Servicing

RFC Promotes Branch Manager to VP of Sales Residential Finance Corporation (RFC), an award-winning nationwide mortgage lender headquartered in Ohio and with branches around the country, announced the promotion of branch manager Joe Buxton to the position of VP of sales.

After measuring improvements over the two years, Trulia ranked Las Vegas as the top turnaround market in 2012 based on its recovery in asking prices. Trulia also found nine out of the top 10 turnaround markets were located West and Southwest, and the top six saw double digit increases. In 2011, only 12 out of 100 metros saw price increases compared to 82 in 2012. In addition, none of the 100 largest metros saw price declines greater than 10 percent in 2012 compared to 6 in 2011.

National Real Estate Information Services (NREIS) is shuttering the doors to its Pittsburgh office in February, according to a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice posted on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's website.

The national housing market has hit bottom and is now in full recovery mode, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions, a provider of risk management and valuation services. While there remains--as always--some variance across markets, Veros predicts prices in two-thirds of all markets across the nation will either remain flat or rise over the next 12 months. This is the first time since the recession that Veros has forecast gains (or at least no declines) for such a large proportion of markets.

The American Land Title Association (ALTA), a national trade association for the land title insurance industry, released a set of Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices created to help members highlight policies and procedures used to "ensure a positive and compliant real estate settlement experience."

Northstar Bank of Texas has announced the closure of a deal that gives the company a controlling interest in Goldome Financial, Inc. Through the acquisition, Northstar, a member of Carlile Bancshares, Inc., is set to expand its treasury management product line and mortgage division.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance rose 10,000 to 372,000 for the week ending December 29, the third-lowest level of the year, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected claims to increase to 363,000. The previous week's report was revised upward to 362,000 from the originally reported 350,000, an unusually large revision but reflective of intervening holidays, during which state processing offices were closed.

A survey of economists conducted by Pulsenomics and published by Zillow shows high hopes for home prices in 2013 and beyond.

Congress approved the appointment of Carol Galante as assistant secretary for housing and commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The appointment was finalized Sunday with 69-24 vote from the Senate.

California's Stearns Lending, Inc., is welcoming a new executive. The mortgage lender appointed James Hecht as EVP of strategic development. Hecht has more than 20 years' experience in mortgage banking sales and operations, having started as an intern and later a commissioned originator at MGIC.