Tampa, Florida-based Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS), a strategic provider of inspection and property preservation services, says an updated technology platform, new staff hires and restructuring helped the company grow significantly in the first quarter of this year.

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct—a new proposal forged by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise and Oversight) and the New York Attorney General’s Office—will be covered at the upcoming Eighth Annual Predictive Methods Conference, hosted by risk management and valuation services provider Veros Real Estate Solutions (Veros).

Less-than-desirable news surfaced in the Bay State on Monday when real estate data publisher The Warren Group released new information showing home prices in Massachusetts fell 10-percent in March—the second steepest drop in The Warren Group’s history and the largest home price decline in the state since December of 1990.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America) outlined the company’s strategic plan for preventing foreclosures within its mortgage lending portfolio on Monday—a strategy that coincides with the banking platform’s recent decision to acquire subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp.

McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), announced Friday that Board member Shaun O’Malley will be retiring from the company’s Board of Directors in June.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Pro-Teck Services, a company that specializes in property valuation and risk management, has signed a strategic agreement with hosted IT services provider Rackspace® to support its ProValue platform—a strategy that will better assist Pro-Teck’s client base.

New single family home sales plunged in March to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 526,000, which is 8.5-percent below the February sales rate (575,000 sales) and 36.6-percent below the March 2007 sales tally of 830,000 homes, according to a new report from the U.

The House Financial Services Committee pushed a $15 million package aimed at restoring homes in struggling and foreclosure-riddled neighborhoods on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg news. The proposal passed and is moving towards a full House vote where Republican lawmakers are expected to challenge the proposal on the grounds that it does little for distressed borrowers and provides aid to lenders who already own many of the distressed properties in question.

International banking platform Credit Suisse announced Thursday that the company experienced a net loss of $2.1 billion (CHF=suisse franc currency) during the first quarter of 2008, a decline from the company’s net income of $2.

Parsippany, New Jersey-based Red Vision Systems, Inc., a company that specializes in offering automated, title search solutions, named two new executives this week: Burt Campbell, vice president and director of lender solutions; and Shelly Williams, vice president of human resources.