News

Ohio state lawmakers plan to re-introduce a bill that would expedite the foreclosure process on residential homes and reduce the amount of time properties sit vacant, according to Ohio State Representative Cheryl Grossman. The bill, known as Ohio HB 223, was originally introduced into the Ohio House by Grossman, a Republican (the bill's primary sponsor), and Representative Michael Curtin, a Democrat, in June 2013.

The U.S. unemployment rate slipped another 0.2 percentage points in December as employers introduced 252,000 new jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday that the national unemployment rate was down to 5.6 percent by year-end 2014, bringing that number down to its lowest level since June 2008.

Cleveland, Ohio-based default services law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis has announced the election of two new partners for 2015, Brady J. Lighthall and Keri P. Ebeck.

In a widely anticipated move, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) was named Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for the 114th Congress, according to an announcement from Shelby's website Thursday.

A recent poll conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) showed that two-thirds of respondents showed uncertainty with regards how to achieve financial stability. Sixty-six percent of respondents said that "I want financial stability, but don't know how to get there."

In a 30-minute speech Thursday morning at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona, President Barack Obama spoke of the progress the housing market has made since 2009 and measures his administration is taking to help everyone achieve homeownership.

Real estate economist and former HUD policy advisor Raphael W. Bostic has been elected as a director on Freddie Mac's board of governors, according to an announcement from the GSE.

As home values rise and borrowers continue to gain equity, CoreLogic's analysis indicates that nearly 5.1 million properties are still upside-down on their mortgage. That figure represents about 10.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage compared to about 13.3 percent the year prior.

Less than a year after he first joined the company as national account executive, First Valuation announced this week the promotion of Jordan Wilde to the position of VP of sales and marketing.

The pristine performance of mortgage loans in the U.S. with a vintage of 2009 or later is an indicator that underwriting standards could be loosened, according to CoreLogic senior economist Molly Boesel in an analysis entitled "What's an Acceptable Level of Mortgage Default?" published in CoreLogic's December 2014 edition of The MarketPulse.