Headlines

While the national negative equity rate continues to fall (down to 18.8 percent, according to the Zillow Q1 2014 Negative Equity Report), many neighborhoods in the Tampa Bay area of Florida are well above that rate. Some areas in Tampa Bay even fall within the highest rates in the country.

Axios Valuation Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of eMortgage Logic and is based in Fort Worth, Texas, is increasing its standing in the mortgage banking and capital markets industries with its Desktop Appraisal, released earlier this year.

Improper foreclosures conducted by some financial institutions are part of the legacy of the left by the financial crisis. A foreclosure that is not conducted in accordance to state law leaves the new purchaser of the property in the impossible position of not having marketable title when they go to sell it again.

The company responsible for one of the most widely used measures of credit health is making changes to its current model that could boost credit scores nationwide.

Fifth Third Bancorp, Inc. has agreed to pay $1.52 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which charged that Fifth Third discriminated against loan applicants based on disability.

The Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association (CMLA) has named Erik Anderson as its new president, LenderLive Network, Inc. announced on Aug. 7.

As the U.S housing market climbs back to healthy, a third of it is less affordable now than it's been all century, according to RealtyTrac. The firm's latest housing affordability report found that 34 percent of the 1,200 U.S. counties it surveyed are at their least affordable, on average, since 2000.

The highest home price gains for July 2014 are in the Midwest and South, and those gains are more likely a result of job growth as opposed to other market influences, according to the Trulia Price Monitor. Average month-over-month gains ...

To celebrate the five-year anniversary of the founding of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, three government agencies released a report entitled "Five Years of Learning from Communities and Coordinating Federal Investments," which details the progress made toward improving housing, environmental protection, and transportation systems in the last five years.

The percentage of U.S. mortgages that are seriously delinquent fell to the lowest point since the first quarter of 2008 as the overall U.S. economy continues to pick up. The improving job market has contributed to helping more borrowers stay current on their mortgage payments and thereby avoid delinquencies and foreclosures.