At a Long Island Housing Partnership event Monday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the launch of the Homeowner Protection Program, a commitment of $60 million over three years to fund housing counseling and legal services for the state's homeowners.

The housing market in California looked sunny in May with strong sales and stabilizing home prices, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported Friday. A release from the association showed that home prices in the state posted gains for the third consecutive month, and home sales finished well above last year's pace. Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California rose 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 572,260. This is up from April's revised rate of 553,670 and is a 21.5 percent increase from 470,910 in May 2011.

NewOak announced June 12 the appointment of Maureen Stewart as managing director of mortgage credit and compliance services.

As of Monday, Coester Appraisal Group is now CoesterVMS. According to a release from CoesterVMS, the new name reflects the company's new, expanded line of valuation management services.

The former head of Keyworth Mortgage Funding Group of New Mexico and Arizona is facing 13 months of prison for bank fraud, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday. A federal judge in Santa Fe ordered Manuel Garcia to pay $585,243.59 to US Bank of Albuquerque, formerly known as First Community Bank.

Green River Capital (GRC) announced Monday that it entered into an agreement with Phoenix-based Realty Pilot in order to enhance the platform used by GRC's valuation unit.

HomeStreet Bank announced Thursday the extension of its Hometown Home Loan employer-assisted housing program in the greater Spokane area.

Following an earlier survey from Zillow showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) had again hit a new low, Freddie Mac released on Thursday the results of its Primary Market Mortgage Survey (PMMS), which showed an increase in fixed mortgage rates after a month of a half of record lows. The PMMS found that the 30-year fixed for the week ending June 14 averaged 3.71 percent (0.7 point), an increase from 3.67 percent the previous week. This increase ended a six-week streak of falling rates. At the same time last year, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.50 percent.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday the introduction of his bill in the state Legislature that would protect New Yorkers from fraudulent business practices in the foreclosure process. Schneiderman's bill, titled The Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Act of 2012, defines residential mortgage foreclosure fraud and imposes new criminal penalties for those who intentionally engage in fraudulent conduct, including managers of residential mortgage businesses who tolerate such conduct by their employees. These penalties include jail time.

Genpact Limited announced Monday that William Mitchell has joined the company as assistant vice president of business development for Genpact's Quantum Mortgage Origination System technology platform. Mitchell comes to Genpact from Mortgage Builder Software, where he served as both VP and national sales manager.