John McGeough and Anthony Lamacchia, founders of McGeough Lamacchia Realty Inc. traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to educate policy makers on the benefits of short sales. McGeough Lamacchia Realty is a full-service real estate firm in Waltham, Massachusetts, specializing in short sales. The company's two principals conducted meetings with officials at Capitol Hill, the FDIC, the U.S. Treasury, and the National Association of Realtors.

Industry data released this week shows that the dollar volume of mortgage loans associated with fraud has dropped to a three-year low, cut by more than half over the past 12 months to $900,000. Likewise, the number of fraud cases tracked has declined to push the index to its lowest level since early 2008. The drop coincides with the U.S. Department of Justice's late 2010 sting involving 120,000 fraud victims who lost more than $8 billion. However, recent activity suggests the lull might only be temporary.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed the Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 into law Thursday. The new law goes into effect July 13. It gives homeowners facing foreclosure access to housing counselors, including meeting with the bank and an independent mediator to review options to keep their homes. Support for such mediation will be funded, at least in part, by lenders, who will pay a $250 fee for every new notice of default they file.

CoreLogic Credco, a provider of merged credit reports, recently integrated its FinalCheck suite into the Ellie Mae Encompass360 mortgage management solution. FinalCheck is an automated Fannie Mae loan quality initiative (LQI) compliance suite that assists lenders in verifying credit, application, and fraud data. The company says the technology can help lenders uncover undisclosed debt prior to loan submission and mitigate repurchase risk to avoid loan buy-backs from the GSE.

Ginnie Mae, which provides a guaranty on mortgage securities backed by Federal Housing Administration loans, has announced a new policy regarding the pooling of past-due loans. For single-family securities with an issue date of June 1, 2011, and after, servicers can no longer package loans that are delinquent by more than the monthly installment of principal and interest that is due on the issue date. This fall, the federal agency will also begin requiring issuers to supply new data elements, such as loan-to-value ratios and pre-modification qualities.

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire recently signed legislation to restrict Wall Street home resale fees - also known as private transfer fees. The new law, sponsored by Sen. Nick Harper, places a ban on these fees. Rep. Roger Goodman sponsored the companion bill in the state's House of Representatives. Washington is the 25th state to restrict the use of these fees.

Freddie Mac forecasts a 5 percent increase in 2011 home sales over 2010, according to its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for April. The expected pick-up in home sales is due to recent positive employment reports, including gains in the real estate sector. The GSE's outlook also contends that refinancing will likely account for a smaller share of loan applications later this year as wealthy borrowers decrease and mortgage rates increase.

Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell recently signed legislation to restrict Wall Street home resale fees (also known as ""private transfer fees"") in the state. Virginia is the 24th state to ban the use of these fees. The fees require that a private third-party receive a percentage of the final sale price of a home every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years.

Bank repossessions in South Florida decreased during the first quarter of 2011, according to a new report from the locally based firm Condo Vultures. Lenders repossessed 2 percent fewer properties between January and March 2011 than in the same three-month period in 2010 in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. The decline represents the tri-county region's first quarterly drop since the real estate crash began in 2007.

eMortgage Logic has launched a collateral assessment report (CAR) that can join with an automated valuation model (AVM) in response to the recently published Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines. Using its network of preferred brokers, eMortgage Logic's report addresses the content criterion necessary regarding a property's current physical condition and local market influences.