Bank of America is working with NID-Housing Counseling Agency (NID-HCA) as part of an effort to make sure eligible, hard to reach homeowners are aware of their options for a free, independent foreclosure review. NID-HCA has over 25 years of experience providing services in minority and underserved communities.

RE/MAX LLC joined forces with technology firm eMerge to provide an innovative online marketing program to service nearly 90,000 agents and brokers worldwide. With 80 percent of buyers beginning their home search process online, the eMerge platform is designed to give real estate agents, teams, and brokers a tool to be everywhere all of the time.

A Minneapolis-based attorney has been sanctioned by a federal judge for filing one, in what appears to be a series of nearly 30 lawsuits based on what the court says are frivolous show-me-the-note defenses designed to thwart foreclosure proceedings in Minnesota by calling into question the validity of MERS as mortgagee. William B. Butler of Butler Liberty Law, LLC has been ordered to personally pay $50,000 to the court and pay an additional undetermined amount of legal costs incurred by counsel for MERS and its co-defendants.

Loan Value Group announced the hiring of Eric Smith as a managing director. In his new role, Smith will promote the company’s Responsible Homeowner Reward (RH Reward) program by developing strategic partnerships with lenders, servicers, and hedge funds.

643 Capital Management, a private investment firm focused on debt and equity strategies in distressed real estate, announced it has left McKinley Partners. Former McKinley co-founder Gregor Watson is leading the newly formed entity. Watson's acquisitions team, which has an established track record of acquiring over 500 homes, is joining as well.

As of December 31, 2011, the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF), which is meant to fund innovative measures to help families through the housing crises in hardest hit states, has spent just 3 percent of its budget since its February 2010 inception, a report published by a watchdog organization for taxpayers revealed Thursday. More specifically, as of the end of 2011, HHF spent $217.4 million of the $7.6 billion available for the program, and has provided assistance to just 30,640 homeowners, which is about 7 percent of the 458,632 to 486,536 homeowners it is estimated to help over the life of the program, which ends in 2017.

Integra Group Real Estate, based in Tucson, Arizona, has partnered with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation to provide struggling homeowners with short sale consultations. Through the partnership, homeowners can get consultation, legal counsel, and assistance from a CPA when deciding if a short sale is the best route.

With reports that around 20 percent of mortgages are underwater, about 46 percent of bank risk professionals surveyed by FICO expect to see the volume of strategic defaults in 2012 exceed 2011 levels. Combined with concerns over strategic default are disconcerting results about consumer priorities. Combined with concerns over strategic default are disconcerting results about consumer priorities. Only 29 percent of bankers said the current generation of homeowners considers their mortgage to be their most important credit obligation, while 49 percent said its not a priority.

Following a disappointing employment report, fixed rate averages fell for the third week in a row, with the 15-year fixed-rate hitting a new low, while the 30-year rate continues to fall further beneath 4 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 15-year rate dropped to 3.11 percent (0.7 point), hitting a record low from when it averaged 3.13 percent on March 8, 2012. Last week, the 15-year's average was 3.21 percent and 4.13 percent a year ago during this time.

First time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 13,000 to 380,000 for the week ended April 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest level since the end of January. At the same time the previous week’s report were adjusted upward by 10,000, wiping out what had been a four year low and showing an increase of 4,000 initial claims instead of an originally reported drop of 6,000 for the week ended March 31.