based on risk data for three natural disasters—hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes—and each county was assigned to one of five categories based on their score: Very High Risk, High Risk, Medium Risk, Low Risk, and Very Low Risk.

Marvin Solis of Richmond, California was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for an investment fraud scheme perpetuated against family members. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), Solis pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud as a result of the scheme.

Serious mortgage delinquencies fell in Colorado from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, according to the Colorado Division of Housing. Mortgage delinquencies of 90 days or more fell to 1.3 percent in the first quarter, down from 1.5 percent to close out 2013.

Mortgage Capital Management (MCM) announced that Karen Herr has joined the company as SVP of sales and marketing. In this executive role, Herr will coordinate the company's efforts in growing new business while expanding existing relationships by providing customer support, information, and guidance.

HOPE NOW released its latest data on loan modifications, noting that in April approximately 42,000 homeowners completed a modification for their home's mortgage. All told, the organization reported that more than 7.02 million homeowners have completed home mortgage modifications since the third quarter of 2007.

Ocwen, the nation's fourth largest mortgage servicer, has agreed to pay $3.7 million to resolve allegations that it failed to give notice to homeowners, and that the company unlawfully foreclosed on properties in Massachusetts. The announcement came from the state's Attorney General Martha Coakley, who alleged the non-bank servicer failed to follow Massachusetts law when handling certain mortgage loans.

The national default rate declined again from the previous month, according to data through May 2014 released by the S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices. The indices offer a comprehensive measure of changes in consumer credit defaults.