Foreclosure activity increased 3 percent in January, but is still down 10 percent compared to a year earlier, according to data released by RealtyTrac Thursday. Foreclosure activity includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. Nationwide, one in every 624 housing units had a foreclosure filing last month. The number of properties taken back as REO in January totaled 66,542, with the biggest year-over-year increases in repossessions recorded in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Indiana.

IMARC, which specializes in fraud audits for individual loans and portfolios, hired a new senior director of product design and business development. Lisa R. Binkley has been in the mortgage industry for 25 years, and her main responsibilities with IMARC will include product development and marketing associated with quality control, due diligence, and data verification.

Overall, the addition of 683,000 new jobs and the best credit picture in more than 15 years helped improve the financial health for the average U.S. household, but these gains were offset somewhat by a decline in net worth and tight household budgets, according to the Q4 2011 report from CredAbility. A score below 70 indicates financial distress, with U.S. households scoring 67.6 on the 100-point scale for this quarter, a smidge higher than the previous quarter, which was at 66.7.

For those juggling a list of REO properties that must be managed and maintained, Mobile Business Concepts created an app and software to make the process smoother and more efficient. REO Photo, the app's name, will help contractors get organized through features such as the ability to assign jobs, track progress, and document work with photos.

Integra Group Real Estate introduced a short sale department to its services to address the high foreclosure rates in Arizona. The housing market crash caused more than half of Arizona homeowners to have negative equity, and Pima County has an 11.9 percent vacancy rate compared to the normal 1 and 2 percent rate, according to a release from Integra. Through bilingual support, Integra also services Hispanic homeowners who were impacted 2.3 times more by subprime loans than non-Hispanics.

The $25 billion, 49-state settlement awarded Ohio with $335 million to be used for recovery and prevention efforts. Through the creation of a grant program, the AG's office will set aside $75 million to fund the removal of vacant and abandoned properties, which decrease the value of surrounding homes. While the exact number in Ohio is unknown, the estimate is 100,000 properties.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to propose a rule to standardize monthly mortgage statements to make them easier for customers to understand. The CFPB recently released an early draft of a statement and is seeking feedback. Once a refined prototype is available, the CFPB said it will propose a rule to specify what needs to be on statements, but creditors, assignees, and servicers will have some flexibility to tweak the form after final publication of the rule.

Foreclosure sales on the West Coast started strong for the year 2012, with Washington as the exception, according to ForeclosureRadar. Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon are the other states included in the report - all of which saw increases in foreclosure sales to investors. Nevada experienced the largest month-over-month increase in foreclosure sales, up nearly 60 percent. California also saw a substantial increase at nearly 15 percent and underwent the most activity, with investors purchasing 3,964 properties for $766.2 million, according to ForeclosureRadar.

Avenue 365 Lender Services announced a new VP of business development for its growing default services division. Shegun Onakomaiya was named for the role and his duties will include expanding the client base and finding additional ways to service clients. Onakomaiya worked at Citigroup for 8 years, most recently as a transaction manager in the acquisition and securitization desk.

With all the buzz after the multistate settlement regarding potential relief to homeowners, the Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force reminded consumers to be cautious of potential scams. It's getting harder to identify the good guys from the bad guys, said David Long, co-chair of the TFPTF. Borrowers will not know immediately if they are eligible for relief, and there is no cost to participate in the initiatives from the settlement.