Origination

House and Senate committees have approved Department of Housing and Urban Development appropriation bills that extend the $729,750 loan limit through September 2011.

The latest key market indicators coming from California are mixed, with housing starts up but existing home sales in retreat.

New home sales jumped 24% in June after plunging 37% in May, but it was still the second weakest month on record, according to new figures released by the government.

The delinquency rate on Freddie Mac guaranteed mortgages fell to 3.96% in June, the lowest reading since November of last year.

Even asset managers who were predicting a decline in housing were stunned by the downturn that eventually ensnared corporate credit unions' balance sheets.

Many housing markets could see a stronger recovery two years from now, even though the latest forecast for the coming year shows only modest ones, according to one forecast.

Although there aren't any overwhelmingly strong appreciating forecasts in the near term, the depreciating ones are milder than they were a year ago, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions, a collateral valuation provider based in Santa Ana, Calif.

Survey finds small business marketers believe in using both to get customers.

In a sign that shows how important using the social media has become to small businesses that employ e-mail marketing, a recent survey found almost 70% of them are employing some sort of social media tactics and a majority (77%) believe that integrating e-mail marketing and social media is either "very important" or "moderately important."

AWeber Communications, an e-mail marketing software firm, conducted the survey. The respondents were 2,579 of the companies that make up the firm's clientele.

National volunteer programs and state government entities are busy working to unearth and close down "unscrupulous and unlicensed loan modification companies" who prey on financially stressed homeowners.

For example, NeighborWorks organizations around the country held more than 150 events during National NeighborWorks Week June 5-12 to inform tens of thousands of homeowners on how to avoid and report mortgage modification scams.

A new company that links small businesses to sources of capital is looking to expand its reach through a network of affiliates that includes mortgage, real estate and financial services professionals.

By becoming MyCapitalAccess "financiers," these and other pros can increase their own revenue by facilitating relationships between small, cash-strapped companies and the Miami Shores, Fla.-based company.

In that the founders of MyCapitalAccess are mortgage industry veterans, it makes sense that they are pursuing mortgage brokers to carry their flag, especially since brokers themselves are feeling the effects of the down economy and are sometimes in need of a cash infusion of their own.

Congress has extended the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act through 2014 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill that President Obama signed this week.