Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. announced Arthur Nachman, a commercial broker with the company's Virginia Commercial office, was honored as Top Producer.

The Hunoval Law Firm, PLLC, which operates out of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, hired Brian Calub to join the firm as managing litigation attorney.

Over the last year, sales for distressed properties showed steep declines amid a backdrop of slower foreclosure activity and rising prices, according RealtyTrac's foreclosure and short sale report. The share of foreclosure-related sales represented 21 percent of all sales in Q1, down from 25 percent a year ago. At its peak in Q1 2009, foreclosure-related sales accounted for 45 percent of all sales. In addition, the share of properties that were not in foreclosure but sold as a short sale fell to 15 percent, down 10 percent from Q4 2012 and down 35 percent from a year ago.

Freddie Mac is giving servicers more time to adopt several new requirements concerning its default-related legal services.

First Team announced agent Debbie DiMaggio of the Palm Springs office won another Hall of Fame award and was named No. 1 producer among nearly 1,800 agents.

Younger Americans are more likely to have a home that is underwater, according to a survey from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation). Based on survey findings, 25 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 years of age said they have an underwater mortgage. On the other hand, 18 percent of adults aged 35 to 54 said they were underwater. The survey also reported more than half of Americans would not be prepared to cover living expenses if a financial emergency, such as a job loss or sickness, were to occur.

Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS), a national property preservation and inspection company, announced it is teaming up with Pruvan, a Round Rock, Texas-based company that offers a photo app for field-based businesses.

JPMorgan Chase announced the appointment of former senior Treasury official Darius Kingsley as co-general counsel of mortgage banking.

Together, commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the FDIC earned record profits in the first quarter, while the number of ""problem"" banks continued to decline. According to the FDIC, net income for FDIC-insured institutions reached an an all-time high of $40.3 billion in Q1, up by 15.8 percent from last year. FDIC's list of ""problem"" banks was reduced for the eighth straight quarter, decreasing to 612. Two years ago, 888 banks were on the list.

Foreclosure inventory continued to shrink in April, with the number of homes in some stage of the foreclosure process down 24 percent year-over-year, according to data from CoreLogic. About 1.1 million homes sat in foreclosure inventory in April compared to 1.5 million properties a year ago, CoreLogic reported. The data provider also reported the number of homes lost to foreclosure decreased 16 percent year-over-year in April to 52,000.