Two lawyers with Washington, D.C.-based Patton Boggs, LLP, a law firm specializing in public policy, litigation and business, are verbal in their belief that the arrest of two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers is only the beginning of what is to become a tsunami of subprime and securities-related investigations and lawsuits.

A foreclosure prevention and housing package proposed in the United States Senate is a step closer to a positive vote in the Senate with Senators voting 83-to-9 on Tuesday that the legislative body approves the bill in its current form and is ready to move forward with an official Senate vote.

The investment banking division at Citigroup Inc. is about to be impacted by a series of planned job cuts, according to a news report from MarketWatch, which quoted the Wall Street Journal as a source.

The state of Massachusetts continues to deal with lackluster single-family home sales, but a new report from publisher and real estate data provider The Warren Group concludes that the state’s monthly decline in home sales is getting smaller each month.

An onslaught of delinquencies and foreclosures in the mortgage lending sector has prompted information technology solutions provider Fiserv, Inc);/*1213801531093*/. to unveil its new Predictive Risk Index Score Modeling (PRISM) and Home Retention Solutions tools.

A new report titled The State of the Nation’s Housing Market, which was composed by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, concluded Monday that the market will rebound eventually, but it will take some time with housing starts slowing, demand lagging and tighter credit conditions keeping borrowers out of the market.

A few short months after Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS) President Cheryl Lang conceptualized the idea of starting a Web site to help pets left behind in foreclosures, her new nonprofit Web site No Paws Left Behind (www.

Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties, announced a strategic partnership with online auction platform Bid4Homes on Friday. Through the strategic partnership, RealtyTrac users benefit from having the opportunity to research and bid on national real estate auctions, while Bid4Homes is now able to offer access to RealtyTrac’s listing of foreclosure properties.

Washington Mutual, Inc. (WaMu) announced Friday that as part of its strategic plan to return the company to profitability, the banking giant is cutting 1,200 positions—all of which are located in California, Florida, Washington state, Illinois and Texas.

State Representatives in Michigan have passed the Michigan Home Loan Protection Act—a bill that attempts to protect homeowners by banning predatory lending practices and ensuring that lenders place borrowers into safe, affordable mortgage loans.