DS News sat down with Eric Houser to talk the Supreme Court, HBOR, and some of the biggest cases of year. Editor’s Note: this special feature first appeared in the July issue of DS News, available now.

DS News sat down this Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at CoreLogic to talk economics, health of the housing market, and growth. Editor’s Note: This special feature first appeared in the July issue of DS News, available now.

Fannie Mae’s reported that a recent housing metric is at an all-time high and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon . . .

The Federation of REO Certified Experts—or FORCE, for short—has appointed new leaders to its Advisory Council. Among those named were Hugh Morrow of RE/MAX Preferred in Birmingham, Alabama; Tara Nagelhout of Emerald Valley Real Estate in Eugene, Oregon; Steve Pagano of Coldwell Banker in Huntington Station, New York; Terry Rasner-Yacenda of Reno Tahoe Realty Group in Reno, Nevada; and Dick Thackston of R.H. Thackston & Company in Winchester, New Hampshire. Nancy Braun of Showcase Realty was named Chairperson.

Lerner, Sampson & Rothfuss (LSR) has announced the addition of three new associate attorneys to the firm—Tammy Stickley, Olivia Earls, and Stephen.

On Thursday, VantageScore Solutions, LLC and TransUnion released the VantageScore Default Risk Index (DRI) for Q4 2016. According to the DRI, when it comes to default risk, mortgages pose a lower threat than auto loans, student loans, and bankcards with the DRI for these four categories came in at 85.4 (mortgage) , 89.3 (auto), 90.0 (student loans), and 96.8 (bankcards) respectively. Despite the lower default risk compared to other debt categories, mortgage risk is up quarter-over-quarter.

Despite a contentious hearing earlier this week, today, the House Financial Services Committee voted to advance H.R. 10, or the Financial CHOICE Act, to a full House vote. The CHOICE Act, which was proposed by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) as a replacement for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Today's vote followed party lines, with the final vote coming down to 34 to 26.

Orange County, California-based LRES has named Mark R. Johnson as Chief Strategy Officer. LRES provides residential and commercial mortgage services including valuations, REO asset management, and HOA and technology solutions.

Fortune 500 company Assurant, Inc., has named Jerry Rowell as managing director of Assurant Field Servicers, under the Mortgage Services Group.

Plutos Sama, LLC has entered in to negotiations to acquire the Hunoval Law Firm, PLLC, which provides default legal services in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. According to a recent statement, when the acquisition is completed the Hunoval Law Firm will be merged into the BP Law Group family, under the name BP Hunoval Law Group.