Arlington, Virginia-based Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. (FBR Group), an investment banking platform, said challenges at one of its nonprime lending subsidiaries caused the company to experience $185.

San Francisco-based First American LoanPerformance, an arm of The First American Corp., says industry professionals who specialize in managing, analyzing, servicing, or holding mortgage risk can now sign up for the company’s 19th Annual RiskSummit Conference, which will be held at the La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, from July 22-July 24, 2007.

Calabasas, California-based Countrywide Financial Corp. reported a net earnings loss of approximately $188 million between the final quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, according to the company’s 2007 first quarter report.

Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick announced several initiatives this week to help distressed homeowners struggling in the state’s rocky real estate market. It is vital that we have an effective an immediate action plan in place to help homeowners facing foreclosure, said Governor Patrick.

RealtyTrac , a provider of online foreclosure properties, says distressed homeowners nationwide logged 437,498 foreclosures filings during the first quarter of 2007— a 35 percent increase when compared to the same quarter last year.

Tighter underwriting guidelines on mortgage loans may be partly to blame for a recent decrease in the number of existing home sales in the state of California, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors (C.

Santa Monica-based Fremont General Corp., the parent-company of Fremont Investment & Loan, announced a new partnership with independent auditor, Squar, Milner, Peterson, Miranda & Williamson, LLP on Wednesday.

The National Association of Realtors) says total existing home sales dropped 8.4 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units in March of 2007 from the higher rate of 6.68 million a month earlier.

The state of Massachusetts is dealing with an unprecedented 76 percent year-to-year increase in state foreclosures, according to the Market Analysis Report for the First Quarter of 2007, which is a report published by ForeclosuresMass.

The former auditor of Fannie Mae is suing the government-sponsored enterprise and claiming fraudulent deception, according to news reports from Bloomberg News. The news agency reported that KPMG alleges the mortgage loan lender prevented auditors from discovering $6.