The Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals (VAREP) announced the launch of its membership website and the formation six local chapters.

Fannie Mae made available loan-level credit performance data for single-family mortgages delivered to the GSE from January 1, 2000 to March 31, 2012. The release of the new data marks a step toward greater transparency. Through the data, investors can model the credit performance of Fannie Mae loans and analyze potential risk sharing transactions. In a statement, FHFA applauded Fannie Mae's release, explaining it ""represents an important step toward returning private capital to the mortgage market.""

In its most recent foreclosure report, CoreLogic reported 55,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in March, up 6 percent from 52,000 completed foreclosures in February. Still, completed foreclosures stood 16 percent lower compared to the year ago level when 66,000 homes were lost to the process. CoreLogic also reported the number of homes in foreclosure inventory stood at 1.1 million, down 23 percent from March 2012 and down 1.9 percent from February.

The Law Offices of Elizabeth R. Wellborn, P.A. (ERW Law) hired Asha Shravah to join the firm as managing attorney and senior counsel. Shravah holds more than 12 years of experience representing mortgage banking creditors throughout New York. Shravah serves out of the firm's office in Getzville, New York.

The checks for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley borrowers covered under the foreclosure review settlement should be mailed out Friday, May 3, the Federal Reserve announced Monday. The next batch of payments will go out to more than 220,000 borrowers who had a mortgage in any stage of the foreclosure process in 2009 and 2010 that was serviced by one of the former subsidiaries, Litton Loan Servicing LP or Saxon Mortgage Services, Inc. The checks for the borrowers are valued at $247 million.

New Jersey received approval and funding totaling $1.83 billion for its disaster recovery plan that will help homeowners and businesses rebuild after Hurricane Sandy, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced in a release Monday. The funds were from the department's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The plan provides more than $1 billion for housing programs.

After tracking transactions in February, Lender Process Services, Inc. (LPS) found home prices rose 1 percent month-over-month, with California and Washington leading the gains. In dollar terms, LPS' Home Price Index (HPI) for non-distressed sales stood at $210,000, up 7.3 percent from February 2012. LPS data also showed short sales, which accounted for 12 percent of February sales, were sold at a 25 percent discount compared to non-distressed sales. Meanwhile, REOs accounted for 10.5 percent of sales and were discounted by 27 percent compared to non-distressed properties.

A third round of 927,000 foreclosure review checks was sent out Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced. The most recent batch of checks is valued at $794 million. As of April 25, 1,150,328 recipients have cashed or deposited $1.1 billion in checks from the foreclosure settlement reached in January with federal regulators and 13 servicers. So far, more than 3.7 million checks worth $3.2 billion have been mailed off to eligible borrowers under the settlement.

Poli Mortgage Group, Inc. and Norcom Mortgage recently announced they will be utilizing AllRegs, an information provider to the mortgage industry, to publish and maintain their library of mortgage underwriting guidelines.

Investors aren't the only major players driving the housing recovery. According to results from the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey for March, first-time homebuyers and current homeowners are also building a strong presence as they dominate the non-distressed market. Investors accounted for 13.3 percent of the market share for non-distressed properties, while current homeowners represented 50 percent of the market. First-time homebuyers also made up a significant portion at 36.8 percent.