Cities in the Sun Belt states, including California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona, continued to dominate foreclosure rankings throughout the first half of 2009, accounting for 35 of the 50 highest foreclosure rates among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.

Two-thirds of the 93,924 foreclosure sales in June were originally financed with prime mortgage loans, according to figures released this week by the HOPE NOW Alliance.

Jonathan L. Engman of Fabrizio& Brook, P.C.":http://www.fabriziobrook.com in Troy, Michigan, has been named vice chairman of the "Oakland County Bar Association's":http://www.ocba.org/ real property committee. Engman has been a member of Michigan's Oakland County Bar Association since 1998. He was nominated by fellow attorneys and subsequently appointed by the board for the vice chairman post.

State officials have begun mailing letters to Countrywide customers who may be eligible for foreclosure relief payments.

Fiserv, Inc. announced the celebration of its 25th year as a company Friday.

The default law firm of Wilson& Associates, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, was recently honored by Lender Processing Services (LPS) with the distinctive LPS Performance Excellence Award at the LPS Attorney Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The LOGS Network, a consortium of default-related law firms providing legal and outsourcing solutions for the residential mortgage and consumer credit industries, announced Wednesday that the law firm of Baxter, Schwartz & Shapiro,LLP has joined the network.

Florida's existing home sales rose in June - the tenth consecutive month that sales activity showed annual gains, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).

Mortgage interest rates across the board inched up this week, according to a study released Thursday by Freddie Mac.

The number of new applications for home purchases held steady last week, while requests for mortgage refinancing dropped by more than 10 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday.