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Entrepreneur magazine ranked Showhomes 214th in its annual list of the top 500 franchise companies. The Nashville-based home staging company also ranked in the top 50 low-investment businesses, top 100 fastest growing franchise systems, and top 100 home-based businesses. Founded in 1986, Showhomes focuses on vacant properties. Franchisees recruit and train live-in home managers to stage and maintain the home while it is on the market.

Sen. Bob Casey says money that has been earmarked to help homeowners who've lost their jobs stave off foreclosure is overdue in being distributed. Casey has sent a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, urging him to release $1 billion in funds Congress authorized last year for HUD to implement the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program for the unemployed. Casey says the promised funds still have not reached those families who are struggling to make their mortgage payments.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has provided free foreclosure counseling assistance to more than 17,000 families through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program over the last two years. Created by Congress in January 2008 to address the nationwide foreclosure crisis by increasing the availability of free counseling for families at risk, the NFMC program has provided 1.12 million struggling homeowners with foreclosure prevention counseling across the nation.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled Friday that U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo did not have the legal right to foreclose on two homes in the state, invalidating the lenders' seizure of the properties and raising further questions about foreclosure documentation - this time related to the proper transfer of ownership on mortgages packaged as securities. Analysts warn that the decision could have far-reaching implications on loans that have already been liquidated, those in the process of foreclosure, and sales of bank-owned homes.

New guidelines released last month for real estate appraisals and evaluations will require any transaction originated or purchased by certain agencies to report conditions that affect the estimate of the collateral's market value. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council for real estate appraisals and evaluations require transactions to address the actual physical condition and characteristics as well as the economic and market conditions that may affect value.

Fewer mortgage-related firms closed their doors during 2010 than in 2009, according to newly released industry data. Including mortgage companies, retail and wholesale credit unions, and federally insured banks, the report tracked 201 mortgage-related business operations that either failed or were shut down during 2010. The casualty list was smaller than 2009's count, which stood at 230 mortgage-related fatalities - the most since 1998, when the report was first issued.

State-chartered banks and credit unions in Maine saw an overall decrease in home foreclosure activity during the third quarter of 2010, according to data released this week by the state's Bureau of Financial Institutions. Both new delinquencies and foreclosure starts dropped, which could mean future foreclosures are also on the wane. However, seriously delinquent first mortgages increased during the same period.

Perhaps as a response to reports and complaints that the government-sponsored Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program was not working as efficiently as hoped, the Treasury Department has released updated guidelines for the program. The directive becomes effective February 1, although servicers are encouraged to implement the changes immediately, and follows a letter sent by California Realtors to Treasury officials outlining specific problems they've encountered in completing short sales under the program.

The unemployment rate in the United States slipped to 9.4 percent in December, as employers added 103,000 jobs to their payrolls, according to figures released by the Department of Labor Friday. That's down from a rate of 9.8 percent in November and a rate of 9.6 percent in each of the three months prior. Experts agree that job growth is vital to any meaningful improvement in the housing and mortgage markets. Any decline in the rate is certainly considered a win, although the December figures came in significantly lower than analysts were expecting.

Members of the 112th Congress were sworn in just days ago, and already lawmakers are making big waves. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduced legislation Thursday to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that calls for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to set tighter regulations for mortgage lending and servicing, and outlines new secondary market rules intended to curb risk-taking by mortgage lenders. Congressman Barney Frank rebuked Bachmann's move as a return to the days of irresponsible and over-leveraged lending.