Affordable Housing Trust Fund bill clears House committee.

Briefing Book - House Financial Services Committee

Armed for oversight: as it nears the 20-year mark, the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) keeps expanding its role as the association for state mortgage regulators. A national mortgage licensing system is one of its newer initiatives.

Cover Report: Legislative/Regulatory

Banks expected to seek digital identity-management solutions.

TechNewz

Barbara Stein has been named vice president of credit risk management for Greensboro, North Carolina-based AIG United Guaranty's Domestic Residential Group.

People - Appointment of Barbara Stein - Brief article

Blake Hering Jr. and Mike Wood have been named executive vice presidents of real estate finance and partners with Norris, Beggs & Simpson Companies in Portland, Oregon.

People - Appointment of Blake Hering Jr. and Mike Wood - Brief article

Building on more solid ground: the mortgage industry is reeling from a period of bad news and market excess that has triggered an ongoing response from lawmakers and regulators. What some have called a market on steroids has since come crashing down to reality.

Cover Report: Legislative/Regulatory

Calendar of events.

Calendar

Capmark provides $113 million for Market Street at Woodlands.

Commercial - Brief article

C-BASS acquires Fieldstone Investment Corporation.

Briefing Book - Brief article

Charlotte O'Donnell of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association has been awarded CampusMBA's Education Advocate of the Year Award.

People - Education Advocate of the Year - Brief article

Countrywide offers Spanish-language mortgage tool.

TechNewz

Credit Service Company picks Deal Maker Score.

TechNewz - Brief article

Dynamic modeling of house prices: tools for modeling house-price dynamics are valuable for those managing mortgage portfolios.

Risk Management

Dynatek launches onDemand Services.

TechNewz

Edentify adds IDAlert to FNB Merchants' software.

TechNewz

Fair-value accounting: hitch 'em up!(Deal Talk)

Fannie Mae multifamily investment record during first half of 2007.

Commercial - Brief article

Foreign homeownership in U.S. increases.

Briefing Book - Survey

(Former) Ginnie Mae president and new HUD general counsel Robert Couch.

Newsmaker - Interview

GAO: data breaches frequent; identity theft, not so much.

TechNewz - Government Accountability Office - Report

GE Real Estate provides $156 million refinance for 12 multifamily properties.

Commercial

Getting help with fair lending: as regulators continue to turn up the heat over fair-lending compliance, new technology is coming to the rescue of lenders.

Compliance

GrupoMac.

People - Appointments of Carlos Escobar, Victor R. Araujo and Eric Ramirez - Brief article

House committee approves extension of terrorism-insurance law.

Commercial

House Democrats, Republicans file two anti-abusive-lending bills.

Briefing Book

House flood insurance reform bill floats out of committee.

Briefing Book

Housing activity: residential structures (thousands of units, SAAR).

Vital Statistics - Statistical table

Housing market to worsen in 2007 before improving next year.

Briefing Book

HUD creates new Fair Lending Division.

Briefing Book - Department of Housing and Urban Development

Individual commercial markets at 'turning point'.

Commercial

Indymac Bank FSB's Wholesale Lending Division.

People - Appointments - Brief article

Integra Software Systems acquires FCC.

TechNewz

J.D. Power ranks Wachovia highest in home-equity line satisfaction.

Briefing Book

Joseph Tkac has been named manager for the Wells Fargo Middle Market Real Estate office in Short Hills, New Jersey.

People - Appointment of Joseph Tkac - Brief article

Kelly Booth has been named vice president, Tom Malleis has been named product advisor and Sandra Martz-Griebe has been named product manager for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Compliance Systems Inc.'s Mortgage Business Unit.

People - Appointments - Brief article

Kenny Roberts has been named senior vice president, commercial lending, for the Phenix City, Alabama, office of Montgomery, Alabama-based Colonial Bank NA.

People - Appointment of Kenny Roberts - Brief article

Key economic indicators and interest rates.

Vital Statistics - Statistical table

Lendia LLC.

People - Appointment of Jay Galvin - Brief article

Life-cycle communications: the notion of establishing an immediate connection with a new borrower through a welcome call can set the tone for open dialogue when a delinquency enters the picture.

Technology - Survey

M. Joy Drass and LaSalle D. 'Donney' Leffall III have been appointed to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta's board of directors.

People

Market performance gauge.

Price Watch - Table - Brief article

MBA: progress made, but mold outlook remains murky.

Commercial

Merger creates Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman.

Commercial

Michael A. Salinger has been named managing director in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, office of Emeryville, California-based LECG LLC.

People - Brief article

Mortgage applications indexes: Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Vital Statistics - Statistical table

National foreclosure helpline calls double in second quarter.

Briefing Book

Nonresidential building holding steady during first half of 2007.

Commercial

Office market in comeback mode: many of the nation's metro areas are posting significant gains in office-market fundamentals. The outlook in 2008 hinges on job growth.

Commercial

Old Republic Default Management Services.

People - Appointments - Brief article

Overall rental vacancy rate drops in Q2.

Commercial - Brief article

Platinum Home Mortgage upgrades to Metavante's MLOS software.

TechNewz

Property Records Industry Association.

People - Appointments - Brief article

Quality Home Loans acquires Bankers Express Mortgage.

Briefing Book

Q2 homeownership rate drops.

Briefing Book - Statistical data

RamQuest, Ellie Mae partner to link title companies, brokers.

TechNewz

Searching for tomorrow's opportunities.

Broker Business

Servicing scratch-and-dent loans presents special challenges.

Servicing - MortgageFlex Systems Inc.

Somerset Partners buys New York building for $510 million.

Commercial

Suitable or not? While there's urgency on the part of lawmakers and regulators to tackle problems in the subprime market, industry practitioners have trouble with some of the proposed remedies. Suitability clauses require originators to make subjective judgments about whether certain loans match up with certain borrowers. Sometimes it's not that obvious.

Cover Report: Legislative/Regulatory

The appeal of second-tier markets: smaller, second-tier cities are hot markets for commercial real estate investors.

Commercial

The House that Katrina built: Senators Mary Landrieu and Chris Dodd have introduced major new legislation to restore all kinds of housing in New Orleans. The House has already approved a bill, and if the Senate acts in the fall, hope could be headed for New Orleans.

Cover Report: Legislative/Regulatory

The lender's imperative: safeguarding the American dream.

Executive Suite

The state of things.

Portfolio

The ticker.

Statistical table

The 2007 Servicing Operations Study: the latest Servicing Operations Study and Forum from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows direct costs for megaservicers in 2006 actually declined to $55 per loan. Small/medium and large servicers saw their direct servicing costs rise, however.

Servicing

Top 25 counties--residential ARM markets.

Marketrac[R] - Ancillary Services Market - Statistical table

Top 25 counties--residential FRM markets.

Marketrac[R] - Forward Reserve Market - Statistical table

Warehouse lenders, secondary market demand greater safety.

Executive Essay

West central residential lenders--top 25.

Marketrac[R] - Statistical table - Company rankings