The California real estate market continued to experience rising home prices and strong sales in July, but negative equity still remains a significant challenge, according to a report from PropertyRadar. Out of the 6.8 million California homeowners with a mortgage, 26 percent, or 1.8 million, were underwater as of July. Another 500,000 are barely managing to stay above water, with no more than 10 percent of equity in their home. This means about one third, or 2.3 million homeowners, are still unable to sell due to lack of equity.

[ca_audio url_mp3='http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/5/297/show_5297929.mp3' css_class='codeart-google-mp3-player' autoplay='false' download='false' html5='false']Dean Brown, founder and CEO of Mortgage Capital Management joins the broadcast to discuss effective hedging strategies for secondary market professionals during an environment of rising interest rates. Since 1994 Mortgage Capital Markets has effectively ...

Seven attorneys representing Davidson Fink LLP earned a spot on The Best Lawyers in America list for 2014. The list is based on peer review and attorneys are selected according to practice area.

A former chief appraiser from TriMavin, an AMC, is suing the company and Stearns, its parent corporation, alleging the companies violated federal regulations and terminated her employment in response to her complaints. According to the complaint, Stearns developed a program to recruit mortgage brokers and loan officers by telling prospective recruits they could provide their own personal list of appraisers to be included on the approved panel for the appraisal process at TriMavin.

Mercantile Bank Corporation (Mercantile) and Firstbank Corporation (Firstbank) out of Michigan signed an agreement to combine their operations. The merge is expected to create the third largest Michigan-based bank based on market capitalization and deposit market share.

Median home prices dipped month-over-month in July, but still experienced a sharp rise from last year, according RE/MAX's latest housing survey covering 52 metropolitan areas. Homes in July sold for a median price of $189,950, down 2.1 percent from June, but up by 11.5 percent from July 2012. While inventory was down compared to last year and the prior month, the decreases were more conservative, which means home price gains should slow, according to RE/MAX.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is allowing borrowers who went through a bankruptcy, foreclosure, deed-in-lieu, or short sale to reenter the market in as little as 12 months, according to a mortgage letter released Friday. In order to be eligible for the more lenient approval process, provided documents must show ""certain credit impairments"" were from loss of employment or loss of income that was beyond the borrower's control. Additionally, borrowers must demonstrate they have fully recovered from the event that caused the hardship and complete housing counseling.

RealtyTrac observed 100 large metro areas across the country for evidence of recovery based on seven indicators, including unemployment rate, the rate of underwater homeowners, the change in foreclosure activity from its peak, the change in median home price from its trough, the percentage of distressed sales, the share of sales to institutional investors, and the share of cash sales. Rochester, New York, topped the index with several positive indicators, including low unemployment, low underwater rates, low distressed sales, rising home prices, and a large drop in foreclosures.

The positive indicators seen in housing markets across the country are not a mirage but a true recovery, according to RealtyTrac VP Daren Blomquist and a panel of six real estate professionals who spoke during a roundtable discussion Friday. RealtyTrac ranked 100 markets in terms of recovery and found a smattering of markets from all regions in the top 20. Blomquist said the defining factors for where a market landed on the ranks were location and employment.

In California, a real estate broker out of Elk Grove was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme that led to more than $5.5 million in losses, the Justice Department announced in a statement.