Jackson Hole Auction Company);/*1220046225761*/ has set its Annual Fall Real Estate Auction for September 20. According to William F. Burke CAI AARE, auctioneer and president of the company, the auction will include properties from Eastern Idaho to Jackson Hole and across Wyoming.

Earlier this week, HOPE NOW, a private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, counselors, and investors, announced that over two million homeowners have avoided foreclosure and been able to stay in their homes due to the efforts of the HOPE NOW organization and its members.

Effective May 8, 2008, the Eastern District of Michigan (EDM) implemented new local rules for all cases filed in this district. The EDM is comprised of bankruptcy courts located in Detroit, Flint, and Bay City.

Henry Cisneros, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), spoke at a housing forum at the Democratic National Convention in Denver yesterday. Cisneros, who served in HUD under President Clinton, stated that the housing industry is in a truly dangerous place and that significant steps must be taken by the next administration to address the mounting problems.

REOTrans, LLC, announced the launch of their new Short Payoff (SPO) Module yesterday. REOTrans currently provides 16 of the top 25 lenders in the country with a technology platform to automate their default and REO processes.

The California legislature’s strongest statute designed to rein in abuses in the mortgage market (AB 1830), passed the state Senate yesterday with a 21-16 vote. The bill will go back to the state’s Assembly for concurrence before being sent to Governor Schwarzenegger.

Fannie Mae’s president and CEO Daniel H. Mudd announced a restructuring of the organization’s management team yesterday with a series of senior executive promotions, effective immediately. Mudd said the new assemblage will oversee and implement the company’s capital management and credit loss reduction plan announced as part of its second quarter results.

USFN, a national, not-for-profit association providing legal default services to the mortgage banking industry, announced today that 54 of the organization’s members have been selected as part of Fannie Mae’s Retained Attorney Network.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 22, 2008 today. The new stats show mortgage applications increased slightly from last week, when the figure hit its lowest level since December 2000.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Residential Technology Steering Committee (RESTECH) released a new white paper yesterday. It details the key fundamental concepts of industry data management, which MBA contends is one of the most important components in the mortgage banking process.