The risk of mortgage fraud related to property valuation is up 46 percent, compared to a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by Interthinx.

Tampa, Florida-based NetDirector, a data exchange software provider for the mortgage banking industry, has announced the availability of its new field service interface.

The general consensus among the industry and seeping from the mainstream media is that the U.S. Senate will likely approve an extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and their decision could come as early Tuesday evening.

Home prices overall have improved now for seven straight months, according to one leading industry barometer a definitive vote of confidence for the nation&'s housing recovery.

Wells Fargo has chosen Irving, Texas-based American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. to take over the servicing rights of a portfolio of loans from the now defunct Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.(TBW), according to Moody's Investors Service.

House lawmakers are readying a stricter version of the administration's proposed resolution authority, which would allow the government to seize non-bank financial institutions and dismantle them, wiping out the shareholders and imposing losses on bondholders.

More than a quarter of the defaults on mortgage loans in the current crisis may be strategic defaults that is, the borrowers can afford to pay the mortgage but choose instead to walk away when the value of the house falls a certain level below the mortgage debt.

Investors are slowly regaining their appetite for risk and looking for gems or even valuable scrap among the wreckage of the commercial real estate market.

The Cincinnati-based law firm of ""Reisenfeld & Associates LPA, LLC"":http://www.reisenfeldlawfirm.com has announced the hiring of a new associate attorney, Gregory A. Stout.

The recent lull in bank closures ended Friday when the FDIC stepped in to help regulators shut down seven regional institutions.