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DocuTech Corp. announced Wednesday that the company has signed 41 new clients, including a Top 25 lender, since the beginning of December 2011. leading loan origination software systems.

Consumer spending grew just 0.3 percent in April, up slightly from 0.2 percent in March, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. Economists had expected spending to be up 0.3 percent. At the same time, personal income grew 0.2 percent in April, BEA said, compared with market expectations of a 0.

The economy added just 69,000 jobs in May compared with a revised 77,000 in April down from the originally reported 115,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The closely watched unemployment rate inched up to 8.2 percent - a function of an increase in the nation's labor force to the highest level ever. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the number of jobs to increase by 150,000 and the unemployment rate to remain at 8.1 percent.

Before moving toward home renovations to increase value, Independent We Stand, a national small business organization, has another suggestion: Support local, independently-owned businesses in the neighborhood.

The percentage of loans not current, which includes 30-plus delinquencies and foreclosures, declined almost 7 times more in non-judicial states compared to judicial states, according to the LPS Mortgage Monitor report for April. Year-over-year, non-judicial states saw an 8.2 percent drop in non-current loans while in judicial states, the yearly decrease was only 1.2 percent. Foreclosure starts numbered 181,584 in April, down 2.6 percent from the previous of March and a 3.1 percent drop from a year ago. On the other hand, FHA foreclosure starts saw a 73 percent increase.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is reopening a comment period regarding proposed ability-to-pay rules. The bureau reopened the comment period until July 9, 2012 to receive feedback on new data and information it received. The original comment period to the proposed rule closed on July 22, 2011.

Ellie Mae, Inc., announced Thursday that it has received authorization to transfer its common stock to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).The Pleasanton, California-based mortgage network and software provider was given authorization from NYSE Regulation to transfer the listing of its common stock from the NYSE MKT (formerly NYSE Amex), where it has traded since its initial public offering in April last year.

Despite reporting 43,000 proprietary loans in April, 8 percent lower than the previous month, Hope Now continues to reach out and stay in contact with at-risk borrowers. Foreclosure sales also declined in April to approximately 60,000 completed compared from 66,000 in March. Delinquencies of 60 days or more remained relatively flat for the month at 2.52 million. Delinquency data is extrapolated from data received by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the first quarter of 2012.

California attorney general Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that the state Assembly and Senate each passed components of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights designed to protect homeowners from scams. One of the passed bills, AB 1763/SB 1474, allows the use of special grand juries to prosecute financial crimes that occur across multiple jurisdictions. Under current California law, crimes involving fraud victims across the state require separate grand juries and separate charges filed in each county where the crime was committed.

Despite the economic downturn, a study conducted by Coldwell Banker and psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig found that even though people's feelings about homeownership have changed, owning a home is still very much a goal for many Americans. One of the findings stated while 79 percent of U.S. adults indicated the recession has caused society to rethink the concept of homeownership, 91 percent agreed owning a home is part of the American Dream. Another issue being re-evaluated is what homeowners want versus what they really need. According to the survey, 90 percent of U.S. adults agree some people purchased more expensive homes than they should have before the recession.