In the Obama administration's overall assessment on housing, the market was described as showing ""important progress across many key indicators"" but the millions of underwater homeowners still call for a need to provide homeowner assistance, according to the May housing scorecard released jointly by Treasury and HUD. For example, homeowners' equity grew by more than $815 billion in the first quarter of 2013. ""Despite the positive news, we have important work ahead since there are so many families and individuals still ‘underwater' with mortgage balances higher than their home's value,"" said Kurt Usowski, HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs.

RedVision, a provider of title reports and real property research solutions, developed a new loan modification services bundle in response to the Obama administration's efforts to continue providing loan modifications for at-risk homeowners by extending the Making Home Affordable Program.

AmOne welcomes Beth Planakis as SVP of marketing and business development. Planakis has over 16 years of experience in the digital marketing space.

Massachusetts foreclosure starts and completions plummeted over the last year in April, the Warren Group reported. For the month, the number of foreclosure petitions, which mark the first step in the foreclosure process in the Bay State, stood at 370, down 79 percent from April 2012 when there were 1,750 foreclosure petitions.

Asking prices are rising at an especially fast pace in the least affordable housing markets, according to Trulia. Nationally, asking prices increased 9.5 percent year-over-year in May, but in the ten least affordable metros, asking prices spiked 16.3 percent during the same time period. Among the least affordable markets, seven were in California. Honolulu was found to be the least affordable metro, where 74 percent of monthly household income is used to pay a mortgage.

Two Dykema lawyers were once again named among the top lawyers by Chambers and Partners, which publishes Chambers USA 2013: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Richard Gottlieb and Donald Lampe were recognized for their work in the field of financial services regulation.

Fixer-upper homes might be the solution for potential buyers who are having trouble with snagging a good deal in this low-inventory environment. According RealtyTrac's estimate, there are more than 51,000 of these discounted properties. To help buyers narrow down their search, RealtyTrac ranked the top 15 cities for fixer-uppers. Detroit, Michigan reigned as the best city to buy a fixer-upper. In the Motor City, RealtyTrac found there are 3,773 banked-owned properties built before 1960 that cost under $100,000.

National Mortgage Settlement checks for about $1,480 will be sent starting June 10, with a completion date of June 17. According to releases from different state attorneys general offices, Rust Consulting, the settlement administrator, will mail payments associated with 962,278 loans. According to the mortgage settlement website, about $1.5 billion from the $25 billion settlement will be used to compensate eligible borrowers. In order to be considered for payment relief, borrowers had to submit a valid foreclosure claim.

To resolve allegations of housing discrimination, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay over $42 million, of which $39 million will be used support housing programs in over 40 communities nationwide. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a federal housing discrimination complaint with HUD against Wells Fargo in April 2012. The complaint alleged the bank's REO properties in communities of color were not well maintained and marketed compared to white neighborhoods.

ProVest, a legal support services firm specializing in foreclosure services, hired Steve Campbell as chief information officer (CIO).