The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on a roll lately. On Friday, the agency offered up rules to reduce interest rates, do away with points and fees, and screen mortgage loan officers. In the first of a slew of new rulemaking proposals, In the first of a slew of new rulemaking proposals, the CFPB would require lenders to make available loans that are stripped of their origination points and discount fees for certain consumers. The proposals would also require background checks for loan officers and bar arbitration clauses for credit insurance practices.

Trulia announced Friday that it filed an initial public offering, with major banks and financial institutions lining up behind the move.

Times haven't been too swell for the Federal Housing Administration. That was apparent, by some accounts, when the agency raised insurance premiums for lenders of single-family mortgages in February, a choice it made to shore up its crisis-weary Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Now, according to Fitch Ratings, a new tide of mortgage delinquencies and price declines may tip the fund back toward troubled waters - and possibly insolvency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) strikes once more - against the little guy, reports suggest. One of those came from Moody's Investors Service on Thursday. The ratings agency released a report that linked a tide of new rules from the credit bureau to ""costly"" and ""challenging"" new costs for small to midsize servicers. According to Moody's, these servicers will likely encounter ""significant hurdles"" in moves to adopt the single point of contact strategy.

There are some things we tend to take as fundamental truths. Nowadays, people may add to their roster the idea that home buyers and sellers seem to downright dislike their real estate companies. According to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates, home buyer satisfaction with national real estate companies fell to its lowest level in the history of the five-year-old survey, a record low on par with mortgage rates.

Integra Group Real Estate found a reason or two to celebrate recently. According to a release, the firm posted a 28 percent increase in REO property transaction volume over the first half of this year.

Analysts with Fitch Ratings found a lot to like about the recent second-quarter earnings for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The consensus: Stronger mortgage portfolios mean less pressure on Congress and the next administration, giving Fannie and Freddie some elbow-room as their legacy portfolios shrink.

The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight recently chose five new firms to serve as its eyes and ears on the ground as the $25 servicer settlement grinds forward. The new secondary professional firms - including BKD, LLP; Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP; Crowe Horwath, LLP; Grant Thornton, LLP; and McGladrey, LLP - will assist settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith, Jr., over the next three and a half years. Each firm will assist BDO Consulting, a division of BDO USA, LLP, and the primary professional firm responsible for evaluations.

Higher asking prices drove off foreign homebuyers and investors over the last year, with real estate firm citing a 10 percent decline in foreign interest for the U.S. housing market. The housing bust attracted a number of foreign and cash buyers interested in low prices and the safe haven of U.S. real estate investment. The decline in overseas buyer and investor activity ran steep year-over-year.

A major player in the ongoing Countrywide settlement dropped its suit against the defunct mortgage unit on Monday. According to news services, Walnut Place, otherwise known as Baupost Group, withdrew objections to a proposed $8.5 billion settlement currently under way with Bank of America, which bought Countrywide in 2008. Several reports held that a tentative deal had been reached by institutional investors last year to settle allegations of systematic misrepresentation.