In a recent announcement, Fannie Mae notified servicers of new policies related to Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) modification assistance programs.

Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. strengthened its presence in Maryland with the acquisition of Llewellyn Realtors, a company specializing in residential real estate in Montgomery County.

Potestivo & Associates, P.C. hired Candice L. Hope as director of human resources at the firm's Rochester Hills, Michigan office.

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF) named Daniel Burnham—a HUD approved housing counselor with Money Management International(MMI)—Counselor of the Year.

Polsinelli, a law firm serving corporations, institutions, entrepreneurs, and individuals, selected Anoush Hakimi as counsel for its national real estate finance group.

Churchill Mortgage, a mortgage lender that provides conventional, FHA, VA and USDA residential mortgages across 26 states, was named as a Top Workplace by The Tennessean.

National home prices in May posted their biggest annual gain since February 2006, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. When including distressed sales, home prices shot up by 12.2 percent year-over-year in May, marking the 15th straight month of increases. From April to May, home prices climbed 2.6 percent. CoreLogic's pending home price index points to further improvements in June, with prices projected to exceed May's increase with a 13.2 percent gain.

Real estate auction company Williams & Williams recently launched a worldwide real estate advisory. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based auction firm also announced the hiring of Frank Diliberto as executive managing director to lead the global advisory and handle commercial real estate sales.

Rosenberg & Associates, LLC brought in three new attorneys to join the firm.

So far, efforts from the GSEs have led to nearly 2.8 million foreclosure prevention actions since the start of the September 2008 conservatorship, the FHFA reported Monday. The agency also found the serious delinquency rate for GSE borrowers decreased to 3 percent compared to 8 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. However, more than half of the GSEs' seriously delinquent borrowers were past due by at least a year in the first quarter.