Safeguard Properties recently teamed with default servicing veteran Brandon Kirkham to launch Texas-based Compliance Connections. The newly formed company provides technology-assisted solutions and fulfillment services in the areas of code violation and compliance. Kirkham will serve as president of the new company.

Denver-based RE/MAX, LLC, has announced the promotion of company executives David Metzger and William Soteroff. Metzger, RE/MAX's CFO, will assume the role of COO in addition to his current responsibilities. Soteroff, RE/MAX's SVP of international development, was promoted to EVP of U.S. and international regional development, taking on domestic regional development in addition to his current role developing RE/MAX globally.

Michigan-based VanDyk Mortgage Corporation has selected the G/SERV platform from GCC Servicing Systems, a provider of mortgage servicing technology and solutions, to fulfill the mortgage banker's loan servicing needs. VanDyk, which has closed more than $5 billion in mortgage loans since 1987, selected GCC based on a referral from a fellow lender and the company's expertise with Fannie Mae loans. In 2010, that lender increased its servicing volume by 75 percent.

According to the Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real estate data, the number of completed foreclosures in Massachusetts jumped almost 32 percent in 2010 to 12,233, up from 9,269 in 2009. However, it did not surpass the record 12,430 foreclosures in 2008. The company says the one bright spot in the state's annual data is that fewer people entered the foreclosure process compared to a year earlier, despite a slumping economy and high unemployment.

John Havens, currently CEO of Citi's Institutional Clients Group (ICG), will begin a new role as Citigroup's president and COO. The appointment was part of a broader new management structure announced by the company Wednesday. The financial institution's CEO Vikram Pandit says the new structure will serve the company well as it enters into a ""new phase of responsible and sustained growth.""

California mortgage applicants have the highest average credit scores in the nation, according to a state-by-state study conducted by the online mortgage-shopping service Mortgage Marvel. The average credit score in California is 755, a full 20 points higher than the national average. With California's well-publicized issues surrounding declining property values and foreclosures, the firm described the results of its study as ""interesting."" One exec commented, ""Many Californians have clearly figured out how to weather the financial storms.""

According to a report from RE/MAX of New England, home prices in some New England states increased in 2010 despite recent data by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices that shows broad-based declines in home values. Rhode Island, which has the highest unemployment rate in New England at 11.6 percent and the fifth highest in the nation, showed average price increases in homes across the board. Massachusetts and Connecticut also posted notable increases in home prices.

Nevada-based InsideValuation Partners, LLC, a provider of commercial evaluations, residential broker price opinions (BPOs), and value reconciliations, recently appointed Sara Schlosser as community manager, a position that focuses on the continuing education and updating of InsideValuation's valuator panel regarding current industry needs.

The national office sector continues to grow after bottoming in the first quarter of 2010, with sales recovery spreading to secondary markets, according to the commercial real estate provider Cassidy Turley. The firm reports that net demand for U.S. office space improved during the October to December timeframe for the third straight quarter. Vacancy rates are down for the first time in more than three years, and rents are stabilizing.

According to RealtyStore, a provider of local foreclosure listings, the median price of bank foreclosures in Miami-Dade County, Florida, are nearly half that of the current market rate. The firm's analysis showed 64 percent of all foreclosures for sale in the county are marketed by banks. The other foreclosures are listed for sale by government entities, including HUD and the GSEs. Bank-owned foreclosures are priced 47 percent less than the median market price. When it comes to government foreclosure pricing, the discounts are even deeper.