The first two phases of the recovery began in 2009 and 2012, respectively, according to Trulia's monthly Housing Barometer. The milestone marking the first phase was when sales and construction first started to pick up. The second phase began when home prices reached bottom and began to increase. The third phase began this spring after housing inventory bottomed out and both inventory and mortgage rates began to climb, according to Trulia. What we're waiting on now, according to Trulia, is the fourth phase, in which ""young adults finally start moving out of their parents' homes.""

Six federal agencies jointly released their proposed QRM rule that would require lenders to retain risk when selling mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The new proposal was created in consideration of the industry's response to the original proposal issued in 2011. That proposal required lenders to keep a stake in the loans they sold in which borrowers were spending more than 36 percent of their income on payments and in loans with down payments of less than 20 percent. Under the new proposal, the 36 percent income threshold has been raised to 43 percent, and the revised rule also eliminates the down payment requirement.

Safeguard Properties, a large mortgage field services company based in Valley View, Ohio, announced four promotions and one new hire.

The National Association of Women REO Brokerages are keeping their acronym--NAWRB--but announced an official name change to National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses. Irvine, California-based trade association explained the move is part of an effort to expand opportunities to women beyond REO brokerages.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) slipped 1.3 percent in July, the steepest decline this year, to 109.5, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Economists had expected the index for July would drop to 109.8, which would have been a 1.0 percent decline from June's 110.9. The June index was unchanged. NAR economist Lawrence Yun cited higher prices as affecting new contracts. ""Higher mortgage interest rates and rising home prices are impacting monthly contract activity in the high-cost regions of the Northeast and the West,"" Yun offered as an explanation for the drop in the PHSI.

Tom Tallent of Southwest Bank was elected secretary/treasurer of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA). Tallent is currently SVP and credit manager for Southwest Bank's mortgage warehouse lending team, where he manages program credit and operational risk.

According to Mortgage Daily's Mortgage Employment Index, the number of mortgage layoffs surpassed the number of newly added jobs by nearly 3,000 in the second quarter. From April to June of this year, the mortgage industry experienced 9,950 job losses, while newly filled positions totaled 6,969, leading to a net 2,981 layoffs. The second quarter statistics are a significant letdown when compared to the first quarter of this year, when mortgage companies added a net 5,129 jobs, with layoffs at just 2,930, Mortgage Daily reported.

With declining refinance volumes, the industry can't seem to support the number of loan officers it has had on staff of late. Wells Fargo, for example, is reportedly cutting 2,300 production jobs. However, this glum news may have a silver lining, according to at least one industry executive. ""There's a huge opportunity for former loan originators taking their existing skill set and industry knowledge and applying them in specialty servicing,"" Patrick Norton, SVP of Fay Servicing, told DS News. Unlike refinancing, which experienced a recent boom and is now on the decline, Norton says specialty servicing will not likely see a decline any time soon.

According to Redfin, ""this July saw a healthy jump in homes sold throughout most of the 19 markets covered in this report,"" improving 3 percent month-over-month and 17.6 percent year-over-year from a rather disappointing July 2012. In fact, Redfin found July 2013 experienced the highest number of homes sold in the past four years, with the 19 markets together seeing about 94,000 sales. While sales numbers picked up, Redfin believes the gains won't last. At the same time, reports on home price growth and inventory were less positive in July.

Known as the Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards, or STAR, the program was created to establish servicing standards and acknowledge Fannie Mae servicers that stand out for their performance, customer service, and foreclosure prevention efforts, according to a release. Servicers recognized for the first half of 2013 in peer group one were Green Tree Servicing, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial, PHH Mortgage, PNC Financial Services Group, Seterus, and Wells Fargo. In peer group two, Fannie Mae gave a nod to Fifth Third Bank and Regions Bank.