Field Asset Services (FAS), a property preservation and REO asset management company, announced SVP of business development Loetta Arrington will provide industry insight on two pressing topics at USFN's Loan Management & Servicing Seminar.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the third paper in its series on secondary market reform, this one focusing on how the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) can accommodate small lenders. According to 2011 data released under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), more than 7,500 lenders issued mortgages that year. At the same time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac report that roughly 1,000 lenders sell to them. The majority of those lenders are small independent mortgage bankers and community banks.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) took look at the features today's young homebuyers want most and how builders are adapting to those needs. According to the association's 2012 consumer preference survey, more than 80 percent of Generation Y homebuyers (people born in 1977 or later) prefer a highly energy-efficient home over a lower-priced home without energy-efficient features, preferring to save instead on utility costs.

While national home prices continue to post gains, Clear Capital's VP of research and analytics, Alex Villacorta, insists ""granularity in home prices remains key."" At a broad regional level, prices increased the most in the West (2.4 percent) and least in the Midwest, 0.7 percent. The South and Northeast fell in between with gains of 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. At the metro level, Las Vegas outpaced Phoenix as the metro with the greatest price gain on a yearly basis. Phoenix held this rank from April 2012 until now.

Two Oklahoma real estate brokerage companies were added to the RealtyTrac Network (RTN), RealtyTrac announced Tuesday. Prudential Alliance Realty and Prudential Detrick Realty joined RTN, which functions as a licensed network for leading independent and franchised brokerages.

HSBC faces a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, who accused the bank of failing to follow a state foreclosure law that mandates a settlement conference for past due borrowers. In a statement, Schneiderman announced he filed a lawsuit against HSBC, alleging the bank repeatedly failed to file a Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI) in a timely manner. According to Schneiderman, delays in filing the RJI increase the risk that homeowners will lose their home and leads to a backlog of foreclosure cases.

Home prices climbed higher for the 14th straight month and displayed another impressive double-digit annual gain, according to CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) report. When including distressed sales, prices were up 12.1 percent in April compared to a year ago CoreLogic reported the increase in April marks the biggest annual gain since February 2006. From March to April, home prices ticked up by 3.2 percent.

A nonprofit advised distressed homeowners to beware of misleading claims concerning short sale programs that guarantee owners they can stay in their home and buy it back later at a discounted price. The Heartland Coalition, which offers the HEART program, said that such short sale programs have a very small likelihood of receiving approval.

AmeriBid LLC, aa live and online auction company with a focus on real estate, selected Clay Barnes to lead as partner. With 25 years of industry experience, Barnes is responsible with overseeing essential preparation activities as AmeriBid grows domestically and abroad.

Equifax approved of DocMagic's eSign for electronic 4506-T requests. This means Equifax clients can use DocMagic's eSign for electronic signatures when submitting orders.