In an unexpected appearance before the White House Press Corps on Monday, President Barack Obama called for Congress to pass a refinancing bill to benefit American homeowners.

Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group issued its latest economic outlook, maintaining its expectations for modest growth in 2012. This news comes in spite of reports of strengthening retail sales and job growth in July. The group pointed to dismal news throughout the first half of the year as reasoning for its unchanging outlook. However, even with slowing job growth, global and domestic economic uncertainty, and a decline in consumer spending, things are not anticipated to get worse.

Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC) celebrated Tuesday as it made Inc. Magazine's list of America's 5000 fastest growing companies.

Zillow released on Tuesday its Real Estate Market Reports for July, revealing that the company's Home Value Index hit $151,600 for the month, a 0.5 percent gain from June and a 1.2 percent increase year-over-year. Of the metro areas covered in the reports, 62 percent saw home values climb during July, with only 49 of the 167 areas posting declines.

Weichert Financial Services announced the promotion of longtime employee Peter D'Agostino to CFO.

LOGS Network announced Monday that default mortgage servicing veteran Jason Roberts has joined the firm as SVP of business development and acquisitions.

The real estate giant released its National Housing Report for August 2012 (covering July), showing that both sales and prices have posted year-over-year increases for most of 2012. Home sales appear to have peaked year-to-date in June, with July's sales falling 9.4 percent month-over-month. However, sales were up 10.3 percent from July 2011, marking the 13th consecutive month for year-over-year sales gains.

Jennifer Shasky Calvery was selected to serve as the new director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for Treasury.

Arizona attorney general Tom Horne announced the filing of two lawsuits against Arizona companies offering allegedly fraudulent mortgage modification services to distressed homeowners. Horne brought suits against Phoenix-based Making All Homes Affordable, LLC (MAHA) and Tucson-based La Paz Source, LLC, alleging fraudulent practices by the two companies.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS) announced Monday the promotions of two individuals to assistant VP of operations positions in the firm's Plano, Texas office.