The Appraisal Institute joined other organizations for a two-day meeting earlier this month to form a coalition in an effort to develop and embed a single standard for the way properties are measured worldwide.

A former attorney for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has joined Venable LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced.

TransUnion reported the national mortgage delinquency rate recorded its biggest improvement since the credit bureau began keeping track in 1992. In the first quarter of this year, the mortgage delinquency rate, which includes 60-plus delinquencies, stood at 4.56 percent. The figure represents a 21 percent decline from a year ago and a 12 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of last year. In addition to the improvement on a national level, all 50 states plus Washington D.C. saw their mortgage delinquency rates fall over the last year.

Freddie Mac's first-quarter earnings came in slightly ahead of last year's final quarter, the company revealed in its quarterly filing. First-quarter net income at Freddie Mac was $4.6 billion, barely above the $4.5 billion recorded in Q4 2012 but well above the $577 million in last year's first quarter--and the second largest in company history.

The announcement was first made by Governor Dannel P. Malloy at a press conference at the Matrix Corporate Century in Danbury, where NewOak has leased 10,000 square feet of space. The expansion is expected to create up to 100 new jobs within three years, according to NewOak.

LRC Asset Management, a majority-owned company of Loan Resolution Corporation (LRC), has made available a groundbreaking program that targets fraud and reduces REO timelines to less than 180 days. RealtyRecon significantly lowers code violations by verifying occupancy for REOs and provides weekly inspections from agents who work with the program.

In California, Carrington Holding Company, LLC is renaming several of its businesses as part of an initiative designed to bring the entire Carrington family of companies under a single brand umbrella.

After coming to a ""turning point"" last year, the housing market is now stabilizing, according to Clear Capital's monthly Home Data Index. ""2013's forecasted trajectory is one of moderation and stabilization,"" according to Clear Capital. Home prices rose 7.2 percent on an annual basis in April. Last April's annual price change was a decline of 1.4 percent year-over-year.

Asking home prices posted the strongest gains in cities where job growth was also solid, according to Trulia. In a recent report, Jed Kolko, Trulia's chief economist, provided two reasons to explain the link between jobs and housing: job growth attracts newcomers to an area, who look for housing, and job finders often look for their own place to rent or buy. ""Young adults with jobs are much less likely to live with their parents than those without jobs. Furthermore, stable jobs will set this generation free to form their own households and start thinking about homeownership,"" Kolko added.

ZVN Properties, Inc., operating out of Ohio, welcomed David Dolan as COO. With nearly three decades of experience in all facets of banking, lending, and mortgage field servicing, Dolan has worked to transform both private and publicly held businesses through his leadership, industry knowledge, and consumer insight.