The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced more than 2.7 million foreclosure review checks have been cashed or deposited as of June 13. The cashed checks are valued at $2.4 billion and are part of a foreclosure review settlement reached between federal regulators and 13 servicers.

In May, the median price for a home in California rose year-over-year for the 15th straight month, climbing to highest level since April 2008, DataQuick reported. At $340,000, the median price was up 4.9 percent from April and up 25.9 percent from May 2012.

Xactware, based in Orem, Utah, rolled out a new version of its repair cost estimator, XactPRM. The tool is a cloud-based application that assists with estimating and managing costs related to property preservation repairs.

The recent rise in mortgage rates is not enough to pose any real threat to the housing recovery, but that's not to say the increase doesn't come with any risk, according to a recent analysis from Capital Economics. To put things into perspective, Ed Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, noted that on a long-term view, rates are still ""exceptionally low"" as they return to levels seen in late 2011 and early 2012. However, 18 months ago, when mortgage rates hovered around the levels seen today, ""house prices were at best flat, if not still edging lower, while the recovery in housing sales was very much in its infancy,"" Capital Economics stated.

Auction.com announced the launch of an online market research division. The Auction.com Research Center provides a range of free reports based on macro, commercial, and residential research.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) labeled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as critical concerns in the composite rating category for 2012. The assessment, which was part of the agency's fifth annual Report to Congress, was unchanged from the rating assigned in 2011. In the earnings category, the GSEs were rated as ""significant concerns,"" an upgrade from the ""critical concerns"" rating in 2011.

As long as short sales remain a common strategy to handle distressed properties, related fraudulent activity should also be expected. To help lenders, servicers, and investors develop tactics to combat the more common occurrence of short sale fraud, DataQuick outlined five solutions as starting points. The first is to understand activity levels to pinpoint markets with the greatest potential for fraud. Over the past two years, DataQuick identified 205,177 short sales in 14 of the largest counties.

The partnership expands electronic document recording services for the county, which has offered electronic document recording services since mid-2012.

Pierce and Associates, P.C. expanded its footprint into the Lone Star state with the opening of a satellite office. The new office, which is located in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex, officially opened its doors on June 10.

Refinance volume under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) stayed strong in March even as mortgage rates rose, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported Wednesday. In March, the GSEs refinanced close to 100,000 loans through HARP, bringing the program total since the 2009 inception to nearly 2.4 million, according to the FHFA. The program continued to provide relief to underwater borrowers, who accounted for nearly half of all HARP refinances in Q1.