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The podcast, titled From the Bar: Inside Compliance with Roger Fendelman, will focus on the industry's toughest compliance issues. The program is meant to explain rulemaking by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to answer concerns that lenders have had.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS) announced Tuesday the completion of its Type 2 SSAE No. 16 and SOC 3 examinations.

Existing-home sales rose to 4.62 million (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) in April from an downwardly revised March rate of 4.47 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday. Economists had forecast the April sales pace would be 4.66 million. The median price of an existing home climbed 10.1 percent to $177,400 from $161,100 in April 2011, the strongest year-to-year gain since January 2006. The median price in April reached its highest level since July 2010 when it was $182,100. The median price of an existing home rose month-to-month and year-to-year in all four regions.

Through the $25 billion robo-signing settlement between federal and state officials and the five largest banks - Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Ally - $10 billion was set aside for principal reductions. According Fitch Ratings, the funds set aside for writing down principal will have little impact on private label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Fitch stated that the private label result of principal reduction through the settlement will likely reach only 10 percent of underwater borrowers. Overall, Fitch estimates there is about $203 billion in negative equity for private-label RMBS.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) provided a peak into month-end data for mortgage performance in April 2012, and reported after 9 months of declines, mortgage delinquencies increased. The total delinquency rate for loans 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure was 7.12 percent, a 0.4 percent month-over-month increase. Compared to a year ago, the delinquency rate was down by 10.6 percent.

The report, put together by IHS U.S. Regional Economist Steven Frable, stated that Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, and Louisiana have all reached or passed their prerecession employment levels, with Alaska and North Dakota reporting peak employment in 2010-11. These four states are also experiencing the most benefits from the current energy boom. Many other states have bounced almost all the way back, coming within 1 percent of their employment peaks.

If the buzz about bidding wars is true, Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey reported those accounts did not boost prices in its findings. Homes are selling below the list price, and if a home is subject to a bidding war, the high offer becomes quashed by lower appraisals. According to the report, homes sold in April received only two or three offers, and average home prices declined slightly from March to April.

Memphis Invest announced Monday that it has sold 229 homes to out-of-town, independent investors since January in a run-up to a recent investor weekend. Memphis Invest hosted the investor weekend May 11-13 in order to showcase local single-family rental properties and to demonstrate Memphis' strengths as a rental market.

When it comes to handling foreclosure inventory, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (C.A.R.) has made it clear it does not see the need for government intervention in its state. The association recently announced its support for California Congressmen Gary Miller (R-Brea) and seven California lawmakers for introducing legislation that calls for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to halt its plan to sell Fannie Mae REO properties to institutional investors through bulk sales in California.

According to a survey conducted by Money Management International, struggling homeowners are reluctant to seek professional mortgage relief help. The survey found that half of respondents would first seek help from a family member or friend.