Daily Dose

The department's argument came as a response to a late August filing by lawyers representing the megabank, who then said the government failed to conclusively prove that BofA's Countrywide unit misrepresented the quality of loans packaged and sold to the GSEs in the lead-up to the housing crash. In their own filing, Bank of America's team said argued "the evidence unambiguously showed that the ... loans sold to Fannie and Freddie were well within industry standards for loan quality, and thus Fannie and Freddie received exactly what they paid for."

The data on 2013 mortgage lending transactions at thousands of U.S. financial institutions was made available starting Monday, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) announced.

A burgeoning young, knowledge-based workforce is contributing to housing and overall economic growth in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, according to the latest Home Value Forecast from Pro Teck Valuation Services.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae convened at the second annual Ginnie Mae Summit on September 22 to discuss initiatives and programs designed to create a healthy housing market.

In an effort to sign more eligible homeowners up for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is holding its third HARP outreach event on October 2 in Detroit.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation on September 19 that allows small businesses to spend capital toward creating jobs instead of compliance.

The group's measure of current economic indicators also edged up 0.2 percent to 109.7, slightly better than July's gain as personal income, employment, and retail sales continued to make strides.

According to SIGTARP, Zherka secured the loans for the purchase and refinance of apartment complexes across the country, lying all the while about the purchase prices of the real estate, the amount of the down payments he was making, and his assets, income, and tax returns. He also misrepresented the circumstances of a court judgment made against him in 2000 for assault and breach of contract, the special inspector general's office said.

Two mortgage servicing industry experts speaking on complying in an industry where the laws are constantly changing – and getting tougher – compared keeping up with servicing standards to competing in a rodeo.

Despite the currently slower environment, RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly is keeping a positive view on recent figures, noting that August sales were still more than 10 percent higher than in 2012 and 17.8 percent higher than in 2008, when the company began reporting on monthly activity.