After a somewhat slow first quarter, the national housing recovery took the pace up a few notches in Q2, Zillow reported. According to the company's second-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index (HVI) rose to $161,100 as of the end of June--up 2.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and 5.8 percent year-over-year. While home value appreciation accelerated in Q2, it also spread to more areas across the country, reaching markets in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest that had previously had trouble keeping pace.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a lawsuit that not only challenges its authority to collect personal financial information from attorneys and their paraprofessionals but also deems unconstitutional the agency itself.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, home prices rose on a monthly basis for the 16th consecutive month in May. The agency's Home Price Index (HPI) reported monthly growth of 0.7 percent. On a yearly basis, the national HPI was up 7.3 percent. As of May, the index was 11.2 percent below its April 2007 peak and was roughly level with January 2005's value.

Don Neville, CFO of Field Asset Services, LLC (FAS), was selected as a finalist for the Austin Business Journal's 6th annual Best CFO Awards.

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) recognized three land title experts with National Title Professional (NTP) designations Monday.

In the backdrop of a slow growing economy, Fitch Ratings projects the housing recovery will expand this year and the next-just not at an explosive pace, according to a report. The forecast for 2013 is for existing-home sales to increase 7.5 percent and for new home sales to rise by 22 percent. Meanwhile, single-family starts should grow 18 percent, and multifamily starts should jump 25 percent.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) needs to work on improving its REO disposition strategy so it can bring in higher returns when properties go to sale, according to a recent report from the GAO. In fact, when compared to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the congressional watchdog found FHA disposes its REOs at a much slower pace and sees smaller returns. After examining foreclosure timelines, the GAO revealed the FHA takes about 340 days to dispose of its REOs after foreclosure, which is more than 60 percent longer than the GSEs average of 200 days.

[ca_audio url_mp3='http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/5/140/show_5140005.mp3' css_class='codeart-google-mp3-player' autoplay='false' download='false' html5='false']Frank Pallotta, Managing Partner of the Loan Value Group, discusses high risk borrower outreach and HARP origination. Loan Value Group's mission and focus is to offer a large-scale, low-cost, turn-key operating platform to positively influence ...

UBS announced Monday it has reached an agreement in principle with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to settle claims related to soured residential mortgage-backed securities.

DocMagic, Inc. announced the appointment of Brian Yoder as director of software development. Overall, Yoder holds more than 35 years of experience in software development, engineering management, and building successful teams.