Kansas-headquartered South & Associates, P.C., a law firm specializing in the protection of creditors' rights in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, has hired two new associate attorneys. Megan Cello will work in the firm's foreclosure department focusing on Kansas foreclosures. Renee Leeds-McDaniel is the firm's new attorney in the title resolution department in Kansas.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is restructuring its safety and soundness and mission offices this week, including establishing an integrated supervision structure and a revamped housing mission and policy division. The agency says changes in the supervision program structure will promote greater uniformity and consistency in the examinations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

ICP Financial, a U.S. real estate investment firm headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, has signed an agreement with an unnamed top 5 European bank to buy distressed commercial real estate property and mortgage portfolios directly from American banks. The arrangement gives ICP a $4.8 billion purse to make individual purchases between $5 million and $180 million.

Vendor Resource Management (VRM), a Texas-headquartered asset management firm, will visit four cities in February and March to recruit minority brokers. These InMOTION recruitment events will take place in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Detroit. The company says through this initiative, it hopes to provide additional business opportunities for minority real estate offices, help stabilize property values in neighborhoods hardest hit by the economy, and deploy educational resources to the entire broker community.

As the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act reached its half-year mark, an analysis of the landmark legislation by Ernst & Young reveals that early mobilization will become more critical as rule-making activity moves toward the one-year anniversary - when many final rules are put in place. The firm's study indicates that financial firms are at different stages in their responses to Dodd-Frank. Many of the largest are conducting impact assessments and creating roadmaps and governance structures to guide compliance efforts.

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, LLC, a specialty and component mortgage servicer focusing on highly delinquent loans, is expanding its partnership with technology developer IndiSoft. Wingspan will use additional RxOffice portals from IndiSoft to explore foreclosure alternatives, such as short sales, for homeowners who do not qualify for loan modifications or are unable to retain their homes.

Atlanta-based Johnson & Freedman, LLC, a member of the Fannie Mae Retained Attorney Network and Freddie Mac Designated Counsel Program, recently promoted January N. Taylor to partner. As a foreclosure attorney, Taylor manages the foreclosure processes for Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia. She also manages the firm's title department, which supports foreclosure, bankruptcy, REO, and litigation in reviewing and clearing title issues.

According to Auction.com, a real estate marketing and disposition services site, 2010 was a record year. The site offered 35,350 foreclosed assets for $2.4 billion last year, numbers that lead the industry, the site's owner Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC) said in a statement. So far in 2011, Auction.com has auctioned 4,710 foreclosures for $258 million at 94 percent of reserve, according to the company.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS), a Florida-based provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, announced this week that EverHome Mortgage Company has signed a long-term contract extension for LPS's Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP). EverHome Mortgage, a mortgage servicer that is also headquartered in Florida, and its predecessors have used LPS technology for more than 45 years.

DBRS, a provider of credit rating opinions across a range of financial institutions, corporate entities, government bodies, and various structured finance product groups, has hired Richard Carlson as an SVP within the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) group. Carlson will focus on operational risk reviews for CMBS ratings, including servicer evaluations and originator reviews globally.