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Pam Patenaude was advanced by the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday afternoon as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, although she still must pass the Senate confirmation vote. Patenaude was received favorably by all members of the committee, aside from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who requested to be recorded as a no vote.

Technology has made the mortgage industry faster, more affordable, more compliant, and more convenient—and it’s not done yet. The industry’s top players weigh in on the power of technology, how to harness it, and where it’s headed. With pieces by Jason Allnutt of Auction.com, Rob Pajon of RES.NET, Martin Morzynski of HouseCanary, Dennis Cisterna III of Investability Real Estate, Dominic Iannitti of DocMagic, Cindy Walton of ISGN Corporation, and Jane Mason of Clarifire, this compilation has insights you won’t want to miss. This select print feature originally appeared in the June issue of DS News magazine, available now.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted Wednesday to raise interest rates for the second time this year to 1-1.25 percent, a move that was widely expected amongst economists and industry professionals and described as “prudent” by FOMC Board of Governors Chair Janet Yellen. Back in March, they voted to increase the rate a modest quarter of a point to maintain the Fed’s goal of maximum employment and market stability. The FOMC is of the opinion that waiting too long to scale back accommodations could potentially cause a rapid increase in rates, which could disrupt the market and send the economy into another recession.

Nationwide Title Clearing announced that Dave LaRose will volunteer to support the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization as it works to create a mortgage industry Business Glossary. MISMO announced plans to create the glossary earlier this year and called for industry volunteers to support the effort.

ClosingCorp announced the release of SmartEngine which will help title companies centralize data processing and connect their rate and fee data to any third-party system, including title production systems, websites and ClosingCorp’s SmartFees, and SmartCalc products to reliably exchange information to produce estimates.

The National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) announced the appointment of Jim Taylor, SVP of Property Preservation with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Asset Management, to lead the organization’s effort to mitigate the threat that vacant and abandoned properties pose to homeowners and communities. Taylor, a 30-year industry veteran, leads asset management and preservation of Wells Fargo’s residential servicing portfolio while caring for the interests of the communities it serves. His first order of business will be partnering with his peers and regulatory agencies to develop a comprehensive national definition for what constitutes a vacant and abandoned property and honing a strategy for the harmonization of procedure for their treatment.

Homeowners are flocking to Florida according to a recent market report. Nationally, quarter-over-quarter home price growth slowed slightly from 0.9 percent to 0.8 percent, but this aggregate measure is disguising a growing regional divide. The West, Northeast, South, and Midwest are broken down to month-over-month and year-over-year growth.

Fannie Mae announced on Tuesday that they have sold 13,500 loans with a cumulative unpaid principle balance of $2.99 billion in their third reperforming loan sale. Loans were divided into three pools, and sold to a single bidder: DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. Fannie Mae expects to close on the bid of this sale July 21.

Three former traders from a financial services company are on trial for conspiracy and fraud regarding mortgage-backed bonds, but in a report this week by Bloomberg writers Chris Dolnetsch and Matt Scully, they discussed the interesting question the jury is being asked: when is a lie is considered deceiving and when is it not? The three were falsifying price information in order to get the money managers to pay a higher price and receive more money. The defense argues that deception is seen so often in the profession that it was a non-issue.

On Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee is set to finish its June meeting, and it is widely expected that they will raise interest rates in order to stabilize the economy, despite inflation holding at around 2 percent. In May, when they last met, members of the board chose to keep interest rates at their current level. What might an increase mean for mortgage interest rates? One expert believes it might not impact the mortgage market at all.