Government

California governor Edmund G. Brown signed into law a bill to help combat neighborhood blight, state attorney general Kamala Harris announced Monday. The bill-AB 2314-gives new homeowners additional time to fix any code violations in a home before local agencies move in to enforce the codes. It also extends indefinitely an existing provision that requires the owner of a foreclosed property to maintain the property.

A Virginia developer pled guilty Friday for his role in a massive bank fraud scheme that contributed to the collapse of Bank of the Commonwealth, officials announced Monday. Thomas E. Arney, 56, of Chesapeake, Virginia pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and making false statements, according to the statement.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley joined HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Brockton Mayor Linda M. Balzotti on Monday to tour an abandoned property in Brockton while raising awareness of foreclosure programs in the state.

Credit quality of large loan commitments owned by domestic and foreign banks and nonbanks is on the rise for the third consecutive year, according to this year's Shared National Credits (SNC) Review. The review revealed that the volume of criticized loans (rated special mention, substandard, doubtful, or loss), while still historically high, fell to $295 billion, an 8.1 percent drop from 2011.

Bank of America announced Friday that it's donating up to 1,000 properties for injured military veterans and first responders. The properties will go to nonprofits and local government programs over a three-year period.

The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) is not the only state-specific realtor group to be suspicious of FHFA's REO-to-rental initiative involving the bulk sale of REO inventory to institutional investors. The Florida Realtors stated that it has ""expressed concerns to The National Association of Realtors (NAR) about the issue and is requesting member feedback on how the FHFA bulk sales issue affects the Florida market.""

The Nevada Legislature's Interim Finance Committee passed an $11.7 million proposal to address mortgage fraud and the state's foreclosure crisis, attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto announced Friday. The proposal outlines the first part of a three-year, estimated $33.5 million dollar program that uses part of Nevada's share of the national mortgage settlement to help struggling homeowners.

Just how important is disclosure to American borrowers? Very important, if the figures from a recent Harris Interactive survey mean anything. MortgageMarvel.com commissioned a survey of 2,214 American adults 18 years or older to learn that one full-quarter of Americans take disclosure into account when considering their next home loan. After disclosure, 20 percent of survey respondents ranked anonymity as their second most-valued quality in the lending process.

Homeowners and officials in held a town meeting Thursday in Akron, Ohio, to discuss the impact of the housing crisis on their communities. The event, called #MyHomeMyVote, was designed to put the housing crisis and voters' concerns at the forefront of the wave of issues surrounding this year's election season.

Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley issued a letter Thursday to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their conservator, FHFA, reminding the agency and mortgage giants that they are required to offer reasonable loan modifications in the state and urging flexibility on principal reductions. In a letter addressed to FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco, Coakley outlines a law recently passed in Massachusetts that requires creditors to ""make commercially reasonable efforts to achieve a commercially reasonable loan modification.""