NCS, a provider of income, identity, and credit intelligence, has launched VOE CONFIRM, an advanced employment verification solution that enables lenders to confirm potential borrowers' ability to repay. Verification is provided within 24 to 48 hours. Lenders submit their employment verification requests through NCS's secure Web site, and NCS staff members make personal phone calls to verify the employment information given by the potential borrower.

Mortgage Cadence, LLC announced it will support Fannie Mae's Loan Quality Initiative (LQI) with the direct integration of EarlyCheck. According to the company, the integration will validate critical data prior to delivering a loan to Fannie Mae and reduce funding and pooling delays after submission. EarlyCheck was developed by the GSE to ensure that delivered loans meet standard and negotiated terms with fewer delivery stops by providing identity checks, property and occupancy checks, and eligibility verification.

Sales at Titleserv National, a provider of title insurance, appraisal, and settlement services for residential and commercial customers, increased by almost 43 percent from the second to third quarters of 2010, according to a statement from the company. The third-quarter increase also represents a 34 percent gain over the same period in 2009. The New York-based company attributes the jump to lower interest rates, which boosted demand for refinancing, and a major expansion of its sales force.

The online lending marketplace LendingTree, LLC has agreed to acquire the assets of Louisville, Kentucky-based SurePoint Lending, a traditional mortgage originator. The acquisition will give LendingTree, which operates exclusively online as a loan exchange for borrowers to shop different lenders, a branch network for the first time in company history.

American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (AHMSI) has named David M. Applegate as its new president and CEO. He succeeds David M. Friedman, who is retiring. Applegate is a 20-year veteran of the mortgage and banking industries. During his 17-year career at General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), he led both GMAC Mortgage and GMAC Bank.

The Treasury has filled two key leadership positions for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implementation team. The CFPB will have statutory oversight of mortgage lending and the power to set new rules for home loans and other consumer-facing credit products. Steve Antonakes will lead depository supervision, building the consumer supervision program for the nation's largest depository institutions. Peggy Twohig will lead the non-depository supervision team, spearheading efforts to conduct research and policy analysis.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the majority of the commercial real estate (CRE) industry can expect a commercial comeback in 2011. The economic recovery has relied on government stimulus and monetary policy but the results have been tepid at best. JLL says 2011 will be the year the private sector takes the baton and starts to drive growth. The company predicts investment transaction volume will increase by 36 percent, apartments will top the ""hot list"" for investors, and the hotel sector will rebound more quickly than expected.

HomeGain has partnered with the Web technology development company AgencyLogic to offer single property Web sites to real estate agent and broker members. HomeGain Property Websites give real estate professionals a venue for showcasing a single home listing, with a custom domain name, the ability to add videos and photos, syndication to search engines, and sharing on social media sites.

Loan Value Group recently announced that its Responsible Homeowner Reward program was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2010. Ranked fifth and the only financial product on the list, RH Reward is a system that monetarily rewards borrowers for timely mortgage payments. The publication touts the company's program as a solution to reducing foreclosures by addressing the problem of strategic default, which accounts for as many as 30 percent of all home-loan defaults.

More than half of the estimated 310,000 homeowner and condominium associations in the U.S. are struggling with financial issues stemming from the nation's foreclosure crisis, according to the Community Associations Institute. Because they are unable to collect fees from empty homes to fund services such as utilities and maintenance, vacancy rates can have a significant impact on homeowner associations. To stay afloat, they are borrowing, postponing improvement projects, levying special assessments, and restricting services.